“VLC media player could play back Blu-ray discs, right? Why is there a notice that says ‘no valid processing key found in AACS config file’ when I tried to play back a Blu-ray disc with VLC? What’s wrong with VLC? What can I do to fix this aacs config file missing error?”

As the world’s most popular free and open source media player suite, VLC media player has been widely accepted. It’s available on multiple platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android OS. You could use VLC media player to play most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols.

The 2.0 and later version of VLC Media Player could now even play back Blu-ray media files with some extra plugins installed. However, for legal reasons, AACS and BD+ DRM libraries and keys still are not shipped to VLC media player. That means only Blu-ray disc with AACS libraries exposed is supported. Therefore, sometimes you will be prompted with notes like “No valid processing key found in AACS config file” from VLC media player when you try to play certain Blu-ray discs.
In this guide, we would like to introduce you solutions to fix “No valid processing key found in AACS config file” error.

Part 1: How to fix "no valid processing key found in AACS config file" for Windows/Mac users

As mentioned above, with some extra plugins or processing keys configured, VLC media player could play back Blu-ray discs with AACS protections. The operation would vary according to the computer systems. Here we would like to show you how to fix “No valid processing key found in AACS config file” error on Windows and Mac computers respectively.

For Windows users:
Step 1: Go to videolan.org, download, install and run the latest version of VLC for your system.
Step 2: Go to: https://vlc-bluray.whoknowsmy.name/ to download the KEYS DATABASE (KEYDB.cfg) and AACS DYNAMIC LIBRARY (libaacs.dll for Windows or libaacs.dylib for Mac).
Step 3: Open your user area at directory of C:\Users\[your username]\AppData.
Step 4: Under Folder Options – View tab then select “show hidden files…”->click ok button to view hidden files and folders.
Step 5: Open “AppData” directory or create a folder and name it aacs.
Step 6: Place the downloaded KEYDB.cfg file in this folder directly.
Step 7: then go to “C:\Program Files” [Or “C:\Program Files (x86)” if running 64bit]
Step 8: Navigate to “VLC” directory, and move the libaacs.dll file into it.
Now, you could freely play back Blu-ray discs with AACS on VLC media player.

For Mac users:
Step 1: Download and install VLC media player, and download the Keys DATABASE and AACS DYNAMIC LIBRARY as mentioned above.
Step 2: Put the Keys DATABASE file into ~/Library/Preferences/aacs/ (create it if it does not exist)
Step 3: Right-click on VLC, choose “Show package contents” and put the AACS Dynamic Library file in Contents/MacOS/lib/
Now, you could freely play back Blu-ray discs with AACS on Mac computer by using VLC media player easily.
It should be noted that VLC media player currently doesn’t support disc menu on both Windows and Mac computers. Therefore, must manually select title to play.

Part 2: What to do when you can't fix this issue of VLC Media Player

What should you do if you can’t fix the error “No valid processing file found in aacs config file” on VLC media player? We here have collected 2 effective solutions for you:

Solution 1: Turn to Leawo Blu-ray Ripper – Get rid of AACS protection

Leawo Blu-Ray Ripper is a professional Blu-ray ripping and converting program that could help you decrypt, rip and convert Blu-ray movies from disc, folder and ISO image file to 4K/1080P/720P/common videos in 180+ file formats. That means you could rip and convert Blu-ray to HD MP4, MOV, MKV, WMV, etc.
The most important feature is that Leawo Blu-ray Ripper comes with the latest and most advanced disc decrypting technology that could decrypt and rip Blu-ray discs with AACS, BD+ and the latest MKB protection, and CSS-DVD discs. Therefore, you could freely watch Blu-ray discs with all these disc protections on any media players like VLC media player, QuickTime player, Windows Media Player, etc.

Tip: Leawo Blu-ray Ripper has been merged into Leawo Prof. Media, the 10-in-1 total media converter suite that includes HD Video Converter, Online Video Downloader, Blu-ray Ripper, Blu-ray Creator, Blu-ray Copy, DVD Ripper, DVD Creator, DVD Copy, Photo Maker and Photo to DVD/Blu-ray Burner.

