[garynitely]

hi, thanks so much for your reply.

That does go against all of the guides i have read though, as those i have looked through all say to export your library and then import it again, once the advancedsettings.xml file has been put in. i would certainly prefer not to have to rescan my entire library as there is quite a bit of customisation/custom movie sets that i would lose. 

once i use the advancedsettings.xml file and reboot, my library is empty (as i believe it should be). if i remove the file, i get my original library back (and an import works, so the issue isnt with my kodi configuration or my MiniPC). the import just doesnt work when i use the advancedsettings.xml file.

i have made sure port 3306 is open using powershell, as detailed in the guide i linked.

thanks for your advice though.