You tube videos will not play in edge

Andrew Boschier 0 Reputation points
2026-11-06T11:32:47.4566667+00:00

I have set up a new pc and now you tube videos refuse to play and I cant access account information from RHS profile pic.

Microsoft Edge | Audio and video playback | Windows 11
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  1. AI answer

    2026-11-06T11:33:04.6533333+00:00

    Try these checks in order. Test YouTube after each step.

    1. Verify video decoding and hardware acceleration.
      • Open edge://settings/system.
      • Make sure Use graphics acceleration when available is turned on.
      • Restart Edge.
      • Open edge://gpu and confirm Video Decode shows Hardware accelerated.
      • Then open edge://media-internals, play a YouTube video, and check whether the decoder shows D3D11VideoDecoder, MediaFoundationVideoDecoder, or FFmpegVideoDecoder.
    2. If video still does not play, toggle graphics acceleration off and on.
      • Go back to edge://settings/system.
      • Turn Use graphics acceleration when available off, restart Edge, test.
      • If needed, turn it back on, restart Edge, and test again.
      • Updating the GPU driver from the device manufacturer is also recommended if H.264 playback still fails.
    3. Check whether the video format is the issue.
      • Open edge://media-internals while reproducing the problem.
      • Look for codec entries such as h264 or avc1.
      • If the same media also fails in the built-in Windows player, the issue is more likely codec or format support than an Edge setting.
    4. Clear cached sign-in data if the profile picture or account area is not opening correctly.
      • Open edge://settings/privacy.
      • Under Clear browsing data, select Choose what to clear.
      • Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
      • Set the time range to All time.
      • Select Clear now.
      • Restart Edge, then go to edge://settings/profiles and try signing in again.
      • Note: clearing cookies signs out of websites.
    5. If account access in Edge still fails, remove and recreate the Edge profile.
      • Go to edge://settings/profiles.
      • Remove the problematic profile.
      • Restart Edge.
      • Create a new profile and sign in again.
      • Caution: removing a profile deletes local browsing data for that profile, including favorites, history, and passwords that are not synced.
    6. Make sure Edge is fully updated.
      • Open edge://settings/help.
      • Let Edge install the latest update, then restart it.

    If YouTube audio plays but video does not, the most likely cause is the video decode path or graphics acceleration setting.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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  2. Hendrix-V 20,790 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-11-07T04:24:58.5633333+00:00

    Hi Andrew Boschier,

    Since both YouTube playback and the account/profile area are affected, it would be useful to check whether an extension or browser-session setting is interfering with Edge.

    • Press Ctrl + Shift + N to open an InPrivate window.
    • Open YouTube and test a video.
    • If it works there, open edge://extensions and temporarily disable extensions, especially ad blockers, privacy, security, or YouTube-related extensions.
    • Re-enable them one at a time to identify the one causing the issue.

    If the problem also occurs in InPrivate mode, please let us know whether YouTube works normally in another browser on the same PC. That will help narrow down whether this is Edge-specific or system/network-related.

    I hope this helps narrow down the cause.

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