[Apple TV] Wont find networked media on my seperate windows 7 computer
#1
First i want to apologize that i am very new to most of this. I can say right now that i don't know how to find some of the things I'm suppose to post along with this. I know how to find it on a computer, but not on the Apple TV. I'm so sorry if anything is missing and will check back frequently to add any information that's missing that helpers request. I promise, i might be stupid but I'm not lazy, i researched all day before posting so if i missed something that is clearly stated, I'm sorry, but i promise i did my research before making this post.

Basically the problem I'm having is this. I have a laptop with windows 7 with an external 2 TB hard drive that has all my movies on it. This is setup like a ghetto server and is rarely touched directly. I setup xbmc on my regular windows 7 box and gained access to my movies effortlessly through Windows network (SMB).

I loved watching movies with it so decided to get a Apple TV so i could watch all my movies on my TV. I installed it first try no problems with the thumb drive, and then went to find my media on my "ghetto server" upstairs but it would not find it. Every time i chose Windows network (smb) like i did before on my computer, i get the error "Error 2: share not available". I did a search for this error message but couldn't find anything on the site for it. I then guessed (probably incorrectly) that i couldn't connect this way with the Apple TV because its not windows. So i tried UPNP devise. The computer my ghetto server is on shows up in the list but when i try and access it, a "Folder Searching...." box showed up for about 1/4th of a second then goes away and reverts back to the "browse for new share" screen. I then installed XBMC on the ghetto server computer upstairs and chose the options to allow for "share video and music libraries through upnp", "allow control of xbmc via upnp" "allow programs on other systems to control xbmc". I go back to the Apple TV and the media server is listed, i click on it and it opens and has 2 folders in it. A music folder and a movie folder, but none of my media is in those folders. I also double checked to make sure that the folder with my movies in it on my ghetto server was "shared" with "everybody" to read.

So after all this i searched this site for hours and hours trying to find whats wrong but couldn't find anything new that i haven't already tried. But i tried everything above and still cant access my movies. So any help on what I'm doing wrong would be great Sad. Again sorry i didn't provide an error log but i don't know how to get to it on an Apple TV because i don't know how to find any type of command prompt or other such things to type in the location of the log. Sorry for the wall of text, i hope somebody can offer me some help. Thank you so much in advance Smile


----------------------[b]The Info I Know How To Find:[/]--------------------

Platform: Apple TV (client) with media on a sony laptop running windows 7 with media on an external 2TB hardrive.

Launcher version: 3.2.5

XBMC version: 9.11

Boxee beta version: 0.9.21.12563

media: Most of it is x264 with .mkv container (i think. but probably doesn't matter since i cant even get to the media lol)
log: sorry even with davilla's sig, i couldn't figure out how to find it Sad. I'm sorry, but il get it if there is a more detailed guide i'm not finding.

install method: installed using the thumb drive then downloaded the additional files from the "download" section under the XBMC menu in Apple TV.
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#2
Been playing with it some more. Not sure if this info is helpful at all but thought id add it. I wrote down the IP address that's listed next to XBMC SERVER and went upstairs to my computers and typed them in. On the computer that is hosting the files the IP address is able to view and play the files no problem (but the apple tv connecting to that same IP address is still unable to view the files. still only has Music library and Movie library folders that are empty). When i try and access the IP from another computer it asks for username and password. I tried frontrow for both and xbmc for both and also my typical user names and password combos that i use and none of them worked so i couldn't log in on another computer to see if the files show up.
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#3
Does the ATV see other UPnP servers, try Twonky on the PC and see if it can connect to that.

Double check your network name settings the default is WORKGROUP which all PC's should be set to. Also follow the steps outlined here on how to share folders through Windows 7.
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#4
ATV is able to see all my windows 7 based computers (even the ones without xbmc on them). I'm guessing this is through Windows Media Center since that's the logo that comes up when i hover over them. After doing the "share folder through windows 7" tutorial i am able to connect to my "ghetto server" computer, however there are a bunch of folders i didn't "share" that are empty and the media folder that i did share doesn't have any of my .mkv files, it only shows media that is compatible with windows media player. So after fixing the folder sharing options i tried the xbmc Upnp server option again and the folders (music library and movie library) are both still empty. But if i type in the server IP address on the server computer i can see all my movie files through the xbmc web browser interface still, and its still password protected if i try to do this from other computers (even after turning off password protect sharing in folder options as the tutorial said).

Some questions about the workgroup.
1. It has to be named workgroup? mine is called homegroup.
2. do i name a "home" network "workgroup" or do i have to choose the "work" network type when creating the network.
3. How do i get rid of my old "homegorup" so that i can create a new workgroup.

Havent tried twonky yet, but i will tongiht, but i have to run for now. thank you so much for your help so far Smile.


P.S.
O yeah almost forgot! After doing the folder sharing tutorial I'm able to connect to all my files through boxee (or whatever its called) but still cant with xbmc. But i like xbmc waaaaay better as it recognizes all my files instead of leaving 400+ un recognized and boxee plays my media back with a stutter, and i dont like the gui as much (obviously most of this is probably because its still in beta). But id like to get xbmc working if possible Smile.
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#5
Honestly I cant make sense of where your going wrong it sounds like your getting mixed up reading folders from windows media center extender or accessing the WMP12 DLNA server. Windows doesn't filter the files within SMB network shares (that I know of).

As to the workgroup go to Win7 control panel\system\advanced system settings\computer name and click on change there set the name to workgroup.

You might want to try Network Magic instead, disable all other shared folders beforehand and after installing share out any folder through Network Magic this should automatically apply guest permissions so XBMC should be able to read the folder.

I'd also suggest pulling power from ATV and restart XBMC.
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#6
Hey starstream, thx so much for all the help. I'm sure il revisit this thread later for help again, but i just returned the apple TV. I think i'm going to go the mini mac route eventually anyway but i'm sure il run into the same problems and il try all this stuff before posting. Thank you so much for your time, i really appreciate it Smile
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[Apple TV] Wont find networked media on my seperate windows 7 computer0