Spotify is a European company whose main business is its audio streaming platform. It is a free service for music and podcast streaming that contains ads while its premium service is free of ads, and can be listened to while offline, and which also has an improved sound quality. Although this is a solid platform there are instances when certain issues can occur. In this latest installment of our troubleshooting series we will tackle the Spotify error code 18 issue which usually occurs when you install the program..
How To Fix Spotify Error Code 18 Issue
Before performing any of the recommended troubleshooting steps listed below it’s best to restart your computer and wireless router first. This action refreshes the operating system and remove any corrupt temporary data that could be causing the problem.
There are several reasons why this particular problem can occur ranging from the files being used by another process to registry errors. Listed below are the troubleshooting steps you need to do to fix this problem.
End the Spotify processes running in the background
This problem usually occurs when trying to open Spotify but another instance of the program is already running in the background. To fix this you will need to end any Spotify process that might be running.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch the Task Manager.
- Go to the Processes tab.
- Scroll through the list of processes currently running on your computer and look for any processes with “Spotify” in their name.
- If you do not find any such processes, this solution isn’t for you and you should move on to another one. If you do find any such processes, one by one, right-click on each one and click End Process.
- Click on End process in the resulting dialog to confirm the action.
- Open the Spotify installer.
Check if the Spotify error code 18 issue still occurs.
Delete the Spotify folder in the AppData directory
- Press the Windows Logo key + R to open the Run dialog
- Type %appdata% into the Run dialog and press Enter to open the AppData directory in a fresh instance of Windows Explorer.
- Locate the Spotify folder in the AppData directory, right-click on it and click on Delete.
- In the resulting popup, click Yes to confirm the action and delete the Spotify folder.
- Restart your computer.
- When your computer boots up, try installing Spotify
Check if the Spotify error code 18 issue still occurs.
Delete every Spotify file on your computer
- Press the Windows Logo key + E to launch the Windows Explorer.
- Press Ctrl + F to activate the Search bar directly from your keyboard.
- Type “spotify” into the Search bar and press Enter.
- Wait for Windows Explorer to search the entirety of your computer for files with “spotify” in their name and display the results to you.
- Once you have the results, press Ctrl + A to select ALL of the files.
- Press Delete.
- Click on Yes in the resulting popup to confirm the action and delete all of the files.
- Restart your computer.
- Try installing Spotify.
Check if the Spotify error code 18 issue still occurs.
Exit Steam then try to install Spotify
If you have Steam installed and running on your computer then try to exit this first before installing Spotify.
- Open Steam.
- Click on Steam in the top-left side of the window
- Click on Exit
- Wait for Steam to close completely.
- Run the Spotify installer and try to install Spotify on your computer
Check if the Spotify error code 18 issue still occurs.
Uninstall known programs that can interfere with the Spotify installation
- Open the Start Menu.
- Search for “add or remove programs“.
- Click on the search result titled Add or remove programs.
- Scroll down the list of programs installed on your computer, locate iTunes, Comodo or whatever other program you think might be hindering the installation of Spotify and right-click on it.
- Click on Uninstall.
- Go through the wizard to uninstall the program.
- Once the program has been uninstalled, restart your computer.
- When your computer boots up, run the Spotify installer.
- If Spotify installed successfully on your computer, go ahead and reinstall the program you previously uninstalled to get the Spotify installation to succeed.