Find that your Google Chromecast is throwing a “Source not supported” error every time you try to cast from your Chrome browser?
This has been an ongoing issue where tons of reports from users who were unable to cast ever since Google update 79.0.3945 — Blink 79.
We’ve tried and tested some of the methods below and found them effective at fixing the “Chromecast Source Not Supported” issue. In this post, we will show you step-by-step on how you can follow along and try the solutions so that you can fix your Chromecast device. By the end of this post, you will able to cast whatever you want (YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, etc.) from your search browser without any issue.
Let’s jump right in.
- Enable Mirroring Service
- Restart Both Your Chromecast, Computer, and Wi-Fi Router
- Turn Off All Ad-Blockers and VPN
- Enable the Cast Media Route Provider Option
- Install the Latest Chrome Updates
- Factory Reset the Chromecast Device
1. Enable Mirroring Service.
If you’re using your Chrome browser on your computer and find that you’re unable to cast to the Chromecast, then you will want to make sure that the ‘Mirroring Service’ option is enabled.
This has popularly recommended by users as one of the most effective ways to fix the “Chromecast Source Not Supported.” It’s a little weird to find out that this setting wasn’t enabled by default. However, after chatting with Google’s support team, it’s to our understanding that the recent Google updates that happened to be installed may have incorrectly disabled the setting.
Here’s how you can enable the Mirroring Service on Google Chrome on your machine (Windows, Mac or Linux):
- Open your Google Chrome search browser.
- Type in chrome://flags into the browser and hit Enter
- Next, press both your CTRL + F keys on your keyboard to bring up the Find tool. Alternatively, you can just use the search bar at the top (available on the latest Chrome versions).
- Type in Mirroring, which we want to look for and hit Enter.
- You should now be able to locate the “Mirroring Service” option as it will be highlighted (as shown below).
- Click on the dropdown menu on the right to make sure that you select it as Enabled.
- Lastly, we will need to restart Google Chrome to have the changes take effect. To do this, close the search browser by hitting the X (top-right) and re-open Google Chrome.
That’s it! You can now retry to cast what you want to watch again to see if it gets cast onto your Chromecast device without throwing the “Chromecast Source Not Supported” error message.
2. Restart Your Chromecast, Computer, and Wi-Fi Router.
Besides enabling the Mirroring Service option in Chrome, it’s also worth trying to restart your Chromecast device, computer, and even the Wi-Fi router.
A few users have suggested that after restarting the Chromecast device, the issues stopped occurring and they were able to successfully cast from their computer onto wherever the Chromecast was connected.
For the sake of added measure, we recommend that you restart the computer and Wi-Fi router just so that we know that the issue does not lie with either of those sources.
Here’s what you do:
- Firstly, turn off your TV, which your Chromecast is connected to.
- Next, unplug your Chromecast from the TV. You will also want to unplug the power cord from the Chromecast device. Leave it unplugged for at least 1 minute.
- Great! We will come back to the Chromecast in a little while. Let’s turn off the Wi-Fi Router now. Now, if you’re using an internet modem and a Wi-Fi router, you will have to turn off both. To turn it off, there will be a Power button on the modem/router box, which you will need to press (steps may vary depending on the type of modem/router you’re using).
- After a minute or two, turn your modem/router back on and let it start back up.
- Now hop onto your computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux, whatever it is you’re using) and restart it too.
- When your computer restarts back up, reconnect to the Wi-Fi.
- Now turn on the TV and reconnect your Chromecast to the TV. Don’t forget to plug the power cord for your Chromecast back in!
- Finally, allow the Chromecast some time to re-setup everything and then try to cast once again from Chrome.
Assuming you’ve done both Method 1 and Method 2 now, you should now be able to cast what you want to watch onto your Chromecast without any issues. However, if you’re still getting the ‘Source not supported’ error on your Chromecast, then read on.
3. Turn Off All Ad-Blockers and VPN.
Turning off the adblockers that you have installed for your search browser have also been reported by users to have fixed the issue. The reason being, adblockers work by blocking pop-ups and preventing Javascript scripts from running. In our case, it may be what’s impeding the browser from locating the source and causing the ‘Source not supported’ error message.
To disable such browser extensions on Google Chrome, here’s how you do it:
- Open your Google Chrome browser and click on the three-dot icon (right next to your Google profile image).
- From the dropdown menu, select More tools and then click on Extensions.
- Now in your Extensions page, locate the adblocker you’re using and toggle the blue switch underneath the extension to turn it off (grey means it’s turned off).
- Restart your browser and try to cast again to your Chromecast.
It’s also crucial that you disable any proxy services such as VPN from running in the background of your computer or mobile device. VPN services can mask your IP address to appear as if you’re located in the country you’ve chosen as your VPN server. This causes the browser to get confused and then throw the error.
To disable your VPN service, open the VPN service that you’re using (ExpressVPN, NordVPN, Surfshark, etc.) and then hit the Disconnect button.
