False username missing error when downloading from Lynda.com

[codewizard13]

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[debug] System config: []
[debug] User config: []
[debug] Custom config: []
[debug] Command-line args: ['-o', '--username', 'PRIVATE', '--password', 'PRIVATE', '%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/(Lynda) %(playlist)s - %(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s', 'https://www.lynda.com/MySQL-tutorials/PHP-MySQL-Essential-Training/119003-2.html', '-v']
...
<end of log>

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Description of your issue, suggested solution and other information

SYSTEM

• Windows 10 64-bit
• CMD (cmd.exe)
• youtube-dl 2017.11.26

ISSUE

Yesterday I downloaded youtube-dl and spent some time learning the command line switches and output templates. I was very happy that downloading YouTube playlists was a cinch, so I decided to see if it would work for downloading Lynda.com courses, which are essentially video playlists.

I have a personal (not corporate or 'organizational') Lynda account and was very happy to see that I was able to successfully download Lynda.com videos ... That is until I realized that it only downloaded 18 of 132 videos :(

But, there was still a bright side. The youtube-dl command line (Windows 10 CMD) output gave me this "Warning" message:

WARNING: 114 videos are only available for members (or paid members) and will not be downloaded. Use --username and --password options to provide lynda.com account credentials."

I researched the documentation here to find out examples of how to implement --username and --password. On this aspect the readme was very sparse. This is the extent of the what the help document had to say about providing credentials:

Authentication Options:
-u, --username USERNAME Login with this account ID
-p, --password PASSWORD Account password. If this option is left
out, youtube-dl will ask interactively.
-2, --twofactor TWOFACTOR Two-factor authentication code
-n, --netrc Use .netrc authentication data
--video-password PASSWORD Video password (vimeo, smotri, youku)

As a test, this is an example playlist I used:

• https://www.lynda.com/MySQL-tutorials/PHP-MySQL-Essential-Training/119003-2.html

I then tried to use this command, incorporating the --username and --password switches (the actual username and password have been changed for posting):

youtube-dl -o --username something@gmail.com --password private.something "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/(Lynda) %(playlist)s - %(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" https://www.lynda.com/MySQL-tutorials/PHP-MySQL-Essential-Training/119003-2.html

But, it was to no avail. Though I no longer get "members only" warning, now I get an error that says:

Usage: youtube-dl [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]

youtube-dl: error: account username missing

Huh? WTF? What do you mean missing?? Obviously, I have indeed included the account username (my email) in the options before the URL, as indicated in the usage. So, what is going on here?? Why am I getting this seemingly false and invalid error message?

LINKS THAT I'VE RESEARCHED BUT THAT HAVE NOT SOLVED THE ISSUE

After carefully reading all the helpful check-offs and boilerplate messages before composing my post, I followed the advice given and searched through the links provided for help, to little avail. Following are the links I found useful. Unfortunately, the two that appeared most promising were closed prematurely or never followed-up on by the poster. Some were about "organization logins" (which I can only assume means like your company subscribes to Lynda and you use the company login?), which doesn't apply to my situation, but I read them anyway to see if I could glean anything useful. All found was references to a solution that was supposed to work with "cookies", but didn't. I also referred to the Vimeo links that looked like they might offer some insight:

GitHub Posts

• https://gist.github.com/DonRichards/6c3f4d553c2384eca87b6dfc9f5c5826
• #5926
• https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#readme
• https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl#bugs
• https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl#faq
• #769
• #889

Non-GitHub Posts

NOTE: Many of these links recommend using youtube-dl

• https://melearningweb.wordpress.com/2015/08/19/how-to-download-entire-lynda-com-courses-in-one-go/
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28377271/youtube-dl-with-lynda-com-through-organization-login
• https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-download-videos-from-lynda
• https://www.npmjs.com/package/lynda-dl
• https://www.drgeeky.com/download-lynda-video-courses-free-computer/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/6ucad8/youtubedl_lynda_output_template/
• https://github.com/EnesCakir/lynder

MY QUESTIONS

1. WHY AM I GETTING AN ERROR SAYING USERNAME IS MISSING WHEN IT ISN'T?

2. How can I download the complete video set for a Lynda.com course using youtube-dl?

Any help is appreciated.

[remitamine]

you're command line is incorrect, the -o should be followed by an output template:
youtube-dl --username "something@gmail.com" --password "private.something" -o "%(uploader)s/%(playlist)s/(Lynda) %(playlist)s - %(playlist_index)s - %(title)s.%(ext)s" https://www.lynda.com/MySQL-tutorials/PHP-MySQL-Essential-Training/119003-2.html

[codewizard13]

Thanks @remitamine! I am replying confirming that your reworking of the command I was using was indeed successful. Thanks so much for your help.