I've been watching Disney+ on linux (Chrome, Debian Stable) for some years, but this morning it seems to have stopped working for me.

Does anyone else have this problem? Anyone else able to view Disney+?

It's working fine on my Android phone, with Disney+ app. Same internet connection as my Linux computers.

I tried Firefox and it doesn't work either. Only the menu screens work, when actually trying to view video content, the blue loading swirl shows up but then it's just black.

It was working fine last night.

Thanks!

Since Disney Plus is a paid service, why don't you ask the people you are paying.

Linux is not listed as supported. AFAIK, it has never been listed as supported.

My Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS with GNOME machine has no problems using firefox browser for Disney .

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Thanks so much! I wonder what could be different.

The version I'm using is: Firefox Browser Extended Support Release 102.4.0est (64-bit)

So? You claim it has been working for years. If your browser was unsupported you would get a message saying so.

When you are using a paid service, the first step should always be to check the support you are paying for, both because you're already paying for it and because they should know the service better than anyone else, and thus are able to troubleshoot more effectively.

What is your problem? Are you not aware of the long history of Linux developers and users have of getting stuff to work with Linux despite lack of vendor support? Just what do you think this web site is for?

If I have a problem it's that you don't seem to want to help yourself.

I didn't link to this originally, because I figured pointing at the official Disney Help Centre would be more helpful.
There's no evidence this is actually a Linux issue, but if you want support here there's plenty of details lacking:

You've not included the version of Debian you're using. ("Stable" does not confirm whether you're on 11.0 or 11.5 or somewhere in-between, and desktop environment can be relevant too.)
You've not said what version of Chrome you're using, and when that last changed?
You didn't originally state which version of Firefox you were running, and haven't confirmed whether that version of Firefox has been used and working with the service in the past?
How are these browsers installed (via apt or flatpak/snap/etc)?
Does your system have any logs of changes (i.e. automatic updates or config changes) that may have happened between when things worked and when they didn't?

In addition to providing those details, how about actually looking at the support pages and trying some of the troubleshooting steps they suggest...

No seriously, what is wrong with you? I spent many hours trying to determine what was causing the problem, before posting. I researched all sorts of different possible things, including relevant plug ins and DRM settings etc. I already determined that the Disney+ support pages didn't have anything to help me with. They do not support linux.

You list a bunch of things that are frankly not helpful and a waste of time, considering the obvious defaults (Debian Stable without any specification would be up to date with the current Debian Stable; obvious default for how to install Chrome is via the normal suggested method - apt - as well as Firefox being in the default Debian install via the normal Debian way).

I'm not some newbie here, as would be obvious from the stuff listed under my user name. I'm more often providing help than asking for it, and when I've got a good interesting thing to share long term, I make a Blog entry for it. Admittedly it has been a while since I published one of them, but I think it shows I put in the work myself.

I posted mainly to find out the real scope of the problem.

Please note my specific questions:

Do you see any request for figuring out how to solve the problem? No. At that time, I was already trying to figure out how to solve the problem myself. But I was curious whether others were also having the problem, because that helps me figure out what may be going on.

At first, I thought you were merely trying to be helpful. So, I didn't dismiss your advice, I simply noted the relevant information about it. The Disney+ support pages do not have anything related to troubleshooting the problem in linux. It's not a platform they support.

First thing I would try is changing your user agent. Some sites refuse to load if firefox is dated.

I just had a site refuse to load with a firefox 101 user agent. It loaded when I reported version 106.

I keep a current list for my own software. Here is a quick copy/paste.

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I don't see any parts of your previous posts where you communicated your research efforts, nor the things you've ruled out.

Part of effective troubleshooting is checking the obvious, because it's always easy to make assumptions and overlook things, and no matter how how long one has been doing something, it's also easy to get fixated and forget to take a step back.

Noting specific versions of software is also useful because if there is a version-specific problem, someone else might upgrade, discover the same issue, and perhaps they identify that the only relevant change was (e.g.) going from Firefox 102.3.0esr to 102.4.0esr, and thus use that information in a search to see if they are alone or not.

*shrug*

I apologize for interrupting your survey with unwanted attempts to help.

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It's pretty much the same with NetFlix. The support pages clearly state they do NOT support Linux, but that's never stopped me - or hundreds of thousands of other Linux users - from using the service. Because the planet's most popular browser supports its use in their Linux build.

@ IsaacKuo:-

I appreciate that for many people, Firefox is, and always has been, their preferred browser. Many don't want anything to do with the "Googlesphere", in any way, shape or form.....but have you perhaps thought to just temporarily try Disney+ in one of the Chromium-based browsers?

Still, when all's said & done, even Mozilla has to use the 'approved' Google-provided Widevine components in Firefox, simply because Widevine has devolved into the universally-accepted standard for decoding DRM-protected content. Not being a regular Firefox user, I'm not really up with what Mozilla are currently doing with their browser.....so can't comment further.

@ boughtonp:-

Can't see there's any real need to jump down someone's throat, simply because they don't post a ton of output when they do so? I know it's the preferred way, of course - it demonstrates the individual is trying to solve their own problem - but it's NOT everyone's way, y'know?

P'raps I should keep out of this..!


Mike.

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According to some non-English sites, user-agent switching will restore access to their DRM'd service ... for now.

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Small update - I found a couple others who have been having the same problem as me. One running Xubuntu 22.04 LTS, so that's interesting. Anyway, we're still working on it.

If we figure out anything that fixes things or is promising, I'll update here. For now, at least some of the issue seems to look like 403 errors in logs, so that's server-side. I dunno though ... maybe something to do with authentication client side of course.

Obviously, it's a lot easier for us who are experiencing the problem to troubleshoot.

Thanks! The behavior seems the same in Firefox, Chrome, and Edge (which I actually don't know how to run in Linux, but one of the other folks I found tried Edge; Edge is also Chromium based).

Anyway, it's obviously a lot harder for someone who isn't experiencing the problem to troubleshoot. I'm glad I found a couple others who have the same problem, so we've been able to try a lot of stuff.

And yeah, I'll admit I never heard of Widevine before, but that was one of the first rabbit-holes I went into during my initial troubleshooting. My first guess was something to do with DRM content settings, which I will admit I have had little familiarity with before a few days ago.