Note
You will want to double-check if the VPN is really disabled by going into your Task Manager (Windows) or Activity Monitor (Mac) to see if the VPN is still running in the background. Make sure to end the application from running fully.
You can also choose to temporarily uninstall the VPN application to see if it solves the problem.
Again try to recast to your Chromecast and see if it does so successfully. Let us know by commenting down below if this method above works to fix the issue for you.
4. Enable the Cast Media Route Provider Option.
Besides enabling the ‘Mirroring Service’ option, which you did so in Method 1, we’ve also found that by enabling the ‘Cast Media Route Provider’ option, it managed to fix the ‘Source Not Supported’ issue.
The steps are pretty much the same as what you’ve done in Method 1, but for the purposes of this post, we will reiterate over the steps again:
- Open your Google Chrome search browser.
- Type in chrome://flags into the browser and hit Enter
- Next, press both your CTRL + F keys on your keyboard to bring up the Find tool. Alternatively, you can just use the search bar at the top (available on the latest versions of Chrome).
- Type in Cast Media Route, which we want to look for and hit Enter.
- Now, you should be able to locate the “Cast Media Route Provider” option as it will be highlighted (as shown below).
- Click on the dropdown menu on the right to make sure that you select it as Enabled.
- Lastly, we will need to restart Google Chrome to have the changes take effect. To do this, close the search browser by hitting the X (top-right) and reopen Google Chrome.
This method helped to fix the issue for us along which we also accompanied with Method 1 and Method 3.
5. Install the Latest Chrome Updates.
Keeping up-to-date with the latest Google Chrome updates is something that we ought to do, but frankly, most of us just ignore it altogether and expect it to be taken care of by itself.
The truth is, sometimes, the auto-update feature of the search browser doesn’t work, and when you go into your browser settings, you find that there are pending updates waiting to be installed.
So it’s always a good idea to check in on the search browser to see if there are any updates.
If you do not know how to manually check for updates for your Google Chrome browser, here’s how:
- Open your Google Chrome browser and then click on the three-dot icon (right next to your Google profile image).
- From the dropdown menu, select Help and click on About Google Chrome.
- You will be redirected to the About Chrome page, where it will automatically begin to search if there are any new updates available to be installed. If there are new updates available, then you will want to Download them.
After the update is installed, it’s highly recommended that you restart the browser for the changes to take effect. Once you’ve restarted it, you can try once again to cast the video you want to watch onto your Chromecast.
6. Factory Reset the Chromecast Device.
If you’ve tried all of the above solutions and you find that nothing works, then we suggest that you try to factory reset your Chromecast device.
Factory resetting the Chromecast will any faults and technical issues with the device as it will be reset back to how you first got it (hence why it is called factory reset).
To factory reset your Google Chromecast, the following steps should help out.
If you’re on Chromecast (1st Generation)
- While you have the Chromecast plugged into your TV, hold down on the button on the Chromecast device for at least 25 seconds or until the LED light turns into a flashing red light.
- Once the LED light turns blinking white, you should see the TV screen goes blank. At this point, you can release the button.
- Lastly, allow your Chromecast device to undergo its reboot sequence, which may take a few seconds. You can begin to set up the device as new.
Alternatively
You can also factory reset your Chromecast from your Google Home app available on both Android and iOS (iPhone & iPad) devices. Simply open the Google Home app > Your Chromecast Device > Settings > More > Factory Reset > Factory Rest.
If you’re on Chromecast (2nd generation), Chromecast, or Chromecast Ultra
- First, make sure to plug your Chromecast into your TV.
- Next, hold down on the button on the side of your Chromecast until the LED light starts blinking orange.
- When the LED light turns blinking white, release the button and allow the Chromecast to undergo its reboot. This can take a few seconds.
- Lastly, you can begin setting up the device as new.
Once you’ve successfully factory reset the Chromecast device, you can retest to see if you’re able to cast without any issues.
That’s pretty much it. If you have any questions, please comment down below, and we will try our best to help. Likewise, you can also go through the other user comments below to learn what has worked for them and what hasn’t.
P.S. If you’ve found a better solution to fix the Chromecast ‘Source not supported’ error message, then share it below. We will credit you with the solution the next time we update this post. 😄
If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂
I tried each of the suggested fixes – 1 thru 6 on https://www.saintlad.com/chromecast-source-not-supported/ and there was no change. Chromecast is working fine with my iPhone IOS 13.6 but my laptop continues to tell me that for 3 separate devices “source not supported”. I’m lucky that our cable service has a NetFlix app, but for casting from my laptop I am out of luck and up a creek (so far)
Help!
Yeap. Same Problem as Doug have. Need solution.
Same issue. This did not fix my issue.
I also tried all the steps with no luck. I then turned off all my extensions. Rebooted Chrome and was then able to cast. I enabled the extensions one by one and none of them changed the ability to cast. So the issue may be caused when one of the extensions is used after being enabled.
Thank you so much.
I used method 1 in the Dissenter Browser and it worked perfectly… I am so grateful, hours of frustration instantly gone.
Oddly I could still cast YT when I had this issue but everywhere else I couldn’t cast.