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I recently signed another 2-year contract with DirecTV, having spent a few months with the cable figuratively cut. The NFL season hit, however, and having no other good way to watch my Indianapolis Colts, I decided that a free NFL Sunday Ticket package was worth getting back on the hook.
Imagine my frustration, then, when I couldn’t get the DirecTV Player working on any of my Windows 8.1 machines, specifically my homebuilt desktop, Dell Venue 8 Pro, and Microsoft Surface Pro 3. The DirecTV Player installation complained about a missing Flash player, whether I was running Internet Explorer or Chrome, which made no sense given that I confirmed that Flash was indeed installed and working for everything else. However, the version of Flash that the DirecTV Player installer tried to download was apparently an older version and wouldn’t download. A bit of a conundrum.
Here’s the initial setup process, for desktop Internet Explorer 11.
A search on the problem took me to Microsoft’s Support Community, where a poster provided the following link to download the Flash player (a general link that downloads the latest version, currently 15): Install Flash.
Downloading and installing this version worked, regardless of the fact that Flash was already installed.
Once this version of Flash was installed correctly, the DirecTV Player installation could be completed.
Once the browser was refreshed, the DirecTV Player was available and working.
For whatever reason, these steps work for both Internet Explorer 11 and Chrome, both on the desktop. My searches turned up references to the DirecTV Player not working with 64-bit Windows 8.1, but I experienced the issue on my Venue 8 Pro running 32-bit Windows as well. Note that the fix doesn’t work for the modern UI Internet Explorer; so far, I can’t get that to work on any of my machines, which might be by design (DirecTV may simply not yet support modern Internet Explorer).
I’m surprised that I haven’t heard more about this issue. If this isn’t happening for other people running Windows 8.1, then I can’t understand why it happened to me on so many different machines. In any event, I now have the DirecTV player working on both of my Windows 8.1 tablets, which was my biggest concern.
Let me know if you have the problem, and if these steps work for you.
Direct TV is only 19.99 a month for a limited time, includes free movie channels for 3 months, free sunday ticket, and free installation / no activation
Direct TV 855-972-2764 for more information
I’m a Direct Tv and ATT customer, I want to be able to watch on my IPad What do I do
There’s a very good DirecTV app for the iPad in the App Store.
Recently purchased a surface 3 running Windows 10. DirecTV doesn’t play! Wish had known theses are not compatible apparently. Anyone else have this issue?
DIRECT TV PLAYER DOES NOT WORK. DIRECT TV PLAYER INSTALL, UNISTALL, REINSTALL….PROBLEM NOT FIXED!!
I see how old these posts are and it is really sad that even 6-7 years later Direct TV’s Player is in no way working and has yet to be fixed. It is the most frustrating, annoying and irritating thing I have ever had to deal with for a simple player that Direct TV knows is a huge problem and cannot spend the time for a single programmer to fix?? If these “intelligent” tech support people cannot get the CISCO PLAYER to work, try something different! This is not a new problem, this is not a glitch, this is not isolated to a few customers, this is not a PC or MAC issue, this is not a Firefox, IE, Google Chrome issue this is a DIRECT TV issue. This is affecting all of us and we’ve all tried different browsers with no resovle and this is a known issue that has been a problem for years. If Direct TV refuses to acknowledge it, repair it and allow it’s customers to enjoy watching programs on pc’s or tablets, do they just NOT CARE ABOUT US, THEIR CUSTOMERS? I pay a lot of money for the service but I am still forced to pay HULU, NETFLIX and CBS in order to watch my tv shows/movies on my laptop. It is simply ridiculous and unfair. I want to make sure this issue does NOT go away until Direct TV actually fixes it. I had DISH for 10 years and NEVER had a problem like this. How is it that Direct TV has gone this long, heard thousands of complaints and still does NOTHING to fix this?? I’ve only been with Direct TV for 3 months and the “INSTALL PLAYER ISSUE” is no joke, it’s not funny anymore and the Customer Service reps have no clue how to fix it or help us. I’ve called numerous times and just like everyone else I am told to “CLEAR CACHE AND COOKIES THEN UNISTALL AND RE-INSTALL AND IT WILL WORK FINE”. It’s all lies and I am sick and tired of having to 1. Call and ask for help only to be told by every rep I’ve spoken to the same instructions that DO NOT WORK. PLEASE DIRECT TV PUT US OUT OF OUR MISERY AND FIX THIS CISCO/DIRECT TV PLAYER INSTALL ISSUE FINALLY!!!
I AM GOING TO KEEP POSTING THIS OVER AND OVER WITH EACH COMPLAINT IN HOPES THEY GET SICK OF IT AND FIX THE PLAYER!!
Kudos. Nailed it.
Have had the same issue for 2 years with Surface 3 and Win 8.1.
“Clear the cache”… then they blame Microsoft.
Does Spectrum work as I am ready to switch and I have 2 house paying over $300/ mo and when I travel I still have to rent movies…….
Been with ATT for over 40years….end of an era I guess.
To be fair Microsoft is also to blame….I was going to pay $120 to upgrade to Win10 and tech at Microsoft store in Dallas told me the surface really is not a tablet!
Just an FYI…..Spectrum DOES work. And I’m also to the point of dropping DirecTV. I’ve had 2 DirecTV accts and a Time Warner/Spectrum acct for too many years to count but i travel with my laptop and hate not being able to watch movies i reant on DTV. SUCKS!!!! They already dropped 2 of the local channels we watch the most and along with this issue i’d pull my hair out if i wasnt bald.