Many times unfortunately you encounter various problems with Kodi. Those problems can happen for example when Kodi freezes or a specific add-on can’t start or crashes without a notice and more.
How can you handle such issues? The best way to troubleshoot them is to check the log file of Kodi.
In order to create the log file you need first to enable debug, here is how to do it:
- Launch Kodi
- Click the Settings icon
- Click Event log
- Click Setting
- If the settings level is basic then click on it and change it to standard
- Hover over Logging
- Click Enable debug logging
The log file contains a lot of information about the system status and events, track anything you do like opening an add-on or writing text using the keyboard and also the errors that occurred.
Here is an example how the log file looks like:
14:01:27.296 T:5288 NOTICE: Starting Kodi (17.6 Git:20171114-a9a7a20). Platform: Windows NT x86 32-bit
14:01:27.296 T:5288 NOTICE: Using Release Kodi x32 build
14:01:27.296 T:5288 NOTICE: Kodi compiled Nov 14 2017 by MSVC 190024215 for Windows NT x86 32-bit version 10.0 (0x0A000000)
14:01:27.296 T:5288 NOTICE: Running on Windows 10, kernel: Windows NT x86 64-bit version 10.0
14:01:27.297 T:5288 NOTICE: FFmpeg version/source: ffmpeg-3.1-kodi
14:01:27.297 T:5288 NOTICE: Host CPU: Unknown, 2 cores available
14:01:27.297 T:5288 NOTICE: Desktop Resolution: 1680×1050 32Bit at 75Hz
This is of course only small part of the log file, but you can see in this example details about the version of Kodi, on which platform it runs, details about the CPU and the resolution.
The log file is located in different directories in your file system according to your platform, here is where you can find it:
| Operation system | File location |
|---|---|
| Android | [data/sdcard/Android]/data/org.xbmc.kodi/cache/temp/kodi.log /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/temp/kodi.log /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/temp/kodi.log |
| iOS | /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/kodi.log |
| Linux | $HOME/.kodi/temp/kodi.log |
| macOS | /Users/[username]/Library/Logs/kodi.log |
| Windows desktop | %APPDATA%\Kodi\kodi.log |
| Windows store | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\XBMCFoundation.Kodi_4n2hpmxwrvr6p\LocalCache\Roaming\Kodi\kodi.log |
When troubleshooting your first step is to locate the log file and next to locate the problem in the log file. Once you found the relevant error, you can search for it in Google (and even solve the problem by yourself) or ask in related Facbook groups or forums about the error.
Once you have an answer the next step is to try this suggestion and see if it works. If it still doesn’t work keep asking with the information taken from the log attached and hopefully you will find the solution to your problem.