Edit 2: Weather Underground has a full replacement you should get instead called OpenWeatherMap.
Edit: As a partial alternative to the below, you can install a Weather Underground zip file found here. You will still need to generate the WU API key per instructions below. This key will be added in the new add ons settings. Both solutions work; I suggested picking the one you anticipate being more permanent, but neither should be overwritten in updates. I’m using the below method and not the zip file to help avoid bloat, which my install already suffers from.
Edit 2: I created a video resource for the below steps you can find here.
So, if you use XBMC with a weather app you may have noticed that Weather Underground has been marked as broken. Ronie vaguely details here that the Weather Underground app is broken due to API. Sure enough, the to fix the broken Weather Underground issue you need to manually apply your own API key. Weatherman has listed the solution I will describe here. The broken Weather Underground app drove me crazy, so I wanted to provide another resource to be found and further elaborate on Weatherman’s instructions.
Weather Underground Broken Fix in XBMC (Kodi)
- Go to Weather Underground here.
- More > Weather API for Developers
- Click “Sign for free” and follow through with your account creation.
- Go to “pricing” and choose the free plan. Click “Purchase Key.”
- Fill out all app information. Select non-commercial, obviously. Just select website, non-mobile use.
- Once your account and app are created click “Key Settings” and you will see your API key twice. Copy this key:
- You will need the reverse of your API key. With your API key copied visit this link.
- Paste your API key and click the first option “reverse text”
- Copy the output.
- You will now need to convert this inverse code into base64. Visit this link. Paste your inverse code in the top box. The default UTF-8 works, so just click “encode.” Copy the output.
- You will need to paste this encoded, inverted API key into the wunderground.py file. First close XBMC and make sure you can view hidden files on your machine.
- Update: Note that in the path the “XBMC” directory in the roaming folder will now be “Kodi.”C:\Users\Trevor\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\addons\weather.wunderground\resources\lib\wunderground.py
- That’s the path, but do not run it via cmd unless you make sure to swap out the user, Trevor
- Paste your encoded, inverted API key in between the single parenthesis on the line: WAIK = ”
- Save and close this file.
- Open up XBMC/Kodi and you will see that you have just fixed the broken Weather Underground app in XBMC / Kodi.
Excellent advice – worked like a charm. Note that in linux, the .xbmc folder is not visible by default – requires that you hit ctrl-h in the directly in most file browsers.
Thanks for insight into the Linux environment. Glad this fix worked for you!
Excellent! Worked for me on XBMC 13.2 on Xbmcbuntu. Just change the path of the python script to ~/.xbmc/addons/weather.wunderground/resources/lib/wunderground.py
Thanks for providing the path in the XBMCbuntu environment. Glad this helped!
Hmm cannot be bothered with all that messing about so have now installed and use Yahoo Weather add-on instead, very simple and no messing about. Will wait for Weather Underground to update their add-on and work again so until then Yahoo Weather will do fine. Surely this WU add-on should be quickly fixed via an auto update as most users could not be arsed with all that messing around configuring files etc.
It’s several steps, but you’re looking at 10 minutes max. Obviously, it’s annoying that it went down in the first place. I don’t think it will just come back because WU revoked the XBMC API key, which is what this details to bypass. Yahoo weather is a good alternative, but my theme, Ace, and some others do not integrate with Yahoo weather for widgets etc. Good luck with whatever you choose.
Hi Trevor, Does this fix still work? I did all the steps to get and convert the key to base 64. I tried it on two separate installs of Kodi. The weather still just showed fetching weather….
The only thing I wasn’t sure about when getting the api key on the WU site was if I should choose a weather option. I choose coulmuns, the second package with the 10 days weather if that makes a difference? I also generated 2 different keys, neither of which worked after the conversion. I tried pasting too the .py file and using the zip file addon. Thanks for any insight.
Hey Michael. Yes, this fix is still stable w/in my install. I just generated a free API key; I’m not sure of the specifics, unfortunately, but I don’t think it matters. As long as you had the inverse and THEN transferred to Base64 the output should work. One quirk that gave me worry was that the update didn’t take place until I quit out of Kodi and then relaunched. It may help to clear your cache, also. I hope this helps!
Just wanted to say thanks for your time Trevor. Very Nice. I always preferred Weather Underground instead of yahoo. Now I have it again. Perfect!!!!!!!
You are very welcome. WU is great. Glad this worked for you!
Thank you, your method worked perfectly on Ubuntu. How in the world did you ever figure out the steps?
It took some digging. I link to the original source in the XBMC forums, which is not well documented as being a working solution and it’s also very vague as to the steps. Glad this worked for you!
Thanx for the instructions – they worked like a charm! I just love this community
Excellent instructions! Works great even on the FireTV. Only hitch to this particular device are the additional steps required if the box isn’t rooted (no editor on the box). Basically, “./adb pull /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/addons/weather.wunderground/resources/lib/wunderground.py”, edit the file to add your API key, “./adb push wunderground.py /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/addons/weather.wunderground/resources/lib/wunderground.py” Still less than 10 minutes of work. Thanks!
Great additions, Rob. FireTV users will love this.
Thanks for these instructions, which worked fine on my XBMC OpenElec Raspberry Pi. On the Pi, the file path is:
.xbmc/addons/weather.wunderground/resources/lib/wunderground.py
This worked great for me on my OpenElec XBMC rig. Now the WeatherUnderground app does not show up as broken. Thanks Trevor..
Thanks very much for the clear instructions. All worked fine on my Arch Linux based XBMC install. Same path as the other Linux based commentors have noted.
Thanks for the info, it got my weather working. I found it easier to download and install the zip file… the WU addon in xbmc asks for the API key(in settings), paste it straight in, no reversing or encodingnand Bobs your uncle.
Thanks again
Great, that’s why I updated with a link to the zip file. End result, easier.
on RaspBMC for Raspberry Pi, location is now:
/home/pi/.kodi/addons/weather.wunderground/resources/lib/wunderground.py
..or on xbian on the Pi:
/home/xbian/.xbmc/addons/weather.wunderground/resources/lib/wunderground.py
works on Kodi 14.1
download and install the zip file
then you need to go to disabled addons and enable the wunderground api
paste your original API key (see above how to get it)
and it works again
all other weather services are terrible for Spain
thank you so much!
Thank you so much on detail explanation, none of the weather add ons didn’t work for me, and this works! I was really pessimistic before I tested this. I love you man. :DD
I installed the zip resource and it shows up in the corner after you install it saying “weather underground enabled”. However when i try to switch to it, it is not listed anywhere. I looked in disabled add-ons, searched everywhere and it doesn’t show up. It is in my Kodi folder, but i cannot enable it no matter what i do. I am currently using version 15 one of the nightlies, but maybe that in itself is the problem? If anyone out there has the answer i would really appreciate it.
Thanks
These instructions are for people who have Weather Underground already installed and just need to generate their own API key because it quit working. The zip referenced here is not the WU addon, but rather an addon that will let you add the API key for your existing WU addon. If you didn’t get grandfathered in from an old install and don’t have Weather Underground you first need the actual WU addon. If you use the first three steps in this post you’ll be able to do a manual search in “Total Installer” for Weather Underground and then install the actual addon. This post will then help you get a key for that addon.