Trouble signing into Netflix in Media Center: "There was a problem signing in. Verify your internet connection is working and try again."

Anonymous
2011-03-12T04:33:17+00:00

Original title: Netflix in windows media center, trouble logging in

i'm having trouble logging in to Netflix using windows media center. i am running windows vista x64. when i select the icon the log in screen comes up, but when i try to sign in it comes up with the error message "There was a problem signing in. Verify your internet connection is working and try again."  my internet connection is fine and i can sign in at www.netflix.com, so this problem has to do windows media center, but i can't figure it out. i have updated windows and windows media center and am still having this problem. thanks in advance for any advice.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Music, photos, and video

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous
2011-07-24T14:39:39+00:00

Well, that's a rude answer up there and it doesn't even offer a solution.

I had this problem for a while on Win7. I tried a few possible solutions I found online, but nothing worked until I completely uninstalled SIlverlight (including the cache), rebooted my machine, and reinstalled the lastest version fresh fromthe Silverlight home page. Everything works fine now.

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Anonymous
2011-04-05T23:50:16+00:00

The most likely explanation is NetFlix changed something in their authentication routine (i.e. SOAP structure or just a URL string, doesn't matter) and that broke the Vista NetFlix WMC client. It didn't affect the NetFlix web interface because, being a NetFlix operated service, they were obviously aware of the pending change and adjusted their web client to use the new method.

The NetFlix WMC client in Windows 7 (being a new product), was probably already coded to use the new method. The client in Vista continued to work with the old method until NetFlix finally shut that method down. Microsoft, slow to respond and assign developers to fixing the Vista NetFlix WMC client missed the deadline and Vista users were in the dark for awhile.

It is pretty standard stuff for web services that cross corporate barriers. Especially involving slow-moving mega-corps like Microsoft. One company changes a routine and the other has to play catch up. Communication is often difficult just between divisions within a company, between companies it is often non-existent.

The level of prissy whining in this thread was good for a laugh though. The people threatening to cancel NetFlix ::rolleyes:: your access still worked on their website. You were not without service, just without the convenience of WMC. The people bitching at Microsoft... does anyone know if Microsoft was even properly informed of *when* NetFlix was going to turn off the old authentication? If they were told the night before (or not at all) "Hey we're switching off the old authentication routine" what kind of response would you expect? How long has it been since the problem started, 28 days? That is actually a pretty quick turn-around for a relatively low-priority item. Or it could just be that NetFlix re-activated their old authentication methods as a temporary fix to this problem (that they share some part in creating) until Microsoft can officially respond with an update.

Now if Microsoft was given proper advanced notice of the service change and still dragged their feet (entirely possible) I give them no slack. But at the end of the day it is still a low-priority issue. It is fixed now, be happy until the next time NetFlix changes their authentication routine.

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-03-13T21:55:52+00:00

    Just adding that I'm having the same problem on Vista Ultimate 32-bit, and that:

    a) I don't have any weird high-ASCII characters in my e-mail address or password,

    b) I've uninstalled and reinstalled Silverlight and the Netflix plugin,

    c) I've deleted my cookies, my history, my temp files, cache, form data, passwords, kitchen sink, all of the above, et al, ad infinitem,

    d) I can successfully login and watch Netflix movies through the IE web browser but not WMC,

    e) I signed up for Netflix recently on March 11, 2011 , and I could never login to it in WMC but it always works in the IE web browser,

    f) I can login and use Netflix from within XBMC (alternative product to WMC) using the XBMCFlix plug-in,

    g) I cannot login with either the Microsoft Netflix plug-in nor the vmcNetflix plug-in for WMC,

    h) I've rebooted more times than any human should be subjected to, in fact I'm rebooting as I write this

    It sounds like the login function for the Microsoft Netflix plug-in for WMC failed and broke on March 9, 2011 from what I'm reading. Like others, I'm awaiting Microsoft to make a patch and fix this.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-03-13T19:53:08+00:00

    Having the same problem over the same time table as Quinn.  Can stream in Chrome browser but not Vista WMC.

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-03-13T12:02:27+00:00

    No unusual characters in my Netflix user name. We've been watching Netflix within Windows Media Center for a long time. However, I believe it was Friday 9 March 2011 when we could no longer access Netflix in WMC. Nothing changed on our end.

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