I have Installed Kodi V 18.6 "Leia" on a HTPC my hardwares is mentioned below
Intel Core i5 9400 Processor
Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WIFI Mini iTX Motherboard
Corsair 16GB DDR4 RAM 3000MHZ
WD Blue 256 GB SSD for OS
WD RED 6TB SATA HDD for Media Storage
Cooler Master 650W Power Supply
Cooler Master Elite 110 Cabinet
Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit Operating System
I have also installed Launcher4Kodi to automatically start Kodi on Windows 10 Startup
I need help to automatically show the external USB Drives connected to the HTPC in the Files or Videos Section in Kodi.
I had tried to search but have not yet found any solution as yet
It should automatically do that anyway? At least mine does...
Anyway mounting of drives etc is done by the underlying OS (Windows in this case), so I'd suggest disabling the auto-start for the moment and confirm what Windows is doing with the drives when you insert them. If it's not doing its job then of course they won't appear in Kodi either.
(2020-03-22, 15:19)DarrenHill Wrote: [ -> ]It should automatically do that anyway? At least mine does...
Anyway mounting of drives etc is done by the underlying OS (Windows in this case), so I'd suggest disabling the auto-start for the moment and confirm what Windows is doing with the drives when you insert them. If it's not doing its job then of course they won't appear in Kodi either.
I even tried by disabling the autostart the usb drives are seen when i manually go into videos -> Files -> Add Videos -> Browse -> after that i can see all my connected USB Drives but Suppose if KODI Is running and when i connect the USB Drive it does not say that a new hard drive is connected and its not displayed under Videos -> Files
Thanks for your reply
(2020-03-22, 14:23)intrepid Wrote: [ -> ]installed Launcher4Kodi
Your USB drivers are likely loaded in after windows start and launcher4Kodi (not all hardware acts this way, some allow boot from USB the driver is pulled from the bios). Seeing a drive letter after windows is complete should allow Kodi to see the drive but you may have to go into Kodi file manager and add source.
(2020-03-23, 16:00)PatK Wrote: [ -> ] (2020-03-22, 14:23)intrepid Wrote: [ -> ]installed Launcher4Kodi
Your USB drivers are likely loaded in after windows start and launcher4Kodi (not all hardware acts this way, some allow boot from USB the driver is pulled from the bios). Seeing a drive letter after windows is complete should allow Kodi to see the drive but you may have to go into Kodi file manager and add source.
I tried it even without enabling Launcher4Kodi but it doesn't show automatically in Kodi i have to manually add the source by going to
Videos -> Files -> Add Videos -> Browse
i also installed Kodi on my Apple MacBook Pro and then connected a USB Hard Disk, It shows the internal drive under Videos -> Files but doesn't show the USB Hard Drive, I have to then manually add the USB Hard Disk using the manual method, however i have an Android box with KODI installed using CoreElec but there the USB Drive pops up automatically when connected to the box
Kindly help me solve this issue
Thanks a lot for your help
This is the windows forum, not mac or android. I don;'t know if the issue is related to 'Launcher4Kodi' and that's why I suggest launching windows into desktop, then check if you have the external drive letter active? If the drive letter is not active at this point Kodi will never see the drive. Keep in mind with larger drives usually also rely on a partitioning format called GPT (GUID Partition Table) and if any of your video files are over 4 GB, you will need to use either exFAT or NTFS.
Windows plays musical chairs with drive letters, each time you plug the external drive in it may take on a new drive letter depending on what devices are currently in the cascade. Suggest renaming the drive and drive letter to something like 'Z: driive called Zorro and eliminate that issue.
Disk management.
If you see the correct drive letter in your win o/s launch Kodi at this point you may have to go into Kodi file manager and that drive letter as a source. Go back to video file mode (video button) and assign that drive as a source at which point subsequent launches should show that drive as a source even if it's unavailable (not plugged in).
(2020-03-24, 20:01)PatK Wrote: [ -> ]This is the windows forum, not mac or android. I don;'t know if the issue is related to 'Launcher4Kodi' and that's why I suggest launching windows into desktop, then check if you have the external drive letter active? If the drive letter is not active at this point Kodi will never see the drive. Keep in mind with larger drives usually also rely on a partitioning format called GPT (GUID Partition Table) and if any of your video files are over 4 GB, you will need to use either exFAT or NTFS.
Windows plays musical chairs with drive letters, each time you plug the external drive in it may take on a new drive letter depending on what devices are currently in the cascade. Suggest renaming the drive and drive letter to something like 'Z: driive called Zorro and eliminate that issue. Disk management.
If you see the correct drive letter in your win o/s launch Kodi at this point you may have to go into Kodi file manager and that drive letter as a source. Go back to video file mode (video button) and assign that drive as a source at which point subsequent launches should show that drive as a source even if it's unavailable (not plugged in).
Thanks i will check today and let you know
I have Kodi on 2 different boxes, one (amlogic) with coreelec and one (intel) with windows10. My problem is that coreelec detect every disk I connect, and I can see it in video -> files.
but in box with windows 10, I don't see the hard disk. I'm able to add it with "add video" and browse. In this way I see the icon disk also when not connected.
