The last couple of days, youtube (both app and browser) will display search results and static previews, but will not load and play videos, only:

1. On my home wifi/ISP
2. When not logged into youtube account

Happens on all devices. Switching to a VPN or cellular network, or if logged into a google/youtube account, and everything works fine. Nobody in the house uploads content. I’ve reset devices and modem and removed/reinstalled apps. No dice.

Did Youtube ban my home IP from anonymous viewing? Something else I need to look at?

Are you using a VPN?  Try turning it off.

How about a different browser?  Not logged in then logged in.

If you know all your passwords, delete all browser cookies and cache, close and reopen and try again.

What browser are you using?

This issue does not sound like the whole "disable your ad blocker" thing from a few months ago.

Different browsers and different devices make no difference.

Using a VPN is what DOES allow Youtube to play videos. It’s when I’m NOT on a VPN that playback won’t work. It appears to be tied to my home network or IP address, because the same devices work fine with Youtube anywhere else.

Dns settings on home network?

Unplug your ISP's modem for 5 minutes. Plug back in. Unless you have a static, public IP address (unlikely), it should grab a new wan IP from your ISP.

On a Windows machine, open the command prompt and type up config /flushdns

Then try YouTube

Use freetube, freetubeapp.io

Subscribe to channels without an account
No ads
Download audio or video, your choice
Blur Thumbnails
Display titles without excessive capitalization
Etc, etc etc.

I have been using it for years. Currently on version 0.20, still in Beta but it works great.

https://freetubeapp.io/

I did try that yesterday, did not work. I think my ISP (Xfinity/Comcast) does keep you on the same IP address for a long time, based on the MAC address of the device your modem connects to (router in my case). My next step was going to be cloning over a new MAC address on the router then resetting the modem.

For whatever reason, everything is working fine now. Not because of anything I did that I can pinpoint, though.

Thank you for all the responses.