Fix YouTube videos won’t load. ‘An error occurred, try again later’

Almost each one of us likes to watch YouTube videos for entertainment or for fun. Although the purpose can be anything from educational to entertainment, the YouTube videos won’t load is one of those issues which has to be resolved as soon as possible.

You may encounter that YouTube not working or videos not loading issue or instead of the video you only see a black screen etc then don’t worry as the main cause of this issue seems to be outdated chrome browser, incorrect date & time, third-party software conflict or Cache & cookies problem of browser, etc.

But how do you go about this software issue? Does it have anything to do with the hardware? Let’s find out.

Contents

• Fix YouTube videos won’t load. ‘An error occurred, try again later’
• Method 1: Uninstall third-party Security software
• Method 2: Fix Date & Time
• Method 3: Flush DNS Client Resolver Cache
• Method 4: Use Google’s DNS
• Method 5: Clear Browser’s Cache
• Method 6: Check Router Settings
• Method 7: Reset Browser to default settings

Fix YouTube videos won’t load. ‘An error occurred, try again later’

Make sure to create a restore point just in case something goes wrong. And here is a list of standard solutions to fix YouTube videos won’t load issue.

Method 1: Uninstall third-party Security software

Any conflicting configuration in the security settings can effectively turn down the network traffic between your computer and the YouTube servers, causing it not to load the requested YouTube video. Hence, it is recommended to uninstall any anti-virus programs or firewalls you may have installed other than Windows Defender to see if the third-party security software causes the issue. You can also, first try to temporary disable the security software:

1. Right-click on the Antivirus Program icon from the system tray and select Disable.

2. Next, select the time frame for which the Antivirus will remain disabled.

Note: Choose the smallest amount of time possible for example 15 minutes or 30 minutes.

3. Once done, again try to connect to the WiFi network and check if the YouTube video loads or not.

Method 2: Fix Date & Time

If your Windows 10 PC has been configured with incorrect date and time settings, it may cause the security protocols to invalidate the security certificates of YouTube. This is because every security certificate has a time period for which it is valid. To correct the date and time-related settings on your Windows PC, follow the below steps:

1. Right-click on time at the right end of the taskbar, and click on Adjust Date/Time.

2. Enable both the Set Time Zone Automatically and Set Date & Time Automatically options. If you have an active internet connection, your Date and Time settings will get updated automatically.

3. For Windows 7, click on “Internet Time” and tick mark on “Synchronize with an Internet time server.”

4. Select Server “time.windows.com” and click update and “OK”. You don’t need to complete the update. Just click OK.

5. After setting the date and time, try to visit the same YouTube video page and see if the video loads correctly this time.

Also Read: 4 Ways to Change Date and Time in Windows 10

Method 3: Flush DNS Client Resolver Cache

It might be possible that one of the addons you installed on Google Chrome or some VPN settings may have altered your computer’s DNS cache in a way that it has refused to let YouTube video load. This can be overcome by:

1. Open the elevated command prompt by pressing the Windows key + S, type cmd and choose run as administrator.

2. In the command prompt, type the following command and press enter:

Ipconfig /flushdns

3. The command prompt will show a message confirming the successful flushing of the DNS Resolver cache.

Method 4: Use Google’s DNS

You can use Google’s DNS instead of the default DNS set by your Internet Service Provider or the network adapter manufacturer. This will make sure that the DNS your browser is using has nothing to do with the YouTube video not loading. To do so,

1. Right-click on the network (LAN) icon in the right end of the taskbar, and click on Open Network & Internet Settings.

2. In the settings app that opens, click on Change adapter options in the right pane.

3. Right-click on the network you want to configure, and click on Properties.

4. Click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) in the list and then click on Properties.

Also Read: Fix Your DNS Server might be unavailable error

5. Under the General tab, choose ‘Use the following DNS server addresses’ and put the following DNS addresses.

Preferred DNS Server: 8.8.8.8
Alternate DNS Server: 8.8.4.4

6. Finally, click OK at the bottom of the window to save changes.

7. Reboot your PC and once the system restart, see if you’re able to fix YouTube videos won’t load. ‘An error occurred, try again later’.

Method 5: Clear Browser’s Cache

Clearing your browser’s cache will make sure that no corrupt files are causing the YouTube videos not loading properly issue. Since Google Chrome is the most popular browser, we are giving the steps to clear the cache on Chrome. The required steps will not be much different in other browsers, but may not exactly be the same either.

Clear Browsers Data in Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome and press Ctrl + H to open history.

2. Next, click Clear browsing data from the left panel.

3. Make sure the “beginning of time” is selected under Obliterate the following items from.

4. Also, checkmark the following:

Cookies and other site data
Cached images and files

5. Now click Clear browsing data button and wait for it to finish.

6. Close your browser and restart your PC to save changes.

Clear Browsers Data in Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge then click the 3 dots in the upper right corner and choose Settings.

2. Scroll down till you find “Clear browsing data” then click on Choose what to clear button.

3. Select everything and click the Clear button.

4. Wait for the browser to clear all the data and Restart Edge.

Clearing browser’s cache seems to fix YouTube videos won’t load issue but if this step was not helpful then try the next one.

Method 6: Check Router Settings

Another issue that might exist that may lead to YouTube videos not loading is the YouTube being blacklisted on the router. The blacklist of the router is the list of websites the router will not allow access to, and hence if the YouTube website is on the blacklist, YouTube videos won’t load.

You can check if this is the case by playing a YouTube video on another device connected to the same network. If YouTube has been blacklisted, you can remove it from the blacklist by going into the router settings using its configuration page.

Also Read: Unblock YouTube When Blocked In Offices, Schools or Colleges?

Another solution will be to reset the router. To do that, press the reset button on the router (some routers have a hole that you need to insert a pin through) and hold it pressed for about ten seconds. Reconfigure the router and try playing the YouTube videos again.

Method 7: Reset Browser to default settings

1. Open Google Chrome then click the three dots on the upper right corner and click on Settings.

2. Now in the settings window scroll down and click on Advanced at the bottom.

3. Again scroll down to the bottom and click on the Reset column.

4. This would open a pop window again asking if you want to Reset, so click on Reset to continue.

That’s it for this article, hope you found the solution you were looking for. It generally comes down to narrowing the problem to one particular cause and then fixing it. For example, if the videos work fine on another browser, then the browser you are using must be at fault. If it does not work on any machine or the network, then the router might be having problems. Either way, the solution will be much easier to reach if you try eliminating the suspects.