Ensure you are online. Try opening a website in your browser. If you’re behind a corporate or school firewall, MakeMKV might be blocked.
Once resolved, follow these best practices to avoid recurrence:
| Action | Frequency | |--------|-----------| | Update MakeMKV to latest stable | Monthly | | Renew beta key | Every 2 months | | Keep antivirus exclusions active | Permanent | | Enable automatic HK download in settings | One-time | | Join MakeMKV forum notifications | Optional | makemkv automatic hk downloading is disabled or failed
Also, consider purchasing a permanent license ($50 USD as of 2025). The licensed version still requires HK downloads but removes beta key expiration and has fewer network restrictions.
If automatic downloading truly fails, you can manually fetch the latest hashedkeys file from the community. This is useful when the official server is down or you’re on an offline machine. Ensure you are online
Steps:
Pro tip: You can also find community-posted keys on the MakeMKV forums for specific problematic discs. If automatic downloading truly fails, you can manually
Some security software blocks MakeMKV’s outbound connection to port 80 (HTTP) for key downloads.
MakeMKV requires an active internet connection only for key retrieval. The ripping process itself works offline.
As a workaround, edit settings.conf:
autoUpdate = "0"
But this may prevent decryption of newer discs.