Follow the below steps to learn how to rip and convert Blu-ray discs with AACS protection to videos files for unlimited playback on VLC media player and other media players.

Step 1: Add source Blu-ray discs
After you have downloaded the software, Leawo Prof. Media, click “Blu-ray Ripper” to enter the main interface. Import the Blu-ray disc on your computer to Leawo Blu-ray Ripper by clicking the “Add Blu-ray/DVD” button. Then you will be provided three options to import Blu-ray file(s): Full Mode, Main Movie and Custom Mode. Choose a mode and select title(s) if necessary, and then click “OK” button to start importing Blu-ray movie.

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Step 2: Set output profile
In the main interface, in a drop-down box named MP4 Video by default, you can find Edit, Change and Apply options. Click “Change” option to enter the Profile panel to select output format. You could choose from Format or Device tab to set output format. HD video formats (including 4K) are available for setting as output format.

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If you want to set the parameters of the video, you can select “Edit” option on the drop-down menu to enter the Profile Settings panel to adjust Video Codec, Bit Rate, Resolution, Frame Rate, Aspect Ratio, audio codec, bit rate, channel, etc.

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Step 3: Set output directory
Later, after setting output format, go back to the main interface and then click the big green “Convert” button. On the popup sidebar, set a directory under “Save” box.

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Step 4: Convert Blu-ray to video
Finally, you can just click Convert button at the bottom right corner to start converting Blu-ray to video files. Leawo Blu-ray Ripper would then start to rip and convert Blu-ray to video files. The AACS protection removal and other disc protection removal job happen in the background.

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After converting, you will get protection-free video files from source Blu-ray disc/folder/ISO image file. Then, you could freely watch the output video files on your computer with any media player like VLC media player.

Solution 2: Leawo Blu-ray Player

Leawo Blu-ray Player is another solution we would like to recommend to you as an alternative to VLC media player. It’s the world’s first region-free Blu-ray media player that could play back Blu-ray discs with AACS, BD+ and the latest MKB protection, and CSS-DVD discs. Meanwhile, it’s a totally free Blu-ray disc player that costs you no penny. What’s more, you don’t need to install any extra decoder file or configuration file for playing back Blu-ray discs with AACS protection.

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Check the below steps to learn how to use Leawo Blu-ray Player to play back Blu-ray discs on Windows and Mac computer, regardless of disc protection and region restriction:
1. Insert your Blu-ray disc into the Blu-ray drive. And make sure your Blu-ray drive has been connected to your computer.
2. Download and install Leawo Blu-ray Player on your computer. Download Leawo Blu-ray Player according to your own computer system. Mac users could refer to Leawo Blu-ray Player for Mac.
3. Launch Leawo Blu-ray Player. It will detect your Blu-ray drive and then display the disc name on the home interface.
4. Click the disc name to start to play back Blu-ray disc with Leawo Blu-ray Player.
5. Leawo Blu-ray Player supports menu control via virtual remote controller. During playing, you could adjust video, audio and subtitles as you like.

Between these 2 alternative solutions to VLC aacs config file missing error, we would strongly recommend Leawo Blu-ray Player. Now, Leawo Blu-ray Player even enables you to convert Blu-ray to lossless MKV. That means now you could free your Blu-ray discs and play back Blu-ray discs in lossless MKV files on computer.

Extra: Other Common Errors When Playing Blu-ray in VLC Media Player

Besides the error of “VLC no valid processing file found in aacs config file”, there might be other errors during using VLC media player. For example,
“I downloaded the latest version of VLC which is 2.1.3 Rincewind. Then I followed the instructions above and put everything in the right directory, but when I try to play the Blu-ray disc, I get this error message:

Blu-ray error:
This Blu-ray Disc needs a library for AACS decoding, and your system does not have it.

Your input can’t be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL ‘bluray:///D:/’. Check the log for details.”

Actually, we should know that VLC doesn’t support Blu-ray discs playback unless you have installed certain disc processing config files for VLC media player like the aacs config file. However, due to the legality, AACS and BD+ DRM libraries and keys haven’t been shipped in many countries and regions.