Network Share

From NMTWiki

Easy and suitable for everyone.

A network share allows the NMT to stream media stored on external devices such as PC's, NAS devices or servers that are connected to the same network. Currently, the NMT supports Samba (SMB), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Network File System (NFS/NFS-TCP).

If you are looking for ways to share media stored on the NMT with other devices, please refer to NMT Network Share.

Setting share links on your NMT

Sharing a folder/drive on your Windows PC

This is known as Simple File Sharing or SMB shares. You will be able to stream and play your files, including ISO files, via this method. SMB streaming peaks at slower speeds than http. This is not important for the 200 series NMT, but the 100 series owners should use methods that enable both ISO playback and also http streaming, as it is the quickest streaming method.

In order to link to a folder the folder has to be shared first on your PC. The NMT cannot access a folder/drive that has not been shared on your PC and that your PC will not allow you to access.

Setting up your PC Network options and enabling a Guest Account

I shall use Vista as there is already an XP Guide. Both Windows 7 and Vista are very similar to setup and settings for Windows7 are available on the WIKI HERE.

Open Control Panel>Folder Options. Then select the middle tab called View and ensure that you have a check in the Use Sharing Wizard (Recommended) box.

Again open Control Panel and this time select User Accounts. Then choose Manage User Account and check to see that you have a User shown as Guest. If not then add/enable the Guest user account.

Folder Options - Ensure Sharing is selected

Manage User Accounts - select the option to enable the Guest Account

Guest Account Added - make sure you have it enabled

Then visit the Vista Networking & Sharing Center via Control Panel>Networking and Sharing Center, or via selecting the Networking icon in the system tray.

If you have not set a Network on your PC previously read on, otherwise skip down to the next step. When in the Networking Center select Create Network and give your Network a name and select Private Network. This means that your network is just for you.

In Network Center ensure there are some further options to select. Make sure that you allow Media Sharing ON, File Sharing ON, Public Folder Sharing ON, Network Discovery ON for devices in your workgroup, and password protected sharing OFF.

Network & Sharing Center - turn ON the required options

Creating Network - add your own private network

Network Created - make sure its private and you have turned ON your sharing settings

PC folder sharing settings

Now we move on to actually share the folder that you want to be able to see on your NMT.

Go to the folder and right-click, choose the Share option. A browser will appear with the name of the account that you are currently using shown as a User of the folder.

Add the User 'Guest' by selecting the drop-down box to the right of the User name, choose Guest, then click Add. You should see the user Guest added to those that are allowed to access the shared the content. If not then you need to visit Control Panel User Accounts and enable the Guest user.

Right-Click - to select share. and open the sharing browser window	Sharing Permissions - current sharing permissions for the shared folder
Add User Guest - adding the user Guest with read permission	Sharing' - now the user Guest will be able to access the shared folder and read its contents.

To check your permissions right-click on the folder/drive and select 'properties'. Then select Sharing tab and the Advanced Sharing and Permissions. This will show you who can access the share and how they can access. You can give read, write or total control. For access from the NMT you only need to give the Guest User read access.

You will see an icon showing that a folder/drive has been shared. In Network Sharing Center you can also select Show me all the shared network folders option to see all of your shared content.

NMT Samba (SMB) Share Setup

Goto Setup->Network Share, you can browse your SMB network and add the path to the list, or manually enter the path to your SMB share, e.g:

smb://<hostname or ipaddr>/foldername

100 Series screen, 200 series may differ slightly

Share Name

You can enter whatever details you would like the share to be shown as on your Sources screen Network option in the Share Name field.

URL

Enter the path or browse to enter the path in the URL field.

User Name

Enter the user name in the User Name field, can of course be left blank for Guest access.

Password

Finally enter a password if you are not using a Guest account and require a password to access your PC share.

Select Add to create the share on your Sources screen.

For the example above right with a Guest account enabled on your PC you would enter:-

Share name - whatever you want the share to be called and displayed on your NMT Sources Network screen.
URL - use the Browse button to navigate through to your Vista PC Network Workgroup and shared folder.
User Name - leave blank unless using Windows login/password details.
Password - leave blank,unless using Windows User Account login/password details.

The actual example has Windows User 'test' and a password entered. These will be the Windows login details for the user 'test' on the Windows PC.

You can enter your Windows User Account login and password in the User Name and Password fields if you have not turned OFF password protected sharing on your PC in Advanced Network Sharing and do not want to do so.

