WD TV Live, computer not showing up in Network Shares

Community Archives WD TV Live Networking
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Hey there! I’m using Windows 7 on my computer but my computer wont show up when looking on the mediaplayer in Video → Network Shares. I also got another computer using Windows XP and that one shows up all the time without problems. Sometimes my Windows 7 computer shows up but it isn’t often. Sometimes it works if I reinstall the WD player drivers on the computer but it isn’t always working.

Don’t really know how to explain but I hope you understand else just ask! Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Edit: after some time, about 30minutes my computer appears in the Network Share list but when I connect to it and trying to open a folder that I’m sharing it just says “There is no media in the current folder” even if there are A LOT of media and other folders there. Any suggestions on both my problems - that the computer isn’t showing up instantly and the “theres no media” problem?

Thanks again! :slight_smile:

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First off, there’s NO NEED for drivers on the PC to make shares work.  The “Drivers” are actually just telling Windows about the DLNA aspects of the box, with icons and stuff, to show under the Media Devices section.

So.

Windows Networking ■■■■■.   I’ve said it.  :)   It can take a long time for changes to a windows network to show up in Browser services, especially if the Master Browser is having issues.

Try shutting everything down.   If you’re using DHCP, you’ll need to leave your DHCP server up (probably your internet router does this.)  Then boot the Win7 box and let it come up completely.   Then start the WDTV.   In general, the PC should show up in the WDTV within a minute after boot.   

If you have a “Smart Router,” particularly one that includes NAS functionality, they’re often a source of trouble in these cases, and setting the ROUTER’S workgroup name to be DIFFERENT than the WDTV and the PC can fix that problem.

As to why files or folders don’t show up, that’s most often a permissions problem.

The Shared Folder and EVERYTHING underneath it needs to be accessible by the special user “Everyone.”  

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Thanks for the reply! It works fine now, had forgot to share it with everybody, stupid of me…

But it also seems that I need to have a homegroup activated and also I neeed to have media streaming activated in the advanced sharing options, I read somewhere that both should be disabled (by that I mean no homegroup activated and the media streaming option should be turned off) but when I had them disabled then my WDTV couldn’t find my computer, so now I have them both activated and now it works, thanks!

I got another question, I’ll post it here instead of creating a new thread.

My laptop is using wireless network and WDTV can’t see my laptop when looking in the “Network Sharing”, and it seems that my laptop can’t find WDTV in the network either. Doesn’t wireless network works, do I need to connect it with wire to my router? Hope you understand, thanks!

Edit: just saw that I can find the WDTV with my laptop, but I’m unable to connect to it.

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Homegroup has nothing to do with it;  I don’t have it enabled, and it’s fine.

Media Streaming also has no bearing on Network Shares.   I can disable it and it still works fine.

You’ll only be able to “Connect” to the WDTV from a remote source if “Network Sharing” is enabled on the WDTV, and you actually have storage attached.

There’s no reason why Wireless shouldn’t work.   It’s probably a Master Browser issue, or a WORKGROUP mismatch.   Check the WORKGROUP name and make sure it’s the same as the WDTV.   

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Okey, weird because it seems that it doesn’t work when I have them disabled, maybe something else was disabled also when tested with them disabled…

Oh, when you said that about the WORKGROUP I understand what’s the problem… my laptop is used at work and using another workgroup than the one I have at home… stupid of me not thinking about that :slight_smile:

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If you downloaded the FIRST Beta 1.03 code to the Live, that’d explain why you can’t see your laptop (in that version, the workgroup name MUST match.)

Otherwise, it may just take a long time for it to show up in the Live if the workgroups are different, or it could be a security policy on your work laptop…

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Something weird is going on now. It have worked fine the last days but yesterday and today it’s not working quite good. My PC is located in Media Servers category and not in Network Shares, and when I’m connecting to my PC in Media Servers there is nothing there, just some folders but when trying to enter them it just says “no media in folder”. Can this happen because I’m not having IPv6 enabled and that I’m using a VPN? I’m not using IPv6 for internet so I have it turned off. I’ve hard to believe that the VPN is causing this problem since it’s only affects my external IP-adress?

Edit: Maybe should say that I’ve enabled IPv6 and turned off the VPN but no success. I’ve turned off both the computer and WDTV and then started them again (computer first), but it’s still not working.

