Getting error - The application “VLC” can’t be opened - 36

joeg679 · Dec 23, 2016

I have an external hard drive connected to a TC. I noticed the TC blinking orange this morning and unplugged it and plugged it back in. On the external HD, I have movies and other files. I can open Word docs, jpg's, but not movies. When I click on them, I get the error 36. All the files are there and VLC opens when I have one of the movies on the desktop, but not from the TC. It's a MBP 2015 running 10.12.2. This issue has only started happening this morning. I also updated the OSX to 10.12.2 this morning too. Not sure what is causing this. Any ideas? Thanks

edit: I also try to open the movies with quicktime and get the same error.

edit 2: I also turned on icloud drive after I updated the OSX. I wondered if that was causing this issue, so I turned it off. Then I realized that I lost all my files that were on my desktop. After panicking, I found them in a backup folder. Before I restored them, I clicked on one of the movies and it played, so I thought it was fixed, but now Im back to the error.

pjhutch · Dec 24, 2016

Bin the VLC player and download latest version from www.videolan.org.

joeg679 · Dec 24, 2016

pjhutch said:
Bin the VLC player and download latest version from www.videolan.org.

yep, tried that too. this is frustrating. thanks.

Keagsta · Jan 5, 2017

Error 36 - Cannot Play Media on External Drive (Apple Time Capsule)

joeg679 said:
I have an external hard drive connected to a TC. I noticed the TC blinking orange this morning and unplugged it and plugged it back in. On the external HD, I have movies and other files. I can open Word docs, jpg's, but not movies. When I click on them, I get the error 36. All the files are there and VLC opens when I have one of the movies on the desktop, but not from the TC. It's a MBP 2015 running 10.12.2. This issue has only started happening this morning. I also updated the OSX to 10.12.2 this morning too. Not sure what is causing this. Any ideas? Thanks

edit: I also try to open the movies with quicktime and get the same error.

edit 2: I also turned on icloud drive after I updated the OSX. I wondered if that was causing this issue, so I turned it off. Then I realized that I lost all my files that were on my desktop. After panicking, I found them in a backup folder. Before I restored them, I clicked on one of the movies and it played, so I thought it was fixed, but now Im back to the error.

I am having identical issue... i am using apple time capsule 2tb hard drive and apple MacBook air.. I can transfer files just not play them while they are on the time capsule hard drive... this is also affecting my Apple TV which i use VLC on.. Tried quicktime as well.. Read a million forums they are all about transferring files not playing media files. I can transfer files just fine. Just cannot play media essentially on my Apple Time Capsule.. Restoring to factory defaults and erasing all data on drive did not work. dot clean in terminal did not work.. no other threads i can find that assist.. i can only assume this sierra update mucked everything up

edit: i can open PDF and .doc files on external drive, i can navigate through folders.. just not open media files it seems.. only started a few days ago. i am also on newest sierra update.

joeg679 · Jan 5, 2017

It's frustrating. There's a thread on the Apple support page about this, but you're right, a lot of other threads have to do with simply transferring files, which I have no problem with. I hope Apple finds a fix. Here's the other thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7788357?start=0&tstart=0

Keagsta said:
I am having identical issue... i am using apple time capsule 2tb hard drive and apple MacBook air.. I can transfer files just not play them while they are on the time capsule hard drive... this is also affecting my Apple TV which i use VLC on.. Tried quicktime as well.. Read a million forums they are all about transferring files not playing media files. I can transfer files just fine. Just cannot play media essentially on my Apple Time Capsule.. Restoring to factory defaults and erasing all data on drive did not work. dot clean in terminal did not work.. no other threads i can find that assist.. i can only assume this sierra update mucked everything up

edit: i can open PDF and .doc files on external drive, i can navigate through folders.. just not open media files it seems.. only started a few days ago. i am also on newest sierra update.

harryb2448 · Jan 5, 2017

As I said last time, Apple has dumped the TC so there will be no further development.

joeg679 · Jan 5, 2017

harryb2448 said:
As I said last time, Apple has dumped the TC so there will be no further development.

They haven't officially dumped it yet. Plus, this is an OSX issue.

steve480977 · Jan 28, 2017

VLC Error -36

joeg679 said:
I have an external hard drive connected to a TC. I noticed the TC blinking orange this morning and unplugged it and plugged it back in. On the external HD, I have movies and other files. I can open Word docs, jpg's, but not movies. When I click on them, I get the error 36. All the files are there and VLC opens when I have one of the movies on the desktop, but not from the TC. It's a MBP 2015 running 10.12.2. This issue has only started happening this morning. I also updated the OSX to 10.12.2 this morning too. Not sure what is causing this. Any ideas? Thanks

edit: I also try to open the movies with quicktime and get the same error.

edit 2: I also turned on icloud drive after I updated the OSX. I wondered if that was causing this issue, so I turned it off. Then I realized that I lost all my files that were on my desktop. After panicking, I found them in a backup folder. Before I restored them, I clicked on one of the movies and it played, so I thought it was fixed, but now Im back to the error.

I had this issue, tried downgrading the software on the TC with no success. Tried deleting VLC and installing again, still no use. Then updated to the latest Sierra, worked like a charm. So moral of the story is keep up to date.
Hope this helps

joeg679 · Jan 28, 2017

steve480977 said:
I had this issue, tried downgrading the software on the TC with no success. Tried deleting VLC and installing again, still no use. Then updated to the latest Sierra, worked like a charm. So moral of the story is keep up to date.
Hope this helps

Yes, the latest update that came out a few days ago seems to fix the issue.