NMT NFS Share Setup

Goto Setup->Media Server->Network Share, type in the full path to your NFS share, e.g:

nfs://<hostname or ipaddr>:/foldername (colon after hostname required)

You can select the protocol (TCP or UDP) used for the NFS connection:

nfs://      <-- UDP
nfs-tcp://  <-- TCP

Some firewalls, including the WinXP firewall, will block critical parts of udp NFS server connections, even if correctly configured. If you experience a "No content found" error when using udp, try switching to tcp.

Some gigabit switches has problems with udp (D-Link DGS-1008D for example) and it will not be possible to stream data but viewing files are ok. If you have this problem, try switching to tcp.

Other Networking Tips & Tweaks

Enabling Anonymous users

Depending on configuration you may also need to enable the local security setting "Network access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users"

Start editing local security settings by selecting the start menu, select "run",

type secpol.msc and hit enter.

Select "Local policies".

Select "Security options".

Find "Network access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users" and set it to enabled if disabled.

Windows Live Software

If you can access specific folders through pre-saved network shares but cannot access through the network browser then this can be due to using Windows Live Software - Windows Movie Maker, Windows Live Sign-in (aka MSN Messenger), and other elements of the Windows Live Apps. Test by removing the app as follows:-

Sign in as Administrator or someone with Administrative Privileges Click the start button or Orb go to and click "Control Panel" locate "Programs" and click on "Uninstall a Program" (if in large icons view click on "Programs and Features") Scroll down to "Windows Live Sign-in Assistant" and click once Locate "Uninstall" button near top and select Select "Yes" when asked if you are sure you want to completely remove Restart computer as suggested After computer restarts turn your Popcorn Hour on and it should now see shared folders on your Windows 7 PC.

Windows Live Software makes changes to CIFS and blocks SMB and NFS shares. The Workaround is to edit your PC Registry as detailed below.

Losing network connection

Try this is you lose your network connections:-

Realtek NIC: Go into your network and connection sharing and click on change adapter settings. Go to the properties of the network card in question and open properties, then configure for the card. Go to the advanced tab and set Receive Side Scaling to disabled.

Atheros NIC: There's no "Receieve Side Scaling" option in my Advaced tab settings. There is however "Task Offload" - which should be set to Disabled.

If you still lose your network connection then look into your OS Power settings. If you have the network adapter set to anything other than always ON you will lose your connection. Go to the Control Panel>Device Manager. Then check that all of the power saving options are NOT checked.

Windows Icons for your Mapped Shares

You can download Windows icons for your NMT mapped shares A100/110, A200, A210/A300, C200 & C300 icons. Includes icon files for the A-100/A-110, A-200, A-210/A-300, C-200 & C-300.

To change your Windows 7 icons for your mapped network shares for your NMT simply use this program W7 Drive Icon Changer and the icon files from the line above.

Network Utilities

Windows Share Manager

Install on your Windows PC to see if your shares have the correct permissions, fix them and make registry tweaks for network access. Use Windows Share Manager. Credit Jan Kemp.

Master Browser - LANScan

To find out which devices are on your local areas network try this LANScan app. Simply place it on your PC and run. It will then tell you each device and which one is the master browser. Credit to the developer Scottie.

W7 Shares Not Showing via Network Browser

In particular users of Windows Live software may find that network shares that are available via direct saved network shares on the NMT as not accessible when using the Network Browser access in the Home/Sources menu.

A quick workaround or to see if this is the problem is to uninstall Windows Live software and then reboot. If you can now access via Network Browser then you know that the problem is with Windows Live software. Short of not using this software a quick fix is to edit some registry values.

To enter your W7 registry simply type Regedit in your W7>Start>Search

Then browse through the open window to the following location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

On the right side Double Click on everyoneincludesanonymous and in the pop-up change the value data from a 0 value to a 1
Double Click on NoLmHash and in the pop-up change the Value Data from a 1 value to a 0

Then browse to the location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Parameters

This time Double Click on restrictnullsessaccess and change the 1 value to a 0 

Reboot your PC. Then reboot your NMT. You should now be able to see your shared folders/files via Network Browser on the Home/Sources screen.

Limitations

Under the current release of the firmware, only one Network Share can be mounted (or 'active') at a time (why this is so). The Network Share setup screen only defines the Network Shares, it does not mount them. A Network share is mounted when it is used. This can cause issues for users wishing to use Jukeboxes referencing more than one share. For example, if a Jukebox is accessed via a Network Share called 'MediaJukebox', then only media accessible via that share is available to the Jukebox. There are however jukeboxes available such as Oversight and UMC which can cope with multiple locations.