I have been trying to setup remote access to my MBL via the internet to my new ipad, but with limited success.
I have enabled the MBL for remote access and successfully completed the email and password registration process. If I go to my ipad and navigate to www.wd2go.com I get the login page ok.
I enter the correct email and pasword combiantions and I can see my MBL drive. If I click on the ‘down arrow’ next to my MBL I am invited to either ‘Remove device’ or ‘View shares’. I click on the ‘View shares’ option and on the next page the page shows a very simple strapline title = ‘My Book Live - System Admin’. Below that is another very simple heading = Shares (4).I had perhaps expected to see an expanded view of what those shares are - but the rest of the page is completely blank.
I know my MBL has 4 shares on it, all of which are public, so the headings makes sense, but I simply cannot see any of the individual shares themselves on the ipad so I cannot go into them to view their contents.
To be doubly sure, I went back to the MBL admin window and created another public share simply called ‘test share’. When I went back to the ipad it had correctly updated the number of shares to ‘Shares (5)’ - but still I cannot see what these shares are (on the ipad) -just a largely blank page.
So it sees to be all working in principle, but not in practice.
For one, you cannot use the website www.wd2go.com from iOS devices. That’s really just for PCs. To access WD 2go using your iPad, you need the free WD 2go app from the app store.
Now, on your PC, that’s a whole different story. My guess is that there’s something wrong with the Java installation on your PC.
You might try completely uninstalling Java, and then re-installing the latest version that’s correct for your PC.
There is confusion somewhere that is for sure. I have carefully and precisely followed the instructions on the WD website for setting up the MBL for remote access from for my iPad (or indeed iphone).Under the section:
"To access your content from a remote Mac computer:
From your computer, enter the following URL in a browser:
At the sign in page, enter your amail address and password.
etc, etc.
I appreciate that I am using an ipad rather than a Mac, but WD are telling me to open up a web browser and go to that URL which seems sensible to me - although it seems to ‘fail’ at the final hurdle.
I have previously downloaded the WD2go app from the app store and that appears to work with 100% success - but surely that is accessing my MBL via my wifi/local network ? - that’s not want I want, I want to access it over the internet.
I have also just checked my laptop, according to the Java website I am already up to date with Java (I always have the check for Java updates enabled).
I am tantalisingly close on both the Ipad and laptop, but not quite there yet.
I really appreciate your assistance and advice, hopefully my further reply may lead to a solution. Kind regards, yt.
A further update. Although ‘Java’ was telling me I had the latest ‘up to date’ install, I took TonyPh12345’s advice and unstalled java from my W7 laptop and then re-installed it.
I went to the www.wd2go.com website and followed the login procedures as outlined in my posting above. There was a lot of ‘stuttering’ through error messages etc, but in the end I was able to see the individual shares and access files on it.
So, the problem with accessing the MBL from the laptop via the internet (not wifi) seems to have been solved - thanks TonyPH12345.
Hopefully we may be able to get the same thing going from the iPad with some further work. Regards, yt.
There is confusion somewhere that is for sure. I have carefully and precisely followed the instructions on the WD website for setting up the MBL for remote access from for my iPad (or indeed iphone).Under the section:
"To access your content from a remote Mac computer:
From your computer, enter the following URL in a browser:
At the sign in page, enter your amail address and password.
etc, etc.
1- I appreciate that I am using an ipad rather than a Mac, but WD are telling me to open up a web browser and go to that URL which seems sensible to me - although it seems to ‘fail’ at the final hurdle.
2 - I have previously downloaded the WD2go app from the app store and that appears to work with 100% success - but surely that is accessing my MBL via my wifi/local network ? - that’s not want I want, I want to access it over the internet.
3 - I have also just checked my laptop, according to the Java website I am already up to date with Java (I always have the check for Java updates enabled).
I am tantalisingly close on both the Ipad and laptop, but not quite there yet.
I really appreciate your assistance and advice, hopefully my further reply may lead to a solution. Kind regards, yt.
1 - They’re expecting you to do that from a real computer, not a tablet or phone. Those instructions for remote web access are all PC/Mac only.
2 - It’s the exact same process and app for remote access out of your network. The app recognizes if you are not on the same network as the MBL and tries to reach it over the internet.
3 - Try another internet browser. There’s a Java plugin involved that is not listed on your list of programs, and it asks for permissions.
I am not at all familiar with the technicalities of Apple products, and would not pretend to be any sort of expert on PC’s.
If I understand your posting correctly are we saying that whilst I am at home, the WD2go programme is ‘seeing’ the connection to my MBL via my local wifi network and accesses it via that method? - certainly I can see and access the shares on the drive in this way.
