My WD TV Live SMP not able to see my network share on Windows XP share on my network!

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Hi Guys

I have 1 modem router (in my study) and 4 switches at various places in the house.

The 2 TV’s are connected to 2 different switches in different rooms

I did try Serviio - this was installed on a Windows XP SP3 PC connected to switch other than the switch that either of the TV’s are connected to - but for some reason my TV’s didn’t see the Serviio media server. It was suggested that I should connect this PC to the same switch that the TV’s are connected to - but that wasn’t possible and the TV’s are on different floors.

Questions :-

I have :-

  1. a PC connected to my home network (this is an old spare PC running Windows XP SP 3 that I can use for this purpose) with all my content on it  - I was looking at buying the WD 2 TB internal HDD (AV-GP 2TB, WD20EURS) for this purpose and
    2.    a WD TV Live media player connected to my home network - I will have to buy another one to connect it to the other TV

With this sort of set up as described above, I am not able to get my WD TV Live SMP to see my network share folders which contain all my media content.

All of these folders have full permissions for all users on the network.

The WD TV  Live SMP is visible to all my PC’s as separate computers (2 of them are running Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit, 2 of them are running Windows XP Professioal SP3, 2 laptops running Windows 8 Home. The WD TV  Live SMP as a test has an external HDD attached to it temporarily. These folders as seen by all of these PC’s on Windows Explorer On "My Network Places (XP) or Network (Win 7) show these folders like so :-

XP Layout

My Network Places →   Microsoft Windows Network - >Workgroup - > wdtvlive → My_Book → Folders Therein in External HDD atttached to WD TV  Live SMP

Win 7 Layout

Network →   wdtvlive → My_Book → Folders Therein in External HDD atttached to WD TV  Live SMP

Any assistance with this shall be highly valued.

Best regards

Deepak

2

Can you connect to your western digital from a web browser to make sure you can access it from the network? 

Make sure your WORKGROUP on Western digital & computer with all media match.  Also, I’ve come across times where I have to keep trying to find my drive a few times.  It normally takes the magic number of 4 tries and then all of a sudden the share I been wanting to see magically appears… 

Hope this helps. 

3

Can you connect to your western digital from a web browser to make sure you can access it from the network? 

Make sure your WORKGROUP on Western digital & computer with all media match.  Also, I’ve come across times where I have to keep trying to find my drive a few times.  It normally takes the magic number of 4 tries and then all of a sudden the share I been wanting to see magically appears… 

Hope this helps. 

4

Hi dnap941

Yes, I can connect to it from a web browser! I can see the 4 options of ‘System’, ‘Appearance’ etc etc.

The workgroup name is the same in all the devices - it is ‘workgroup’

But I still cannot get it to see my sharred folders.

What can I do next? I have reset the device to factory defaults and restarted the device too a few times but I am not winning!

Best regards

Deepak

5

Did you change the WORKGROUP on any of your computers?  Make sure that every connected PC on your network all has the same WORKGROUP name.  You know what I mean? When I first bought my Western Digital I had such a tough time trying to get connected with my shares because my computers were on a different workgroup from the default workgroup called WORKGROUP.  I hope I am making sense for you.

6

My Apologies.  I didn’t see that you answered my question already.  lol.  The share you wanted to share, does it have accurate permissions?  Did you set your user account for full access permissions?  Does Western Digital know of this account? 

7

Hi dnap941

I have given full control access to all these folders - the user are ‘Network Service’, ‘Everyon’, ‘Admin’.

Do I need to restart the PC and/or WD TV Live? I have just hard restarted WD TV Live anyway!

Best regards

Deepak

8

Deepak,

Add your useraccount that you log in with.  Make sure to click “Check name” before adding.  Once added, set that account to have full access.  Afterwards, tell your western digital the account credentials.  In example, your username \ password that you would use to log onto your PC.  

9

Also, restarting the computer doesn’t hurt.  I’ve come across times where I had to reboot my machine in order to see my drive.  It’s only happened twice and I’ve owned my WD for almost a year and a half now.

10

Hi dnap941

There is no user account - it just logs in to the admin account - I can create a user and give it admin access for testing but would that help?

Given that I have given admin access to everyone on this pc for that folder - shouldn’t that make it visible to  everyone on my network?

I will restart the PC anyway!

Deepak

11

Yes, this should help regardless of your current security settings that state that “Everyone” should be able to see your folder.  In my case, I was not able to see the folder\share until I added my own account under the security tab to full access.  It wasn’t until then that I was able to see my share. 

Also, make sure that your network settings are correct and that your machine is discoverable.

e.g. \computername\ from the run in the startmenu.  if this doesn’t bring up your PC that stores your share… you then sound like you have more of a network configuration error at this point.

12

Hi dnap941

It is discoverable. I just tested that!

Typing \computername - finds my PC

Created a new account with admin rights and added it to these folders. I am just about to restart the PC but without restarting as yet, the WD TV Live is not finding any shared drives/folders.

This isreally getting me down but I will persevere!

