UPDATE
I’ve used this exact method to get Network Shares working on 5 different HDLIVE units all on Windows 7 and so far no problems have been reported.
// Intro //
This is a quick guide for Windows 7 users who are having trouble getting NETWORK SHARES on the HD TV Live to work. It may not work for you, but it worked perfectly for me and has kept working flawlessly. At this point the only issue I have is not being able to login to Youtube.
This method does not require you to setup another user account in Windows; you simply login with the username ‘anonymous’ with the password field left blank one time. After that you shouldn’t have to login ever again. I’m going to write this guide as simply as I can so, hopefully, it’s easy to follow.
// A Wee Bit 'O Background //
After trying every possible way to get my unit working how I wanted I gave up and just settled for viewing all my media under MEDIA SERVER. Unfortunately that method didn’t work for long and the unit stopped updating the folder with new files I added to my shared folders on my PC.
I played with Tversity and got it to see and stream all of my media, but Hulu and BBC videos didn’t play very well. After using it for a few days I decided to give getting the NETWORK SHARES to work right another try.
Like many other posters my issue involved it not letting me log in. Eventually I figured how to get it work and for the past week I haven’t had any problems. I can log in, see all my folders, add folders, and play everything that I’ve thrown at it.
// My Setup //
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Dell Inspiron
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Western Digital 500GB USB2.0 External Drive X2
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Hardwired WD HD TV Live (haven’t bothered to try wireless)
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D-Link WBR-2310
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Windows 7 Ultimate
On one of the WD drives I have a ‘movie’ folder and the other drive has ‘tv series’ and ‘sports’. On my PC I have a ‘BluRay’ folder, ‘Pictures’, and ‘Music’. All these folders are what I have shared so my HDTV Live can see them under the NETWORK SHARES section.
// STEP BY STEP GUIDE //
- SETTING UP MEDIA STREAMING
The first step is to get media streaming working. This is done in the control panel. Go to:
Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet
Once there click on HOMEGROUP or CHOOSE HOMEGROUP AND SHARING OPTIONS.
The next screen should say ‘Change homegroup settings’ at the top. This is where we can turn media streaming on if it isn’t on already.
Under SHARE LIBRARIES AND PRINTERS you should put a check in the box of the following:
- Videos
- Music (only if you want to share your music library with the HD Live)
- Pictures (only if you want to share your pictures with the HD Live)
The next section is SHARE MEDIA WITH DEVICES. You need to put a check in the box for ‘Stream my pictures, music, and videos to all devices on my home network’.
After you check that box click on CHOOSE MEDIA STREAMING OPTIONS… directly below it. On the next screen it should have a field to let you name your media library. Put whatever you want.
Next to ‘SHOW DEVICES ON’ make sure the drop down box says ‘Local Network’. Underneath it should show any devices your computer sees on the network and unless you changed the settings on the WD TV Live one of those devices should be WDTVLIVE. Make sure the dropdown box to the right of WDTVLIVE says ‘Allowed’ and then click OK at the bottom of the box.
You should now be back at ‘Change homegroup settings’. At the bottom of the box click CHANGE ADVANCED SHARING SETTINGS…
A box should pop up that says ‘Change sharing options for different network profiles’ at the top. Make sure the following options have a dot next to it:
- Turn on network discovery
- Turn on file and printer sharing
- Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write files in public folders
- Use 128 bit encryption
- Turn OFF password protected sharing
- Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections
Once those options are all selected make sure it says ‘media streaming is on’ and click SAVE CHANGES at the bottom. This should bring you back to the previous box again. Make sure that SAVE CHANGES is greyed out. If not, click it.
This next step is a bit more complicated. Go to:
Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools
You should get a box with a list starting with COMPONENT SERVICES. The section you want to go to is LOCAL SECURITY POLICY. Click it and a box should pop up.
In the right frame click LOCAL POLICIES. On the next page click SECURITY OPTIONS. You should now have a long list of security options. Near the top of the list locate:
ACCOUNTS: LIMIT LOCAL ACCOUNT USE OF BLANK PASSWORDS
Right click it and choose ‘properties’. Once the properties box pops up put a dot next to DISABLED and then click APPLY and then OK.
You can now close all the boxes that we have left open. Media Sharing should now be turned on and we’re ready to get some folders shared.
- SHARING FOLDERS
I did this in a very specific way just to keep everything nice and neat. However, if you simply want to share each and every folder individually you can do it that way.
As a mentioned earlier I have two external USB drives that I have permanently connected to my PC that I wanted to share along with a single folder on my desktop where I keep all my BluRay rips. Instead of sharing each and every one of these folders I simply added them to the Windows 7 library.
The first step is to get all the folders you want in the Windows 7 library under VIDEOS. To do this right click each folder you want the HDTV Live to see and choose:
Include in Library > Videos
This will include that folder under VIDEOS in the Windows 7 library. Once you have done this with all the folders with videos you want to stream go to:
Start > Documents
There are a number of ways to get to the libraries but this should work for everyone. In the box that pops up you should see a frame on the left that has LIBRARIES with the following listed below it:
- Documents
- Music
- Pictures
- Videos
If you click the little arrow you should see a drop down of all the folders that you “included” in the VIDEOS library. For example mine looks like this:
LIBRARIES
Documents
Music
Pictures
Videos
- Movies
- New
- Sports
- TV Series
- BluRay
You can individually go through and set sharing permissions for each folder but I like using the library because all one we have to do is set up sharing VIDEOS and all the folders under it will be shared without having to touch any of them.
In addition, if you want to add a folder later all you have to do is right click it and select share with library > videos and it will immediately be visible on the HDTV Live.
To set up sharing for VIDEOS simply right click it then choose:
Share with > Specific People
In the box that pops up click the drop down box and choose EVERYONE and then click ADD to the right. Once you do that you should see EVERYONE appear in the list of names below.
This part is very important and until I did it the HDTV Live would tell me my folders were empty. To the right of EVERYONE in the list you will see their ‘permission level’. You want to click the arrow and choose READ/WRITE. It doesn’t make any sense to me either but the HDTV Live kept telling me my folders were empty until I changed permissions for EVERYONE from READ to READ/WRITE.
Once you have that done we need to move to the HDTV Live and change some settings.
- SETTING UP THE HDTV LIVE
This should be the easy and quick part. If your HDTV Live is not on turn it on. On the main screen go down to SETTINGS and then up to NETWORK SETTINGS. Under the network setting options make sure AUTO LOGIN TO NETWORK SHARES is set to ON. Then click CLEAR LOGIN INFO FOR NETWORK SHARES.
Now go back to the main menu and then go to VIDEO and down to NETWORK SHARES. Under NETWORK SHARES you should see your computer (if you don’t you have a bigger issue than this guide is meant to cover). Click right or hit enter on the remote and it should bring you to a login screen.
If everything was done right on your computer all you should need to do is use anonymous for the username and leave the password field blank. If it lets you login you should see all the folders you added to the VIDEO library on your computer as well as a “users” folder.
Once you successfully login once you will not have to login again. If it did not let you login make sure you followed all the steps. If you followed them all and it still doesn’t work I’m sorry you wasted your time reading all of this. It worked for me and hopefully it will work for you.
Just a note to anyone using Windows 7 RC. Before I updated to the retail version I had major issues with the homegroup and sharing which I couldn’t resolve. It seems like a pretty common issue with other RC users. If you upgrade to the full version all those issues go away.