I was just trying to watch a program on Fen in Kodi 20.1. I selected the episode. As was scraping, the first boxes were gray, as usual. The latter ones were red. When this happened in the past, the load was never successful. When it went to the next screen, the buffering sign was there. I closed Kodi because I knew it would not complete the search. When I opened it again, my favorites and my add-ons are missing. I started the process of adding the add-ons back and got the error message: For security purposes, add-ons from unknown sources has been disabled. When I went to settings, unknown sources was toggled off. I have to start all over again. I’ve had this device and have had add-ons and favorites for almost a year. What happened to wipe it clearn. What I described is exactly what I did. Nothing more. Nothing less. It makes no sense to me.
How did you close Kodi? Did you force stop the app? Did you accidentally clear data on the Kodi app?
It honestly sounds like an accidental clear data selection. That would reset Kodi to the point in which you describe in your post.
However, I will say that I have had my share of issues when using the Fen addon with Kodi 20.1. So I wouldn’t doubt that this could be the culprit of your issues as well. When I have had my issues, I as well have had to start from the beginning and reload every repository, addon, settings, etc.
If FEN continues to be an issue for you, than I would suggest using a fork of the addon called EZRA. This is nearly identical to the addon of which you are using.
Hope this helps, sorry to hear about the issues you are facing.
I back clicked out and then restarted. I too thought it souded like a clear data issue but I didn’t do that. I have had a number of issues since I updated to Kodi 20.1. I had added FEN when I was still on 19.4 then 20.0 and didn’t have any issues so I thought it was Kodi 20.1. I read about backups and wanted to do that rather than have to go through the entire setup all over again in case of an issue. I was criticized and questioned by other members about why I would want to back up because it is so quick and easy to just enter it all again. I did set up a backup but could not find it last night when I had to start over. I was never get a lot of info on how to do it, especially as it related to the best place to store the backups. It took me 2 1/2 hours to set Kodi up again during the night last night. That’s what I was hoping to avoid. And even when I did get it set back up, there were movies I had in favorites that I wanted to watch and don’t remember all of them. Also my library had populated with movie suggestions and that’s empty now. I very much like a lot of things about FEN but if I continue to have issues I will try EZRA, I may just try it anyway and see it any of my issues resolve. Thanks so much for the information.
Sorry this happened but really starting from scratch is the best thing you can do. It may take a long time to do it but you learn more this way and trust me you will get better and faster. I’ve been using KODI for 6 years and I struggled back in the day but now can do a Fresh Install of KODI, and pair Real Debrid and Trakt in 15 minutes or less. You will get there. May I also suggest looking into Trakt TV. It is Free and will keep Track of all your Movies/TV Shows as well as where you are and will mark episodes watched. The best thing is it is cloud based so anytime you need to do a Fresh Install of KODI all your stuff is still there. And Finally don’t get stuck on one Addon. They pretty much all do the same. Try looking into The Crew or 9Lives. 9Lives has been working great for several months on 20 and 20.1
Thanks for the info. I hadn’t heard of 9Lives. I started out with The Crew and once I tried FEN, I liked it better. It wasn’t the fresh install that took the time, it was adding the add-ons back [primariy typing in the urls] and doing the searches for my favorite tv series and getting them added back. I must have had another app on before it was wiped clean. When I started typing urls or tv show/movie names, possible matches were listed above the keyboard and I was able to select one without having to type in the complete url or show/movie name. None appeared last night. I would love to know what that might have been. I tried Trakt and was not a fan. Generally speaking, I don’t care for anything cloud based. FEN marked the shows I watch either ocmpletely or partially. I was fine with that. I have tried several apps and don’t consider myself stuck on any one. Thanks again for the info.
Why did you not like Trakt? Because every time you need a fresh install of KODI your gonna lose your favorites. Anyway good luck
Search for a program addon called “AutoCompletion for virtual keyboard”
This addon is a program addon available in the official Kodi repository that comes preinstalled on all versions of Kodi.
This addon will perform the task of allowing you to select titles of TV Shows and Movies above the keyboard.
I don’t think it will work with URLs though. I am not sure, I have never tried it this way.
Thank you for the tip! It does work with urls.
Very few use it, but there is a backup program for Kodi in the Kodi programs. It works great and is a huge time saver. Also if you prefer an older version of something (I’m not a fan of the new Seren) and my backup of Kodi has my old seren in it. Everything will be re-installed except your Trakt and Debrid connections. But all your add-ons and favorites will be restored. Huge time saver and it works. I just save the backup on a flash drive.
Thank you. I had seen that program and had read about others. When they discuss storage, all of the articles simply say decide where you want to store the backup. I have never been able to find a disucssion about the pros and cons of the different storage options. A flash drive is easy enough. What size is needed?
My flash drive appears to be 8 GB. I have 3 different Kodi backups (different dates so I can choose a different restore point if needed) on the drive and a few other things and I still have over 2.23 GB of space left on the flash drive.
I had to uninstall fin i got a warning from real-debride that i would lose debride and i dont know why !!
I don’t understand why anyone would deal with installing Kodi. I had it for several years and could not keep up with the changes , programs acting quirky and obligated to real-debride to make everything.viewed, workable and stable . The best thing was the fire stick, side loading going to streaming TV service which is more stable with no surprises.I have a VPN but not needed for my streaming TV service. I have been using it for 5 years and 150.00 yearly-no buffering and runs perfect every day. I didn’t have the patience for Kodi. I found it interesting in the beginning but frustrating at the end. Not fun and not stable. Very unstable with many surprises.
Glad you have a service that works for you but considering that this is for the most part a cord cutting forum you might be posting in the wrong place 
Seriously though a lot of us here enjoy keeping up with the changes needed in order to continue getting flawless streams on KODI, Stremio, etc that I and many of us have been getting for years. One thing that is certain in this Hobby is change and things are gonna break and new solutions will be needed.
Like @BigDave mentioned in another thread, Kodi is almost more of a hobby. It is completely dependant on the person using it and their tastes and what they want to get out of it. I enjoy fiddling with Kodi, but just don’t like it enough to be my main source of cordcutting, but I can see why people
I totally get it. back in the day I enjoyed short wave radio. Sorry for posting in the wrong forum. I did like the challenge but just got tired of it after a while. Maybe I am showing my age.Different strokes for different folks. I can appreciate where you are coming from.
I was 1/2 Joking about posting in the wrong Forum. I’ve just been using KODI for so long that it’s very easy for me when I need to change Builds, Addons, fix stuff and KODI has gotten soooo much easier and better than back in the day. KODI + RD + Trakt is my go to but yeah different strokes and glad there’s plenty of ways to skin the cat
One thing that you can do to save time, is to have 2 or 3 repositories installed. They don’t take up much memory and it only takes a few minutes to install a new addon if you have the repo already ‘in stock’.
I’ve been using Cinema and then when I select OPEN WITH I choose KODI.
It’s worked perfectly each time. I don’t know if that will help but give it a try.
There’s an app, I only know the iPhone version, IDK if android version exists, but…
It’s a Kodi remote control, I have saved all my addon urls as well as any other necessary url & all I have to do is copy paste, using the app.