Map a drive on your computer to the directory on your WD
How to map a network drive in Windows XP
- Right-click Start, then click Explore.
- Click Tools, then click Map Network Drive.
- Select a drive letter from the Drive: drop down list. Note: The default drive letter is Z, but you may choose any letter from the list.
- Specify the path name for the shared drive or folder. Example: <\server name\share> name. Note: You may also click Browse to select a shared drive or folder.
- Click Finish
How to map a network drive in Windows Vista
- Click Start, then click Network.
- In the left pane, right-click Network, then click Map Network Drive…
- Select a drive letter from the Drive: drop down list. Note: The default drive letter is Z, but you may choose any letter from the list.
- Specify the path name for the shared drive or folder. Example: <\server name\share> name. Note: You may also click Browse to select a shared drive or folder.
- Click Finish
Create the playlist file
- Start a command prompt, typically start->run->cmd enter
- Change the command prompt directory path to the new mapped drive letter you created which links to your WD folder. To do this type z: (where z: is the drive letter you set) then press enter.
- Type dir /A-d /b /s >playlist.m3u then press enter. This will create a file named playlist.m3u which has all the directory contents printed in it in the WD folder.
- Open the file created playlist.m3u with notepad and copy all the text by pressing ctrl+a then ctrl+c
- Open microsoft excel or open office calc and select cell E1 then paste by pressing ctrl+v
- In cell B1 type File then press enter
- In cell C1 type 1 then press enter
- In cell D1 type = then press enter
- In cell A1 type =CONCATENATE(B1;C1;D1;E1) then press enter
- Select cells A1, B1, C1, and D1
- In the bottom right corner of cell D1 there will be a small black block. Position the cursor over this block and it will become a + sign. Left click and hold, then drag the cursor down to the last line of the text that you pasted in (column E).
- Your prepended text for the M3U file is now in column A
- Select all the cells in column A that have your file information by selecting cell A1 and then dragging the mouse down to the last line of text then press crtl+c to copy the text.
- Switch back to the playlist document
- Press ctrl+a then ctrl+v this will highlight all the old text and paste in the new text from the spreadsheet
- Save the playlist as something relevant like movieplaylist.m3u
- At the top/beginning of the file type [playlist] then press enter so that it is on the very first line
- At the end of the file press enter and type Version 2
- Save the file.
Example file:
[playlist]
File1=z:\files\file1.avi
File2=z:\files\File2.avi
File3=z:\files\subfolder\file1.avi
File4=z:\files\subfolder\File2.avi
File5=z:\files\subfolder\sub folder\file1.avi
File6=z:\files\subfolder\sub folder\File2.avi
Version 2
You should now change the relative path to your files so they will will be valid for your media player.
- Highlight the text that is not needed in your path (eg: z:\files) then press ctrl+c to copy.
- Press ctrl+h to open the find and replace dialog.
- Paste the copied text (z:\files) into the Find What field by placing the cursor in the field and then pressing ctrl+v then press alt+a to replace all. This will paste nothing in place of all instances of the text in the Find What field.
- Save the file.
You are now ready to open the file using your media player. Selecting random after opening it on your media player will keep things fresh when you don’t care to watch in any particular order (like cartoons).
