Must wait 15 minutes to see my pc

dunno if its a typo but its not the WDTV that suddenly appear on the network. Its the PC share folders that suddenly appear on the WDTV.

I had my WDTV visible from my computer the whole time.

Another strange thing about this is that I had media streaming activated the whole time I was searching for a network share solution, and that would pop up without delay under the  media server menu on my WDTV without exception. 

So I think its safe to assume that its not the network itself but the sharing.

You could also try another program and see if that works.

Advanced IP Scanner 1.5

http://www.radmin.com/products/utilities/ipscanner.php

This program is freeware unlike the $20 required after 14 days for the program you are using. If it is a case of just waking the WDTV up with a ping etc when this may do the job for free.

xcrew wrote:

dunno if its a typo but its not the WDTV that suddenly appear on the network. Its the PC share folders that suddenly appear on the WDTV.

 

I had my WDTV visible from my computer the whole time.

I understand. But do the share folders appear then you launch or when you launch and scan with mylanviewer.

it seems that the program only needs to be started, one scan has to be run. then it apperas that the program can be shut off. atleast my box works after i shut mylanviewer down but not before i have started it after a reboot.

with ipscanner 1.5, that doesn’t work ! --We must proced to a scan each time we reboot the WD (switch off, switch on) and open the programme.-- If i switch off the WD but mylanviewer stills running, wgen i switch on the wd then it’s sees immediatly the pc seven shared folders. – if i close the mylanViewer but WD on, then pc seven disepear ! but after 30 minutes, pc seven comes back without mylaviewer. – strange no ? --help, gosthbuster !!

gigxy wrote:
with ipscanner 1.5, that doesn’t work ! --We must proced to a scan ich time we reboot the WD (switch off, switch on) and open the programme.-- If i switch off the WD but mylanviewer stills running, wgen i switch on the wd then it’s sees immediatly the pc seven shared folders. – if i close the mylanViewer but WD on, then pc seven disepear ! but after 30 minutes, pc seven comes back without mylaviewer. – strange no ? --help, gosthbuster !!

I am only really interested to find out what is cutting down on the ‘15min’ wait to get network shares.

If you run and scan with ipscanner does it cut down on the wait. Forget the fact that it is not such a good program and may not be practical to use.

No, with ipscanner launched or not, it’s the same trouble : i must wait

The issue is caused by the way NetBIOS works in a Windows network.  The WD-TV-Live seems to pick up the role of Master Browser on the home network and as such it needs to wait for other servers to announce their presence before being able to find them and browse their shares.  By default Windows servers announce their presence to the Browse Master every 15 minutes.  This would explain why it takes up to 15 minutes for a Windows server with shares to be visible to the WD-TV-Live box. 

Ideally the server with the media share needs to become the Master Browser.  Ensure the Computer Browser service is set to Automatic and is started on the Windows server - without this service running the Windows server cannot ever become the MAster Browser.  You can also add the following registry entry on the server so that it becomes the preferred host of the Master Browser role;

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services \Browser\Parameters

IsDomainMaster
Value should be set to: True

(See the following Microsoft article for more details; http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc959923.aspx)

To check which host on the network currently holds the Browse Master role install the Windows XP SP2 Support Tools on one of your Windows machines (select ‘Complete’ install type during setup) and then reboot.  Type ‘browstat status’ from a command prompt to display the holder of the Master Browser role.  You can also type ‘net view’ from a command prompt to display the list of servers which the Master Browser is aware of (media shares on any of these servers should be visible to the WD-TV-Live box).

Hope this provides a technical explanation of why Windows shares often aren’t visible to the WD-TV-Live box for up to 15 minutes, and how the troubleshoot/resolve the issue.

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Um, perhaps, but that doesn’t explain why shares are ALWAYS available to me after less than a minute, on any one of three PCs on my network, on either of my two live units.

This has always been the case for me, regardless of what PC is on (I have two XP boxes and one Win 7).  And pretty obviously I can’t set just one PC to be a master (nor do I need to do this).   You may be on to something, but it’s not the full explanation of things.

Further checking, it appears that none of my computers have this service started automatically – they do, however, start the service as needed (and that’s really how it should be).

Now, I do think it would be wise for folks with network sharing issues to check to see if this service is started or not, but since it does start as needed I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be once the Live connects (actually, other than a physical problem the only real reason the browser service won’t start is if you have firewall issues either at your router or your PC.  Now, these firewall issues COULD explain some folks’ problems with netshares, but I’m rather skeptical of that as well).

that don’t working, my explore computer services still runnig at window start and i edited the 2 registry keys, i must wait. --i saw something, If i shut down pc xp ans turn on pc seven, then wd sees immediatly the sharing pc seven folders !!And if i switch on pc xp after, wd sees all computer. I i switch on pc xp 1rst et seven 2e, wd sees immediatly xp and must wait for see pc seven

yeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh !!! --that’s working ! --the probleme was on pc xp, and karspersky antivirus, i must uncheck the kasperski box in tcp/ip propriety – http://yfrog.com/bf26026597j

Okay, that makes a whole lot more sense to me (antivirus programs and/or firewalls are always going to be an issue with seeing shares).

So, i was happyest too fast when i said kaspersky was the fault !-- Because i rebooted the 2 pc together and then, pc seven started first, that’s why wd saw all computer directly.-- But i found an other trick : jenkinso gave me a way. pc seven must absolutly be the master browser computer,-- to do that, i disactived the browser computer service from pc xp, then when i start pc seven, it becomes the master browser, and all is fine, work very well, no trouble, like a charm – The second way is to launch MyLanViewer on pc seven and it’s working fine too. I hope Mr Western digital will take this trouble to correct the next firmware ! :wink:

When you say Win 7 must be your master, do you mean that if your XP computer(s) is/are the only ones on the net you can’t see them, or are you saying that if you do have a Win 7 computer working along with an XP that the Win 7 has to be the master?

My experiments so far have shown that at least on my system that is not the case – IOW, it makes no difference whether my Win 7 machine is started first, second, or not at all.  My XP machines work just fine and I actually cannot disrupt them.  So it’s not as simple as just setting Win 7 as the master browser – something else must be going on in your system.

(But I’m glad you have it working – it’s usually best not to fix things which aren’t broken).

what i mean is the computer 1st started is the master browser, pc xp is switch on befor pc seven, then there is a trouble, but when seven is started first, thats working fine. WD sees the 2 pc immediatly. – That’s why i must configure pc seven to be master browser.

Okay, I got you.  I’m going to test this out tomorrow and see if I can get my system to fail in this manner (usually my Win 7 machine is on most of the time, but I’ll just start the XP machine first, see if I can see the shares, and then start my Win 7 machine to try and fail it).

gigxy wrote:
what i mean is the computer 1st started is the master browser, pc xp is switch on befor pc seven, then there is a trouble, but when seven is started first, thats working fine. WD sees the 2 pc immediatly. – That’s why i must configure pc seven to be master browser.

So how do you stop your WDTV from being the master browser? If I switch the WDTV on first it becomes the Master Browser. When I switch the WDTV off my NAS then becomes the Master Browser. Only when I switch off  both my NAS and the WDTV does one of my computers take over. Of course if I start my computer first that becomes the Master.

As far as I am concerned the first computer or unit to start becomes the Master Browser. Anyway no matter who is the Master, I really don’t have much problem finding the shares but I find the topic interesting.

i don’t know how to stop the master from wd, for me, when i want to see a movie, the pc are running, and then i switch on wd. then no probleme in this case. – But may be you can force your nas to be master with the command “elect” of browstat