I have to get this working!

Best regards

Deepak

13

Ok.  Now I’m going to just throw questions at you in hopes they spark something wrong in configuration.

Is the WD connected to the internet?

Are you sure you are navigating to the Network share section in the menu?

Have you tried more than three times back to back to try to access your network share?  I’ve come across times where I’ve had to give it at least three attempts before it displayed my computer\hostname.  Weird, I know.

Is your WIFI connection not strong in the area your WD is located?

Can you hard wire your WD to see if it’s a configuration problem or lack of connectivity?

If you can access your shared folder, can you view the files inside the folder? 

Are you adding the share via the Advanced Sharing options and then adding the user account via the permissions button located in the same dialog box?

14

Hi dnap941

Good that you are asking me all these questions - at least this way we’d know what am I doing wrong!

My WD TV Live is connected to my home network via wired network connection. It is connected to my home network through a switch. The PC that has the media content is also connected to the home network via wired connection through a different swtich. Both these switches are in different room. The network layout is convoluted as follows :-

Modem Router → Switch1 → Switch2 → WD TV Live and to the TV

Same Model Router As Above → Switch1 → PC that contains media content

All devices are connected to my home network through wired connection through switches.

Is the WD connected to the internet?

 Yes, it is! It is able to play content from the sites that are avaible through WD TV Live!

Are you sure you are navigating to the Network share section in the menu?

Yes. I went via Setup/System/Media Library/Media Library Manager for Netnwork Share/Add Network Share/Windows Share

Have you tried more than three times back to back to try to access your network share?  I’ve come across times where I’ve had to give it at least three attempts before it displayed my computer\hostname.  Weird, I know.

Not three times back to back but far more that three times by now - may be 50 times or more by now!

I will do that now! I will do through the menu three times back to back! But the problem is that it just continues to search and doesn’t stop even after half an hour! So I restart from Setup/…/ again!

Do you want me to power it off and of for each run?

Is your WIFI connection not strong in the area your WD is located?

No WiFi is coming in to play here at all!

Can you hard wire your WD to see if it’s a configuration problem or lack of connectivity?

 It is already hard wired.

If you can access your shared folder, can you view the files inside the folder? 

I can access shared folder on another computer through Windows Explorer. I can also see all the files therein! I even can see the whole drive with all files and folders therein using a browser like Firefox!

Are you adding the share via the Advanced Sharing options and then adding the user account via the permissions button located in the same dialog box?

No, not by going in to Advanced but by going in to ‘Security’ tab and then adding permissions

Hopefully this helps!

Deepak

15

Are you adding the share via the Advanced Sharing options and then adding the user account via the permissions button located in the same dialog box?

No, not by going in to Advanced but by going in to ‘Security’ tab and then adding permissions

Okay.  So one more time.  If you navigate \computername from a computer that isn’t the one you are hosting the files, you do see all of the folders and stuff you do want to share… correct?  If you do, good.  Your sharing settings are correct.  If you’ve already added your account and set it to modify on the folders you’d like to access.  Good. 

 

Moving forward…

Eliminate the switches by unplugging the wire from WD.  Try Wireless.  Any luck?

Reset router.  Any luck?

Are your switches smart switches?  Do they have pre-configured IP configurations on them?  Perhaps the WD can’t communicate with your PC because of settings on the switches.  If they are dummy switches, you can void this entire comment out.

16

Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQstgQ4eJCM

17

Hi dnap941

I don’t know what these smart switches are - I myself am not particularly clever!

I can give you the model number of those, if that helps! I can try and go wireless, no problems!

I don’t think they have any preconfiguration done! The preconfiguration is not even done on my modem/router because it didn’t come from my ISP. I did go through the process that they have on their website though!

I am just having my lunch and will come back to you some answers for you mate!

You’ve been very very helpful! Thanks again!

Best regards

Deepak

18

Hi dnap

Tried everything that you suggested - no luck! Cannot see my windows 7 or xp share!

God know what is the problem! I think I am destined not to have it

Deepak

19

Deepak,

Unfortunately, I don’t have any more suggestions.  I am not sure if it is your network set up or the western digital. Maybe you should exchange your WD for a new one.  All this troubleshooting and for all we know, the Western Digital is at fault.  

Best of luck,

Dominick 

20

Hi Dominick

Mate, look you have helped me more than anybody else would. I can’t really ask you of any more! All your help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks once again!

It is out of warranty and I can’t do nothing about it. Just that I won’t buy another - which is what I would have if things would have gone ok but nevertheless! I will see if I can get FreeNAS going on this PC and if WD TV Live can see FreeNAS drive then it should be ok although I would still need another one as I have never been able to get the DLNA working on FreeNAS and hence my other TV downstairs would not see FreeNAS but WD TV Live would probably!

Wonder if I would have the same network issue with My Cloud though - that was the other option that I was considering! Do you think if I were to buy the WD My Cloud (2 TB was the one that I was looking at), I would have the same issues with it?

Best regards

Deepak