Emby Windows app stuck on startup screen

[manisa79 2]

The Emby app has been strangely stuck on this screen for a few days, not doing anything. The web interface works fine; everything is normal there.

For a few days, Emby has been stuck on this screen. It might open normally once or twice after that, but it hasn't opened since.

I'm using Windows 11 and experiencing this problem. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app, but nothing improved.

The Android app and Android TV app work without any problems.

I'm attaching the logs; hopefully, this will help resolve the issue.

Note: Translated into English using Google Translate.

embyserver.zip

[RanmaCanada 540]

You need to force close the app and let it update to the latest version. This has been a known problem for a while, and the latest update resolves it.

[manisa79 2]

Emby already indicates it's up-to-date; no updates are visible

.

[Mahinepua 108]

A recent windows update has caused the problem, move to the beta forum and follow the instructions to download the beta version that fixes the issue.

[Luke 42497]

Hi, we are working on getting a new release out to resolve this. Thanks.

[JTFlynn 4]

Hi, I was having same issue with Emby not being able to open the Home screen (spinner runs indefinitely). I don't believe it is a Windows 11 update issue as my server is fully updated and running fine. I can connect to the Home screen without issues on the following tested clients:

• Hi-Sense Smart TV (Android client?)
• Various Samsung Smart TV's
• iPhone (both remote and localhost)
• Windows 11 PC's (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Emby Windows Client software)

All users streaming on Roku devices fail to open the Home folder. A point of interest--on my personal Roku client...while the spinner spins, if I click on the 'Favorites' option at the top of the Home screen, all the media tagged as 'Favorite' opens and plays fine.

I hope this info helps someone. In summary, for my setup with 14 clients, everything points to the Emby client software running on ROKU streaming devices.

 

[PhatzDomino 2]

On 01/05/2026 at 21:12, Mahinepua said:

A recent windows update has caused the problem, move to the beta forum and follow the instructions to download the beta version that fixes the issue.

How does one get into the beta as it seems like it's an invite only affair. I'm having the exact same issue and the browser doesn't like 4K HDR content.

[Neminem 1729]

@PhatzDominolook at this.

 

[PhatzDomino 2]

10 hours ago, Neminem said:

@PhatzDominolook at this.

 

I already did but just see this when I click the links

[Neminem 1729]

What exactly did you do I'm in the beta.

Edit.

Did you read the info in the link.

What is the current state of the Windows & Xbox Beta program?

• The beta program is currently active
• Registration is invite-only

Edited May 5 by Neminem

[JTFlynn 4]

Just to be clear, my issue was that the Emby Home Screen folders would not show. Instead, all I got was a progress spinner that spun indefinitely. My streaming device was a ROKU Ultra. My server is on a Win11 PC. Everyone using my server had no issues except the ones using any Roku streaming device. I don't know if Roku TV's were affected. Anyway, I applied the solution provided by ebr from the Emby Team on my server and all affected users were working again. Here is a link to ebr's solution:

I substituted "Playlists" instead of "Continue Watching" and achieved the same good result. Here is a screenshot of my incorporating ebr's solution:

 

[PhatzDomino 2]

3 hours ago, Neminem said:

What exactly did you do I'm in the beta.

Edit.

Did you read the info in the link.

What is the current state of the Windows & Xbox Beta program?

• The beta program is currently active
• Registration is invite-only

Yes, several times.  It only states that it's invite only and I originally asked "How does one get into the beta as it seems like it's an invite only affair".  Anyway I ended finding the correct link in an old thread but the beta has the same issue

 

\EDIT - A restart sorted it, Beta is now working.

Edited May 5 by PhatzDomino

[Anthlon 0]

On 05/05/2026 at 23:14, PhatzDomino said:

Yes, several times.  It only states that it's invite only and I originally asked "How does one get into the beta as it seems like it's an invite only affair".  Anyway I ended finding the correct link in an old thread but the beta has the same issue

 

\EDIT - A restart sorted it, Beta is now working.

Are you able to provide the correct link that you found? I've tried the 3 links in this post:

but none of them are letting me view the Beta download, whenever it opens the Microsoft Store it's just telling me that it can't find what I'm looking for

[softworkz 5222]

I thought this would be clear enough...

[Anthlon 0]

On 10/05/2026 at 07:02, softworkz said:

I thought this would be clear enough...

So how do you become a "registered member"? Is it being a member of Emby Premier? Is it having an Emby Connect account? Maybe some clarification on what that term means could have stopped the confusion from happening in the first place

[softworkz 5222]

As you could read as well on that page: Registration is "invite only".

This is because we are very short before releasing a new stable version and whatever you would report, wouldn't be actionable anymore.
In a phase like this, we invite users only when they have a specific problem that we have addressed and want to have them confirm that it is fixed for them. 

Right now, there's exactly one open issue remaining and it can only be validated as fixed by the users who are experiencing it (not everybody does).
And then, there are times when we're not actively working on the app. We're onboarding new beta users only when we're starting a new phase of work.

You can monitor the new beta site https://beta.emby.media/ and we're also posting an announcement in the Beta Forum when we're onboarding new users.

Thanks for your feedback - I have updated the FAQ topic to be more clear and explain better

 

Edited May 12 by softworkz

[softworkz 5222]

The practical translation:

End of this or next week, the current beta will be published as new stable and will be available to everyone.
After that, it will become rather boring at the beta side - for a while.

So, don't worry aboui not being included at this time  

[Anthlon 0]

1 minute ago, softworkz said:

As you could read as well on that page: Registration is "invite only".

This is because we are very short before releasing a new stable version and whatever you would report, wouldn't be actionable anymore.
In a phase like this, we invite users only when they have a specific problem that we have addressed and want to have them confirm that it is fixed for them. 

Right now, there's exactly one open issue remaining and it can only be validated as fixed by the users who are experiencing it (not everybody does).
And then, there are times when we're not actively working on the app. We're onboarding new beta users only when we're starting a new phase of work.

You can monitor the new beta site https://beta.emby.media/ and we're also posting an announcement in the Beta Forum when we're onboarding new users.

Thanks for posting the beta site it's finally making sense on what needs to be done to overcome the "invite only" portion of the FAQ. Perhaps editing the FAQ to include that link could be helpful as I've been googling and searching in the community forums and was obviously struggling to find correct/up to date information on this, example being searching "Emby Beta" the top post on google is pointing me to a blog post from 2015 and to the documentation that has the same information as the FAQ, which as mentioned doesn't really explain how you get invited/join the beta. Just a suggestion that could cut down on confusion in the long run.

9 minutes ago, softworkz said:

The practical translation:

End of this or next week, the current beta will be published as new stable and will be available to everyone.
After that, it will become rather boring at the beta side - for a while.

So, don't worry aboui not being included at this time  

Thanks for that update, appreciate knowing that a fix for this is coming soon to Stable

[softworkz 5222]

1 minute ago, Anthlon said:

Thanks for posting the beta site it's finally making sense on what needs to be done to overcome the "invite only" portion of the FAQ. Perhaps editing the FAQ to include that link could be helpful as I've been googling and searching in the community forums and was obviously struggling to find correct/up to date information on this, example being searching "Emby Beta" the top post on google is pointing me to a blog post from 2015 and to the documentation that has the same information as the FAQ, which as mentioned doesn't really explain how you get invited/join the beta. Just a suggestion that could cut down on confusion in the long run.

The Beta site is brand new and didn't even exist 3 weeks ago. That's why the URL can't be found anywhere yet and the information for accessing the beta was included on the FAQ page (which is no longer necessary).

You are right that this was confusing. I have updated the FAQ page as well now.