Edit2: Okey, now it just popped up in the Network Shares category after I uninstalled Windows Live assistant program that I read in some other threads that it could cause problems when using Windows 7 and now it works great again, but I don’t know if it was that uninstallation that fixed my problem, or if it just showed up because of nothing ^^ I can still connect to it through Media Servers, I couldn’t do that before, before I could just connect to it through Network Shares. Any suggestions how to make it work all the time or do you think it is fixed now? :confused:

Thanks!

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Wow.   That’s some fancy troubleshootin’, Tex…

In general, if you can see your PC under MEDIA SERVERS but *NOT* under Network Shares, then you can assume:

  1- The network is functioning, at least partially.

  2- There’s an issue with “Browser” services somewhere on your network.   

Media Servers operate under the UPnP protocol, which uses a RELIABLE network transport (TCP/IP) for all functions.  If you can see the Media Server, you can assume that your WD and your PC are able to connect to each other, but it doesn’t guarantee that it’s functioning “WELL.”

The SMB Browser Services all make use of NON-Reliable transports (UDP) which provides no guarantee that transmitted traffic will be received by the destination.

I once had an issue where I could play some files fine using Media Server, but NONE of my servers ever appeared in Network Shares for more than an hour.  Then they showed up, and the movie played for a few minutes, then disappeared again.   It turned out that my network switch was failing, and it was losing about 50% or more of the packets.   TCP will work around that.  UDP will not.  Since Browser uses UDP, the servers never appeared in the list.

Depending on the Browser elected, it can take 20 minutes OR MORE for a device to show up in the server list.   

The Windows Live Sign-in Assistant usually does not prevent a server from appearing in the WDTV’s List, it just prevents you from Logging In to that server (Invalid User-ID or Password! error).

So, I really don’t think you’ve found your root cause, but if it’s all working, I’d leave it alone!   :slight_smile:

In summary:  You do NOT need IPv6.  If you DO have IPv6, it will NOT interfere with the function of the WDTV.   If you use ONLY IPv6 (in other words, you disable IPv4) that will certainly break.  

Different VPN software behaves different ways.   My corporate VPN software (Cisco) will break EVERYTHING that’s not on the corporate network.   This is what happens if VPN software doesn’t allow “Split Tunnels.”   Some VPN software also has its own Firewall to prevent certain network traffic from being allowed when the VPN is up.

So, I don’t really know if that had anything to do with your issue…    

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Thanks for a quick reply and nice reading :wink: Ye I will leave it as this now since it’s working and hopefully it will work all the time from now without problems :stuck_out_tongue: I’m using a switch between the router and my PC because my 25meter long network cable wasn’t long enough so I bought a switch and used a 5 meter cable I had at home already, instead of buying a 30meter cable ^^ Maybe the switch is causing the problem sometimes? Tho I have hard to believe that because it is an expensive gigabit switch that supports very much, do you think it can be the switch causing the problem sometimes?

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I doubt it…

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Special Note in Win 7, you have two places in Advanced Sharing Settings:

Home or Work

Public

My HDLive needed the Public section to have sharing enabled.

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Odd… all my “Public” settings are “off”.  My only sharing is done through “Home”.  Win7 seems to be playing nicely with the WDTV for me.

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What the OP says is true;   this can happen, and has happened to me.

What’s important is that your “CURRENT PROFILE,” as it’s marked in the settings list, is what’s being changed.

Better yet, you should change your CURRENT PROFILE to be a HOME profile and edit that one.

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Hello

I have the problem that several computers are not showing up in the Network Shares of the WD TV LIVE. It worked fine for a while, but without any known reason my Laptop (Win 7 64bit) wont show up anymore.

Also 2 other computers I tested werent found (Win 7 32bit and Win XP 32bit).

The funny thing is, that another computer (Win 2003 Server) is found and the streaming is working fine all the time!

My laptop is also found under Media Server, but I cant open any files there.

I have no explanation for the problem. I tried resetting the unit and installed different firmewares on the WD TV. I also tried to change some networksettings on my computer, but without any effect.

The networksharing bettween 2 computers is working fine.

All computers are in WORKGROUP.

If anybody has an idea I am happy to hear it :smiley: