Whenever I attempt to watch something on any streaming service, I get an error message from the streaming service and a note from Firefox saying "The WidevineCdm plugin h… (read more)
Whenever I attempt to watch something on any streaming service, I get an error message from the streaming service and a note from Firefox saying "The WidevineCdm plugin has crashed." I have tried to solve this problem a number of ways, but have unable to find a solution.
My best guess is the problem is due to the most recent WidevineCdm update, as in the plugins settings the most recent update for the plugin was on 10/21/23, which is shortly before I first noticed the problem. I did test out various streaming platforms on other computer browsers (Chrome and Microsoft Edge) — they gave the same website errors as I got on Firefox, but those browsers did not indicate the cause or suggest which plugin failed. I additionally tested out desktop apps for some of the streaming platforms; they work fine without any issues, but unfortunately the main streaming platform I use doesn't have a desktop app and only works in browser.
My computer is a Lenovo Yoga 9i, it's running Windows 11, and everything is up-to-date.
The methods I have tried to fix this issue with, to no avail:
- submitted crash reports
- toggling the "play DRM restricted content" options in Firefox, and toggling whether or not the WidevineCdm was activated, closing the browser between each toggle of options
- clearing Firefox's cache
- running Firefox in troubleshooting mode to make sure it wasn't a different extension interfering with it
- tried running Firefox in compatibility mode
- tried to find support from the people who made WidevineCdm, but apparently they don't do end-user support
- deleting the WidevineCdm manually from the program files for Firefox and Chrome (since Firefox says the plugin is from Google), and then reinstalling it via the chrome components page. This briefly lead to the message on the plugin page that WidevinceCdm would "begin installing shortly." It seemed frozen like that for a good while, but then I tried clicking the "check for updates" and that message disappeared, and it went back to crashing when I tried using a streaming service.
- uninstalling both Chrome and Firefox, restarting the computer, then reinstalling both browsers
As far as I can tell, the plugin comes automatically installed in the browser, and there isn't an alternate plugin for decrypting DRM-restricted content. If there's a way to set the WidevineCdm to a previous version before the update that's crashing it, I haven't found it, but I am no expert in computers or coding, and my guess about it being caused by the recent update could be wrong too.
I'm at my wit's end here, any help fixing this problem is greatly appreciated.