But when I am away from my home wifi network, I will have to use the same WD2go app on the iPad WD2go and it will automatically detect there is no local wifi connection to my MBL and try and access it via the www.
It clearly asks 'which device do you want to use to access the content on your My Book Live ’ and then gives me the option of using either iPhone or iPad so I don’t quite understand your reference implying this will only work with ‘a real computer’?
If you look further down the page linked to above, you will see separate instructions on using the MBL remotely with a Mac.
It does strongly suggest that using the MBL as a cloud and accessing it remotely via the internet on an iPad is do-able.
I will try your suggestion of trying to access the MBL over the internet using a different brower to ‘Safari’. Regards, yt.
That’s correct. Once you’ve “paired” the WD 2go app to your device, you can access it from anywhere.
If you’re able to browse your device using the WD 2go app on your iDevice already, then I assume you’ve already paired it, in which case you should be good to go.
The browsing experience will be the same wherever you are.
Using a different browser on your iDevice won’t do any good. There’s no need at all to do it.
Thanks TonyPh 12345, I did try a didfferent browser (Google Crome) and it was just the same.
I also tried to access the MBL on a completely different desktop PC running XP. The results were the same as initially on the laptop. I opened up IE and navigated to the www.wd2go.com website and entered the email address and password I had previously set up. I could log in with those credentials. I could ‘see’ my personal MBL. I could ‘see’ my MBL had 5 public shares - but I could not ‘see’ those shares and they were not listed. The display area where I expected to see the individual shares listed was blank (‘black’ in fact, above a low level orange sun burst sort of display near the bottom of the screen). As you have previously suggested I removed my Java installation. I then re-installed Jave again. After this I could then ‘see’ the 5 individual public shares and access them.
So as far as my laptop (W7) and desktop (XP) were concerned, I am certain I will now be able to remotely interact with my MBL from anywhere over the internet. So far so good.
I have downloaded the wd2go app from the apple store to my iPad. If I use it, it clearly connects to the MBL and I can ‘see’ the 5 public shares on the MBL and access them. But of course this is working via my home wifi since I am using the iPad at home.
I am assuming from your previous post, that if I were to leave my house, connect the iPad to the internet via some local connection wherever I happen to be, launch the wd2go app on the iPad, the app will realise that it cannot access my MBL via wifi, and instead will (try to) access it via the internet.
Is that correct? Is it that simple? Thanks for your help and patience, regards yt.
Thanks TonyPh 12345, I did try a didfferent browser (Google Crome) and it was just the same.
I also tried to access the MBL on a completely different desktop PC running XP. The results were the same as initially on the laptop. I opened up IE and navigated to the www.wd2go.com website and entered the email address and password I had previously set up. I could log in with those credentials. I could ‘see’ my personal MBL. I could ‘see’ my MBL had 5 public shares - but I could not ‘see’ those shares and they were not listed. The display area where I expected to see the individual shares listed was blank (‘black’ in fact, above a low level orange sun burst sort of display near the bottom of the screen). As you have previously suggested I removed my Java installation. I then re-installed Jave again. After this I could then ‘see’ the 5 individual public shares and access them.
So as far as my laptop (W7) and desktop (XP) were concerned, I am certain I will now be able to remotely interact with my MBL from anywhere over the internet. So far so good.
I have downloaded the wd2go app from the apple store to my iPad. If I use it, it clearly connects to the MBL and I can ‘see’ the 5 public shares on the MBL and access them. But of course this is working via my home wifi since I am using the iPad at home.
I am assuming from your previous post, that if I were to leave my house, connect the iPad to the internet via some local connection wherever I happen to be, launch the wd2go app on the iPad, the app will realise that it cannot access my MBL via wifi, and instead will (try to) access it via the internet.
Is that correct? Is it that simple? Thanks for your help and patience, regards yt.
I have read your correspondence with interest, but I am still in the position that I can only ‘see’ the shares but am unable to access anything on my iPad via WiFi or ‘remotely’ by using my mobile chip on the iPad!
I have been able to access MBL from the iPad with success…once. It does not work and I always get a message saying that this device is offline. But when I get home to my local network it works just fine. To get it to work when I am on another network away from home or on my phone data network I have to unplug the MBL and reboot it.
I will be on a Three month trip and want to access my files and don’t want to have to reboot since I won’t physically be there to do it. Why am I having problems with viewing my files remotely on my iPhone or iPad with wd2go?
Nuvidro wrote:
Great to know I am not the only one. Plus I called WD Support and they couldn’t help at all.
Unless they’re coding the app in the middle of a call then there’s notihng much anyone can do other than telling you to clear the cash, uninstall the app, reboot the phone and try again and the same goes for all iOS apps. Most they can do is report it and then down to waiting the new version, if ever/
