Hi WD community. I was hoping someone could help. I cannot play all videos via the WD Mycloud app as not all files are compatible. I have downloaded the VLC app onto my phone and I can log onto mycloud easy peasy via wifi as it finds it automatically. However, When I am out and about I cannot get onto mycloud via VLC. It has options on the app for SMB and FTP however I have no idea what I need to input and what I need to do for my router to allow that access/traffic (Or whatever you want to name/call it)
For that, you need to find out the TCP ports needed for SMB and FTP. Once you do that, you have to set your router to forward the TCP ports to your LAN device. Most of these settings are on your router and you will also need to set DDNS or some way to find out your WAN IP all the time.
However, before you do that, consider the following:
Remote access to play files, specially video files will use your ISP’s up speeds, which tend to be very slow and not worth for remote video playing. Up speeds are a lot slower than download speeds. Check your ISP speed and it should be something like 50/5 (down/up).
SMB/FTP are not secure protocols. Opening SMB to the internet is not recommended at all! FTP maybe, but still, it is not secure at all. For FTP you will also need to make some changes on mycloud, check the manual.
To use FTP one would (as indicated in the My Cloud User Manual (page 60)) enable the FTP option via Dashboard > Settings > Network > Network Services > FTP Access = On. Then one would access their router or gateway and setup and or configure “port forwarding” and forward FTP port 21 to the My Cloud.
But as the prior post indicates FTP is not a secure protocol.
not sure what VLC supports. But to access the files securely, used the apps/WD site.
A bit more advanced option would be: Set ssh on mycloud, then router to use DDNS and forward TCP 22 to mycloud. The SSH option is secure but also some best practices are suggested: Such as not allowing root for remote access, strong passwords.
