Can't see shares

Community Archives WD TV Live Networking
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windows 7 ultimate

Followed instructions here, from youtube, lots of other sites with no luck whatsoever.

Disappointing to say the least.

I got this yesterday to use netflix and stream media from the pc, but I can’t believe the configuration for this isn’t simple?

I suspect hacking it would more than likely allow me to see shares without making my pc vulnerable (turning off firewall, etc??? what kind of solution is that?)

Any suggestions or things I might be missing? When I connect to the device to ‘configure’ via the wd discovery, am I only suppose to see just the name change option? Or should I be seeing a lot more? (have latest firmware applied as well)

On a side note, I have absolutely no problems sharing media from pc with samsung pc share manager, or to the xbox, etc.

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No hacking is required. Have you followed the instructions here to configure your PC for File Sharing- http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3787/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzE0MjE3NDA4L3NpZC9fSk5wdW1Daw%3D%3D

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Oddly enough, after browsing online through some alternative software to run on the wd live, I went back to the tv and it was now seeing shares. NOTHING was changed on the PC.

Good enough, but I had a funny suspicion that when I powered it off at night and back on the next day, it would not pick up the same shares. This is exactly what happened, powered back on and no shares.

Leave it on while at work, come home and it will find the shares on the pc. It  appears that there is something wrong with the wd live discovering networked shares.

I know some will say it is the pc, but if shares are working on every other networked device without issue, is there some special protocol that wd live is using to discover shares? The only device it picks up right away is the wireless printer.

Any fixes for the above? Will this device have to be powered on all the time so it doesn’t take half a day to discover network shares? I see I am not the only person here having the issues with shares not showing.

Would love to see a fix, otherwise I’ll just have to return for refund and buy a popcorn hour device.

4

Well, I think that is enough playing around with a device that is clearly in it’s ‘beta’ stage.

To see that many issues with shares and networking posted here is a pretty good indication that even WD has no clue what is happening with network discovery.

Sure, it might work with firewalls disabled, all security turned off on the pc, but that is still a problem with the wd live plus and not the pc.

Time to return this thing, I would suggest to others with the same issue to use some common sense:

If you are not making changes to your pc shares or system config and the network shares disappear then there is nothing wrong with your pc, but clearly something wrong with the wd live plus.

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six30:   You need to learn how Windows Networking works before you spout off like that.

The WD’s use SAMBA.   It’s a well-established GPL library for the implementation of CIFS/SMB file sharing.  

Almost every linux-based appliance out there uses the same library.

And yes, even if you make no changes to your PC and shares appear / disappear, the problem can STILL be your PC if your network has a malfunctioning master-browser service.

And the WD’s are never the Master Browser, so they can’t be the source of that problem.

People who have properly configured PCs and networks do not have the problem you have.

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tony, not helpful. Please don’t troll, if you have the details to ‘properly configure’ a pc, then please post.

I hope you don’t mean that here should be a machine on ALL THE TIME in order for WD live to work (ie; be the master browser?)

This thing should work straight out of the box, especially if it wants the user to download wd software. 

Why should the user have to disable security and adjust all kinds of STANDARD security features? Why can I mount shares on my ubuntu box that live on my windows machines and they are persistent? 

What exactly is this wd live device doing that is so different from standard cifs/samba mounts?

I think there are too many ‘suggestions’ on how to setup shares for this wd live, that it isn’t just a case of ‘your pc is configured incorrectly’. I find it funny because that is the best reply I expect on this forum. 

BTW, to anyone else reading this…there are other wd live forums and they support modding. Might be time better spent and a little more fun.

Thanks Tony, looking forward to your properly configured machine information.

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six30 wrote:

 

I hope you don’t mean that here should be a machine on ALL THE TIME in order for WD live to work (ie; be the master browser?)

YES I mean exactly that.   If you don’t have a machine on, then you can’t possibly be sharing anything!  And if you have ONE machine that’s sharing, that machine MUST be a capable master browser.   That’s how SMB works.  It’s defined in the standard, and the expectation of a functioning master browser within the workgroup is IMPLICIT in any platform or appliance that conforms to the standard.

WD does fail in one regard here:   If the WD is the box that is sharing to ANOTHER WD box, and no other PC is on the network, it will not work, since the WD won’t be the master.    I’ve gone round with WD on this one, but it’s beside the point, as that’s not the scenario you are describing.

 This thing should work straight out of the box,

I have SIX WD live variants.  I have three WDTV Lives, one Live+, and two Live Hubs.   Every one of them worked “out of the box.”    The only time that was NOT the case was when Windows released “Windows Live” into the public late last year.   That new suite exposed a Samba bug that affected any device running Samba 3.4.x or earlier.  WD had a fix for that a few months later.

 Why should the user have to disable security and adjust all kinds of STANDARD security features?