Kodi version is the same, 18.4 leia.
What I'm wrong?
(2020-03-24, 20:01)PatK Wrote: [ -> ]This is the windows forum, not mac or android. I don;'t know if the issue is related to 'Launcher4Kodi' and that's why I suggest launching windows into desktop, then check if you have the external drive letter active? If the drive letter is not active at this point Kodi will never see the drive. Keep in mind with larger drives usually also rely on a partitioning format called GPT (GUID Partition Table) and if any of your video files are over 4 GB, you will need to use either exFAT or NTFS.
Windows plays musical chairs with drive letters, each time you plug the external drive in it may take on a new drive letter depending on what devices are currently in the cascade. Suggest renaming the drive and drive letter to something like 'Z: driive called Zorro and eliminate that issue. Disk management.
If you see the correct drive letter in your win o/s launch Kodi at this point you may have to go into Kodi file manager and that drive letter as a source. Go back to video file mode (video button) and assign that drive as a source at which point subsequent launches should show that drive as a source even if it's unavailable (not plugged in).
I have the same problem, tested on 2 different PC's. I mean Windows 10, and I don't use any launcher but I start Kodi From Desktop.
Windows find the disk just I plug it. I tried also to force a different drive letter for every disk I have. No luck,
I'm Able to Add every disk going to Videos -> Files -> Add Videos -> Browse but in this way I see the disk label also when disk is disconnected.
I have also abox with coreelec and work ok. Only windows have this problem.
Windows plays with drive letters, if another device eg. portable USB is introduced into the set-up, windows will cascade the device letter and your 'portable drive' now takes on another letter and is a possible explanation for your situation. Suggestion: set the portable hd to some letter way down the alphabet like drive X called Xerox or some such. Enable the drive in Kodi file manager and it should show up as a potential source each time you plug it in.
Moving to windows support forum. Note: Link in Post #11
(2020-04-04, 20:55)PatK Wrote: [ -> ]Windows plays with drive letters, if another device eg. portable USB is introduced into the set-up, windows will cascade the device letter and your 'portable drive' now takes on another letter and is a possible explanation for your situation. Suggestion: set the portable hd to some letter way down the alphabet like drive X called Xerox or some such. Enable the drive in Kodi file manager and it should show up as a potential source each time you plug it in.
Moving to windows support forum. Note: Link in Post #11
Yes, I already done all this before as workaround. I forced the drive letter to my 4 Hard disks to M: N: O: P: , so every time I disconnect one or another, next time I reconnect it disk have same letter (this is a precaution that I already take at work...)
After that, I enabled disk as source in KODI. So, I can use the disk, but it is a very different way respect other platforms like coreelec, libreelec and so on.
In coreelec, I can see the disk every time I connect it. Now in windows I can't know what disk I have connected because I see every disk also when are disconnected.
Maybe this is the only way on Windows 10, I tried also with kodi 17 and I have the same problem. Anyway, I suggest to find a way, understand that is not easy because drive letter can change every time...
(2020-04-05, 01:21)willyfan Wrote: [ -> ]in windows I can't know what disk I have connected because I see every disk also when are disconnected.
It's the operating system that does drive mounting, expected behaviour is the drive will show up in the o/s when connected, and NOT if disconnected. It seems in your case upnp is not working. Forcing the drive letter is a must. Open the Start menu, type "Device Manager," and press Enter when the option appears. Expand the Disk Drives menu and the Universal Serial Bus menu to see if your external drive appears in either set, if not you'll have to go looking in the computer bios. In the same area is the Universal Serial Bus controllers menu, an update may be needed. Some – usually obscure – USB peripherals use special drivers that you can only download from the manufacturer’s website. If Windows hasn’t found the best driver, it might be worth looking for one. If you can't see your external drives connect & disconnect, it's something in your o/s that is amiss.
(2020-04-05, 07:13)PatK Wrote: [ -> ] If you can't see your external drives connect & disconnect, it's something in your o/s that is amiss.
Maybe there is a misunderstanding. In OS (winsows) I can see what is connected or not. I mean that in KODI I'm unable to see this, because if I add a disk as video resource I see the disk also is not connected. Obviusly, when disk is disconnected I can't see folder and so on.
In my opinion, also in KODI must do as OS, showing conncted disk with their drive letter. User must force a drive letter for every disk..
Depending on the type of disk it is (whether it is seen as removable or not) then Kodi will already see it as a mounted disk.
You won't see it as a source to be added, because as far as Kodi is concerned it's already a source. So if you navigate to it (under videos > files for example) you should see it there with it's drive letter. You can then navigate inside that folder tree, and add media from it by using the context menu to set the content of a given folder (if you set the folder to movies, you'll get the option to scan the folder content to the movie db, similarly if you set to TV shows it'll scan to the TV show database).
In such cases there is no mounting or unmounting as they aren't seen as removable drives (due to how the OS handles them) which I think might be the cause of your confusion.