Ubuntu won’t play DVD? Even after you installed all codecs from Ubuntu Restricted Extra package? Welcome to the club. You are not alone who cannot play DVD in Ubuntu Ubuntu 14.04. In this quick tip, I’ll show you how to fix the issues with playing DVD or even encrypted DVD in Ubuntu 14.04.
This issue was raised by an It’s FOSS reader Etienne Batori on things to do after installing Ubuntu 13.10. Here we shall see, in a more organized way, what we did to fix this issue of Ubuntu not reading DVDs.
Play DVDs in Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04:
We need to install few codecs required specifically to play DVDs comfortably. These are:
- libdvdcss2: to recognize DVD
- libdvdread4: to read DVD
- libdvdnav4: to navigate DVD
Step 1:
First step (actually optional) is to get VLC media player. You can install VLC from Ubuntu Software Center or using the following command in terminal:
sudo apt-get install vlcOnce you have it installed, install libdvdcss2. It used to come by default with Medibuntu repository. But since Medibuntu is no longer available, you will have to install this library from the VLC repository. Use the links bellow to install libdvdcss2:
Double click on the downloaded deb files to install it via Ubuntu Software Center. Alternatively, you can use GDebi to install .deb files more easily.
Step 2:
Once we have it, lets install libdvdread4 and libdvdnav4. Use the following command in the terminal:
sudo apt-get install libdvdread4 libdvdnav4If the DVD play back does not work, try to set your region code. You can follow the instructions given here to set the region code. It worked for me without it.
That would be it. I hope that after completing all these steps, you would be able to play DVD in Ubuntu 14.04 (as well as in Linux Mint 17). Let me know if it worked for you or if you still can’t read DVD in Ubuntu 16.04 or Ubuntu 14.04.
I'm using Kubuntu 16.04
I followed the instructions and it worked, thank you.
However, since I rebooted my laptop it no longer works.
When I try to open a DVD in VLC media player, I get :
Playback failure:
DVDRead could not open the disc "/dev/sr0".
Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'dvd:///dev/sr0'. Check the log for details.
I followed the instructions again, but it still doesn't work.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank You so much! It worked after thousand of attempts from other sources. You are brilliant.
I have used Ubuntu for more than ten years and it still frustrates me. Evidently when I upgraded from 12.04 to 14.04 in December I lost the ability to read DVDs, which I had before. When my wife brought home a DVD from the Library it wouldn't play. I spent several hours typing in commands offered by various sites as the solution to the problem before finding your site. Your instructions worked perfectly. Thank you very much. I assume the problem is that one of the necessary codexes is proprietary and Ubuntu refuses to include it in its distribution. That's well and good, but the purpose of an OS is to allow the user to use his computer -- not to demonstrate one's objection to practices of the commercial software world. How many thousands have given up on Ubuntu and returned to Windows? When Totem doesn't recognize a DVD couldn't it at least give a more helpful message than "An error has occurred"? And yes, I like VCL much better.
As a classic mystery lover, have you read The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (1946)?
Thanks again.
I did a fresh install of Ubuntu Mate 16.04. CD/DVD’s not working. Installed Ubuntu Restricted Extras. VLC was pre installed. Also installed “libdvdcss2” (32 bit), “libdvdread4”, “libdvdnav4” thru the terminal. When I go to play an instructional CD, a CD icon shows up on my desktop with the title of the CD showing that’s it’s in the CD-dvd rom. Back in Computer there is nothing showing that the CD is in the player, in either of the CD/DVD’s.
It seems to me that when I installed Ubuntu 12.04 that just putting in the Restricted Extras did the trick
I don’t know what to do first, or if there is a less complicated way to do this.
Before I go any further, and mess things up...Please help.
Thanks
Hi, I bought a new TSST TS-U633A USB 3.0 drive and I an not able to use it in Linux. Mac is no problem. Linux (Lubuntu 16.04) is mounting it but no software will play the movie-files. MakeMKV is saying that there is protection on it that is not able to work around. Region is "SET", according to the terminal. And it is the correct region for my original DVD. So I used your libdvdcss2, but still not possible.
Install Mint 18 {Sarah} and after much tearing-out of hair, this worked. Thanks Heaps!!
Any idea why When I run
sudo apt-get install libdvd-pkg
I get this?
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
???
You probably tried installing something else and haven't closed the process.
If everything else has been closed, use this command, with caution:
sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
The "lock" file is exactly that, a file called "lock" in the folder "/var/lib/dpkg/" which the package manager checks for whenever it performs an action. If it finds the "lock" file it won't proceed; if you delete it, you can get back to doing what you wanted.
Thanks! It worked like a charm. I want to tell you that I have been having this issue for a couple of years. I will insert a CD/DVD and nothing would happen. I resigned to believing that the drive is faulty and I need to replace it. You saved me some money. Thanks again!
This worked for me on 16.04.
Thanks! That was the missing piece to the puzzle.
Thanks a ton!
Thank you.
It worked fine for me on 14.04 (although step 2 was not needed, i.e. done previously whilst trying to get the thing working). VLC was there, but I removed it and installed it back. I think the libdvdcss2 install (using the plain built in application installer) did the trick. Just too bad you need you need so much fiddlings to get a simple function (playing dvd) to work. Probably some restriction on licenses prevents Ubuntu to distribute a finished OS. But I remain a fan anyway. Thank you again. Regards.
You should probably clarify whether both 32/64 bit versions of libdvdcss2 need to be installed, or only the appropriate one for the reader's OS.
Great stuff.
I postponed DVD setup since 14.4 was out and used other computers for playing DVDs.
Now it works!
Abhishek, you are a genius! It worked for my Ubuntu 14.04 as well. Thank you sir! ;)
Welcome Dominik.
Works also on 15.04! Thanks!
Welcome