ytdl-org/youtube-dl · error · ExtractorError

Unable to login: %s

Error message

Unable to login: %s

What it means

Error "Unable to login: %s" thrown in ytdl-org/youtube-dl.

Source

Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py:350

            'lsd': lsd,
            'lgnrnd': lgnrnd,
            'next': 'http://facebook.com/home.php',
            'default_persistent': '0',
            'legacy_return': '1',
            'timezone': '-60',
            'trynum': '1',
        }
        request = sanitized_Request(self._LOGIN_URL, urlencode_postdata(login_form))
        request.add_header('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded')
        try:
            login_results = self._download_webpage(request, None,
                                                   note='Logging in', errnote='unable to fetch login page')
            if re.search(r'<form(.*)name="login"(.*)</form>', login_results) is not None:
                error = self._html_search_regex(
                    r'(?s)<div[^>]+class=(["\']).*?login_error_box.*?\1[^>]*><div[^>]*>.*?</div><div[^>]*>(?P<error>.+?)</div>',
                    login_results, 'login error', default=None, group='error')
                if error:
                    raise ExtractorError('Unable to login: %s' % error, expected=True)
                self._downloader.report_warning('unable to log in: bad username/password, or exceeded login rate limit (~3/min). Check credentials or wait.')
                return

            fb_dtsg = self._search_regex(
                r'name="fb_dtsg" value="(.+?)"', login_results, 'fb_dtsg', default=None)
            h = self._search_regex(
                r'name="h"\s+(?:\w+="[^"]+"\s+)*?value="([^"]+)"', login_results, 'h', default=None)

            if not fb_dtsg or not h:
                return

            check_form = {
                'fb_dtsg': fb_dtsg,
                'h': h,
                'name_action_selected': 'dont_save',
            }
            check_req = sanitized_Request(self._CHECKPOINT_URL, urlencode_postdata(check_form))
            check_req.add_header('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded')

View on GitHub (pinned to 956b8c5855)

Solutions

1. Check your Facebook credentials; pass cookies with --cookies if login fails.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at youtube_dl/extractor/facebook.py:350 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ytdl-org/youtube-dl@956b8c5855 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f959b2dbd3f5bf32. Report an issue: GitHub.