I think that your problem has been solved but I would like to add this post to help anyone else struggling with shares.
It took me about two weeks to get Network Shares and Windows Media Player (WMP) as a media server working reliably with WD TV Live. In order to get it working I had to learn a lot about Windows 7 shares, libraries and windows media centre (WMC). These notes are for anyone else who is having problems setting it up and I have built on several other posts in this forum.
I have Windows 7 Ultimate (32 bit) with three user accounts, for home, work and Guest. The latter does not need to be enabled I just have it for when my children visit to limit what they can do. I do not have a Windows ‘homegroup’ enabled but the following guide will probably work if you do.
WD TV Live Setup
My WD TV has firmware - 1.02.21.
If you have been trying to get shares working by changing lots of settings in WD TV then it is probably best to do a ‘Reset to factory defaults’ in the WD TV System Setting page.
WD TV Live uses the anonymous login account with a null password to connect to Windows. In previous versions of Windows ‘anonymous’ was a member of the ‘everyone’ group which is used to control access to network shares and the media server, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772211.aspx In Windows 7 ‘anonymous’ was taken out of ‘everyone’ so WD TV Live can’t login unless ‘anonymous’ is put back in by the following:
WARNING: This requires editing your PC’s registry which, if edited incorrectly, can cause Windows systems to become unstable and unusable. Follow the instructions below at your own risk and you should backup the registry before you start. I take no responsibility for any damage caused by following these steps which have been taken from other posts.
- Navigate to the following location in the registry editor: MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\
- On the right side, double-click on ‘everyoneincludesanonymous’ and change the ‘Value data’ from ‘0’ to ‘1’
- Double-click on ‘NoLmHash’ and change the ‘Value data’ from ‘1’ to ‘0’
- Navigate to the following location in the registry editor: MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters
- Double-click on ‘restrictnullsessaccess’ and change the ‘Value data’ from ‘1’ to ‘0’
- Close the registry editor
Even when ‘anonymous’ is enabled you may still have error message from WD TV Live if Windows Live Sign In Assistant is loaded. If it is go to W7 control panel programmes and Features and uninstall it.
Turn auto logon ‘on’ in WD TV Network settings.
If you have changed the WD TV Live from anonymous, ‘Clear login info for network share’ in the WD TV Network settings.
WD TV also has the Network Workgroup name set to ‘WORKGROUP’, the default Windows network name. Mine is set to something else so I changed WD TV to be the same.
These were the only settings that I had to change in WD TV Live.
Windows 7 Setup
To setup W7 network sharing go to control panel, network and sharing centre, choose homegroup and sharing options, change advanced settings and set:
Network Discovery – ON
File and printer Sharing - ON
Public Folder Sharing – OFF
Printer Sharing – ON
Media Streaming – OFF, for now
File sharing protection – Use 128 bit
Password Protected Sharing – OFF
Homegroup Connections – User accounts and passwords
Click ‘Save changes’
Create a Network Share
Go to the folder(s) that you want to share with WD TV Live, e.g. you video folder.
Right click and select ‘Share with’
Select ‘Specific people …’
Type Everyone and click Add and make sure Everyone has Read access
Click Share
Just to be sure reboot the PC
Switch on the WD TV
Enjoy you shares!
W7 Media Streaming
There is a lot of discussion about the merits of various media servers, e.g. Windows Media Centre (WMC), Windows Media Player (WMP), Twonky, TVersity, etc. As I have W7 Ultimate I wanted to use WMP and/or WMC as a preference.
The plus side is that you can stream any media directly from your PC to WD TV via the ‘Play To’ option. In W7 or WMP right click on the media you want to stream and select WD TV Live.
The down side is that WMP is not compatible with some file formats, e.g. MKV but this can be overcome.
NOTE that W7 uses the Windows Media Player library as its media streaming source. If you don’t want to use WMP then stop here and you are on your own.
If the above instructions get your network shares going and you want to use WMP then in W7 click control panel, network and sharing centre, choose homegroup and sharing options, change advanced settings and set:
Media Streaming – on
This will take you to a ‘media streaming options’ page where you can set the name of your media library (your login account name by default) and you should be able to see WD TV Live listed on the network.
If you haven’t used WMP before then open it and it will build the Media Library to be used by WD TV Live.
If you are using the default W7 media libraries, i.e. pictures. videos, music, to contain all your pictures, videos and music then you should be able access all you media through the WMP Media Library, except MKVs. If you have stored your media in other folders then you must add these folders to the WMP Library, .e.g. in WMP click Organise, Manage libraries, select a library, e.g. Videos and you will be presented with a ‘Videos Library Locations’ screen, click Add and browse to the folder that use and include it. You will be asked if you want to share it, click yes. WMP will then include the media in the folder to its library for access through WD TV.
Go to the WD TV and select videos or music and then select ‘Media servers’. You should see the name of your media library. Select it and the screen should then present you with further selections for your media, e.g. genre, etc. Choose and enjoy.
I will include a more detailed post about how to use Windows Media Player as the media server for WD TV, including MKV files later.