Roku setup

[raysrodz]

I got the email and the link to activate my new Roku device but when I click the link it goes to a roku page that is blank.

[RokuMary-F]

Hi @raysrodz,

Thanks for reaching out to the Roku community!

I understand that you are unable to complete the activation process. 

First, you can try performing a factory reset on your device. This will reset all settings and return your Roku device to a state ready for initial setup.
For more information on how to perform a factory reset, visit our Support page here: How do I factory reset my Roku® streaming device?

Follow the steps below from your Roku device to perform a factory reset.

1. Press the Home button  on your Roku remote.
2. Scroll up or down and select Settings.
3. Select System.
4. Select Advanced system settings.
5. Select Factory reset.
6. Select Factory reset everything and follow the on-screen instructions.

We also suggest clearing your cookies or cache or reloading the web browser or use a different one to access the activation link.

You may also refer to this link: How do I resolve an issue when activating or ... - Roku

Let us know how it goes! We're hoping this will work for you.

Many thanks,
Mary

[Movie-Fan]

I have exactly the same problem on my new Ultra player.  All of the setup functions complete normally and I am able to enter my E-Mail address and evoke the screen that says an activation E-Mail has been sent.  I download and open the E-Mail and click the activation link.  My browser opens and a blank page is shown.  I have tried this process with variations over 20 times to no avail.  This includes opening the link under Windows 7/Internet Explorer, Windows 7/Firefox 95, Windows 10/Edge and Mac OS/Safari.  Edge and Safari report Error 400 while the others just leave a blank page.  I have even used Wireshark to examine the network traffic that occurs when the link is clicked.  All of these indicate that the link is defective and clearly a Roku problem.

This all started on Tuesday 5/17 after receiving my Ultra from Amazon.  I contacted customer support and initiated a support ticket (#5642754) for which I have only received an initial response verifying the ticket was open.  I even sent a reply providing the link URL for support to try.  So far no response.  I am really very upset at this issue and am considering returning the unit to Amazon and purchasing an AppleTV player.

FYI:  THE ultra is connected to a wired router port (no WiFi here) and a LG HD TV.  Comments please.

[Movie-Fan]

Just in case someone would like to try a defective link it is as follows.

https://click.web.roku.com/CL0/https://my.roku.com/link/mail/WUCZGyRir/2/01000180e89d18a2-5d058f37-6...

[DBDukes]

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@Movie-Fan wrote:

I have exactly the same problem on my new Ultra player.  All of the setup functions complete normally and I am able to enter my E-Mail address and evoke the screen that says an activation E-Mail has been sent.  I download and open the E-Mail and click the activation link.  My browser opens and a blank page is shown.  I have tried this process with variations over 20 times to no avail.  This includes opening the link under Windows 7/Internet Explorer, Windows 7/Firefox 95, Windows 10/Edge and Mac OS/Safari.  Edge and Safari report Error 400 while the others just leave a blank page.  I have even used Wireshark to examine the network traffic that occurs when the link is clicked.  All of these indicate that the link is defective and clearly a Roku problem.

This all started on Tuesday 5/17 after receiving my Ultra from Amazon.  I contacted customer support and initiated a support ticket (#5642754) for which I have only received an initial response verifying the ticket was open.  I even sent a reply providing the link URL for support to try.  So far no response.  I am really very upset at this issue and am considering returning the unit to Amazon and purchasing an AppleTV player.

FYI:  THE ultra is connected to a wired router port (no WiFi here) and a LG HD TV.  Comments please.

---

Not specifically Roku related, but stay away from Windows 7 and Internet Explorer. Neither are supported by Microsoft any longer and both are considered major security risks.

Specifically to your issue, ensure that your computer (Windows 10 and/or Mac OS) are up to date. Check to ensure you're running the latest versions of the operating system.

For Windows, ensure your Edge browser is the current Chromium based browser, not the original EdgeHTML engine version. Windows Update should take care of that.

Once that's done, ensure your browser is up to date.

Check to see what Extensions may be installed and enabled. Remove any that are inactive that you won't be using again. If you see any Extensions that you don't recognize, remove them. And disable any you keep.

Ensure your Antivirus software is up to date. For Windows, Check Microsoft Security Center and make sure everything is up to date and running. For Mac OS, check the antivirus software itself.

Once all that has been done, clear all cookies and Local Storage on our browser, then log in to Roku.

Restart the activation process and see if your email links now work.

[Movie-Fan]

DBDukes,

Before I go through your check list, could you please test the link I provided in my previous reply and see if it works on your super up-to-date PC or MAC and report the results with a screen shot of what I should expect.  Then if the link truly works and does not generate a blank page I will go through the effort to make sure everything is up-to-date and retry the activation with a new link.

Thank you in advance for running this test.  I case you missed it here is the link again.

https://click.web.roku.com/CL0/https://my.roku.com/link/mail/WUCZGyRir/2/01000180e89d18a2-5d058f37-6...

[DBDukes]

@Movie-Fan 

I saw it. Those things expire. I don't expect it to work.

Additionally, it looks incomplete. At least, it's a different format than the last one I got, as if something was cut off from the end of the URL.

[Strega]

It doesn't look extremely different from my last successful link, but it is true that If I trim just the last character out of my link, then it goes from "Expired activation link" to totally blank page. (Even if the URL is corrupted, I have to say the the error reporting could be better!)

Just for my amusement, I tried extracting what looks like the most basic guts out of @Movie-Fan's URL:

https://my.roku.com/link/mail/WUCZGyRir

And that did get me to a "Expired activation link" but I make no guarantees that would work if it wasn't expired because I'm just hacking away here!

[Movie-Fan]

Strega,

Your gut feel did the trick.  I requested a new activation E-Mail and clicked the activation link.  Again a blank page.  So I copied the URL, replaced all %2F strings with forward virgules (/), deleted the "https://click.web.roku.com/CL0/" prefix and everything after "https://my.roku.com/link/mail/xx...x" where xx...x is a 10 character activation unique string.  The resulting URL was as follows.

          https://my.roku.com/link/mail/_uMmfXItVN

This worked!  The activation screen appeared, I answered all of the questions and bingo, my Ultra is activated.  Now  the question for the experts at Roku to answer is WHY does the activation E-Mail link have such a long corrupted URL when the concise URL show above works perfectly?

[DBDukes]

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@Movie-Fan wrote:

... Now  the question for the experts at Roku to answer is WHY does the activation E-Mail link have such a long corrupted URL when the concise URL show above works perfectly?

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That is a great question. As UUIDs are nowhere nearly as long as the string they send, it would seem anything longer is not necessary. And, by expanding the characters from hex to full alphanumeric, that would shorten even more. Throw in special characters, and you get really unique values with a lot shorter string.

I guess the meeting over which way to go couldn't reach a consensus, so they went with them all. You're right. It's totally overkill.