To make it work.  That’d be a pretty good reason…   If you are diliberately blocking a necessary protocol, you expect WD to work around that block?   Sorry, that’s not how firewalls work, or how they SHOULD work.   That’s the point of a firewall.  If you block Samba, Samba breaks. 

I never had to manually modify firewall rules or disable them, since Windows FIrewall automatically adjusts when you turn on SHARING to allow SMB / NBNS / etc.  If you’re using a third-party firewall, you’ll have to do it yourself.  

 Why can I mount shares on my ubuntu box that live on my windows machines and they are persistent? 

It depends on how you are mounting those shares.  I would bet you’re not using the DISCOVERY service on your Ubuntu box; you’re probably doing something like:

mount -t cifs “\servername\sharename” -o etc.etc.

or putting an equivalent entry into /etc/fstab

Explicit mounts don’t use the discovery service, nor does it require the master browser, since you’re not browsing, you’re targetting the mountpoint to a specific device so that all that is necessary is an NBNS lookup.

The WD depends on the DISOVERY service (and Master Browser) to simply discover that your PC EXISTS in the workgroup.

 looking forward to your properly configured machine information.

I’ve posted it here hundreds of times, including in my stickied FAQ, and it’s been verified probably thousands of times by other users.

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I hope you don’t mean that here should be a machine on ALL THE TIME in order for WD live to work (ie; be the master browser?)

Well that has to has to be one of the most niave statements we have seen around here in a long time.

@Six30, suggest you take a breath and read up on how SMB file sharing works. Yes it needs a Master Browser. And yes if the Master Browser is not on all the time shares on your network can get very messed up. And that is not limited to the WD TV Live.

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Thanks for pointing out the link in your initial post on correct configuration.

It would be impossible to stream from a device that isn’t ON. If devices have to be booted in a particular order, than wd live should really indicate to the user. If the machine containing the streams is required to be on at ALL times ‘or the shares get messed up’ It would be nice for the consumer to see that before purchasing. I prefer to be a little more environmentally friendly and not run my devices 24/7.

Most software does not require firewall to be fully off, and in most cases will make the adjustments (with user approval) during the proprietary software install. This would include opening specific ports, allowing protocols to communicate etc.There are so many posts here with random solutions, and then ultimately when they don’t work saying something a long the lines of ‘it’s your pc’. Helpful posts would be providing links to solutions, not having to click a profile and seeing that many of their posts blame the issue on user hardware. Accepted solutions don’t seem to make any sense, are not consistent, re-creatable and seem to ultimately be a ■■■■ shoot that happend to work.

I’m sure if I turned off every single bit of security I would be able to communicate with the wd live, as well as have others (aliens included) communicating with my pc. 

Can you please provide the ports that must open so that the average user can come here and find out that they don’t have to expose their whole machine, but rather open a few ports.

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If you have a stock standard Windows installed, without any supurfluous 3rd party bloat-ware, and with all normal networking services enabled (which is default), then you don’t have to do anything. Your firewall will be configured correctly. All you have to do is set up the shares that you want other devices on your network to see. WDTVLive does not need any special ports or security settings.

I for one have never had to mess with my firewall security to get Windows networking to work. Nor have I had to install any special WD software or do any special tweaks to my WDTVLives to get them to see Windows shares.

Now if you have all sorts of 3rd-party ‘security’ bloat-ware running (e.g. Norton AV, Avast, etc.), then you need to take the problem up with them. They are not needed, and provide little or no better protection than the standard MS Firewall and MS Security Essentials. And, Avast being a notorious one, can mess up your system.

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Devices need to be booted in particular order … SOMETIMES.

It’s all described in the CIFS / NetBIOS specifications from Microsoft’s website.

There’s a weakness in the protocol, and it’s MICROSOFT’S issue, not WD’s or anyone who uses the Samba library:

If you shut off your master browser, it can take 20 minutes to 1 hour for an “Election” to take place to find a substitute.

If, during that time, the WDTV seeks the master and cannot find one, things will not work.   Your shares will disappear.

Then you turn your PC back on, depending on its registry settings and current network conditions, it will either FORCE a master election immediately, or it will defer to the existing master (or lack thereof) and just wait for a set period of time.

If, during THAT time, the WDTV seeks the master and cannot find one, things still will not work.   Your shares will disappear.

If the PC forced a browser election and wins the process, it can take several minutes for all other devices to update their information and register with that new master.  

AFTER that is complete, the WDTV *will* start showing the shares again, most times wthout any user intervention required.

I’ve sat in front of my TV watching the server list populate as that process takes place.  

  and seem to ultimately be a ■■■■ shoot that happend to work.

I can’t argue that point…

The ports that SAMBA uses are ports

 137 : NetBIOS Name Service  (used to find the IP address of a server, given the server’s NETBIOS Name.)

 138 :  NetBIOS Datagram Service – The NetBIOS packets themselves

 139 :  NetBIOS Session Service – The File Exchange path

Both TCP and UDP are used in all three cases.