[MizMelzy]

I am trying to make my movie library which is on an external hard drive available through Kodi. I tried through my smart TV but it won't play any of the files even though it sees it. So my next idea was to set the drive up in Kodi and use it that way. I have Kodi installed on my Amazon Fire TV BOx. I have plugged in my external hard drive to my Netgear Nighthawk R6400v2 router.  I wanted to use my movie media library so that I could access it easily and watch my movie library without casting to my TV.  I googled how to hook it up using this method to Kodi.  I go into videos and browse for new share.  On the website that lists instructions, it lists "UPnP Devices" in the set up. My Kodi version does not have that at all.  So I tried windows network and click okay.  In the window items available should pop up with items on my network. Nothing pops up at all.  I do have the IP address of the hard drive which is hooked up to readyshare in the Netgear Router Admin settings. Can I add it with the IP address and use it that way?  Is there a setting that I have not enabled? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Mel

[DarrenHill]

https://kb.netgear.com/24068/How-do-I-sp...awk-router

Use the network connection option (don't both to enable http(s) or ftp) and then in Kodi add it as an SMB source. You probably won't be able to browse to it (at least if it's SMB2 or SMB3 shared, and you don't want to be using SMB1 as it's a security nightmare these days), so you'll need to enter the IP address of your router as the source and then whatever folder on the drive you're trying to share with the media in it. Do that via the add network location option at the bottom of the browse sources list when you set up a new source.

[MizMelzy]

https://kb.netgear.com/24068/How-do-I-sp...awk-router

Use the network connection option (don't both to enable http(s) or ftp) and then in Kodi add it as an SMB source. You probably won't be able to browse to it (at least if it's SMB2 or SMB3 shared, and you don't want to be using SMB1 as it's a security nightmare these days), so you'll need to enter the IP address of your router as the source and then whatever folder on the drive you're trying to share with the media in it. Do that via the add network location option at the bottom of the browse sources list when you set up a new source.

Thanks. I did find out that the UPnP was not enabled in Kodi.  So once I enabled this, it found my drive and all my movies. Now the problem is that not all files will play.  Some are MKV, Some are AVI. When I select a movie it acts like it's going to play with the circles going around and then just stops.  I double checked the files and the file types are supported by Kodi. So not sure what the issue is. I'd hate to have to re-encode all those videos again.  They were encoded with standard codecs. So not sure if I need to update Kodi's codecs or something?

Mel

[DarrenHill]

SMB is a better format to share things with than UPNP. If you use UPNP then you're only using Kodi as a player, and you cannot use any of the library features and functionality (UPNP doesn't support them).

All of those file formats should be supported by Kodi as-is, there generally aren't codec updates to do. See if you can share things via SMB as described above and whether that works any better.

[MizMelzy]

SMB is a better format to share things with than UPNP. If you use UPNP then you're only using Kodi as a player, and you cannot use any of the library features and functionality (UPNP doesn't support them).

All of those file formats should be supported by Kodi as-is, there generally aren't codec updates to do. See if you can share things via SMB as described above and whether that works any better.

Okay Thanks for the advice. I will go ahead and do it that way. I did try again and now all the files work to play. I will work on getting it added as an SMB than the UPNP


Mel

[ssteward]

SMB is a better format to share things with than UPNP. If you use UPNP then you're only using Kodi as a player, and you cannot use any of the library features and functionality (UPNP doesn't support them).

All of those file formats should be supported by Kodi as-is, there generally aren't codec updates to do. See if you can share things via SMB as described above and whether that works any better.

Okay Thanks for the advice. I will go ahead and do it that way. I did try again and now all the files work to play. I will work on getting it added as an SMB than the UPNP


Mel  

Leia 18.7 does not seem to have SMB as a server type in the Xbox version.  Is it possible to add a SMB server in Xbox kodi?

Best
Shane

[Madjack1007]

https://kb.netgear.com/24068/How-do-I-sp...awk-router

Use the network connection option (don't both to enable http(s) or ftp) and then in Kodi add it as an SMB source. You probably won't be able to browse to it (at least if it's SMB2 or SMB3 shared, and you don't want to be using SMB1 as it's a security nightmare these days), so you'll need to enter the IP address of your router as the source and then whatever folder on the drive you're trying to share with the media in it. Do that via the add network location option at the bottom of the browse sources list when you set up a new source.

So.....I need some clarification on your comment.
I have a nighthawk router with my external hd hooked to it. I can't connect to it by selecting it in browse for smb server, although I do see it listed. When I select it it does nothing. If I use UPnP, I can access the files on the hd but the video library functionality is not there. Just folders with files. Can you explain a little better on how I connect Kodi to my readyshare drive?

Thanks

[DarrenHill]

OK, for the browsing part - only SMB1 supports that. Neither SMB2 or SMB3 including browsing capabilities (finding it on your network), so what you need to do is go to:

videos > files > add videos... > browse > add network location... (bottom of the list, you may need to scroll - do not go to windows network (SMB) from that list )

In the window that appears, select:

Protocol - Windows Network (SMB)
Server name - enter the IP address of the server here (or its name if you prefer, but IP addresses are usually better as long as they're static (fixed, not DHCP) on your network.
Shared folder - the sub-directory of the share - you should be given this on your router dashboard when you set up the share.
Username/password - the credentials needed to access the share (set up on your router - they will probably be the account you use to log into your router dashboard).

Do not click the browse button below server name, as this will not work (that is the SMB1 browse option which won't work unless SMB1 has been re-enabled).

As background, SMB1 has some serious security bugs and so was disabled by Microsoft and many other vendors. If you want the background, go search "Wannacry" in your search engine of choice.

[Felipesku]

I had problems also so I did this:


Go to your router page in web browser "10.0.0.1" (for example) select "Readyshare" and copy "share name" under "Available Network Folders" section.

Got to your Kodi and under File manager add "Add network location" (Windows network SMB) as "Server Name" put your router address "10.0.0.1" (for example), and under "Shared folder" put "\\readyshare\USB_Storage" (for example - the copied "share name" from router Readyshare page) 

Then select  "- Browse" and VOILA.