Archive:SMB/Windows

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Home icon grey.png   ▶ SMB ▶ Windows
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Windows Vista

Sharing files and printers

Windows 7

The Windows 7 SMB information is currently being re-assessed for accuracy and at times may be incomplete. Your patience is appreciated throughout this process. For input on improving this Wiki and information on how to setup a Windows Network (SMB) connection, please visit this thread: SMB Windows 7.

If you are new to Kodi or Windows 7, please post feedback about this wiki in the above thread

Assumptions

- Using a genuine x64 (64bit) or x86 (32bit) version of Windows 7 with all available and stable BIOS, driver and Windows updates completed.

- Haven't significantly modified Windows after installation (i.e made registry edits).

- Connected or ability to connect to a functioning private (home) wireless or wired network. Add a device or computer to a network

- The Windows user that has Kodi installed, requires a password to login. Create a user account

- Using a stable release of Kodi: Kodi Download

Homegroup method

The following procedure demonstrates how to establish a Homegroup within Windows 7 and how to share a file and/or folder. This is the basis for utilising Windows Network (SMB) shares for Kodi:

"Share with" method

This method give full control over setup of the sharing options.

Windows 7 (x64) users : You must uninstall Windows Live Sign-in Assistant for sharing to work. Reasons are unclear as why you need to do that.

SMB is an easy and standard way to share your media to all your computers and HTPCs on your network. However, Microsoft is making it more and more difficult to share using SMB in Windows. You have to turn off Homegroup and do all sorts of other messy things. The following is a guide to quickly and easily turn SMB sharing on in Windows 7.

Troubleshooting

If you require further information than what is listed below, post your issue in Windows General Support with a full Log_file.


Android Throughput Timeout Issue - Refer to 'Further Reading' for more information from Microsoft.

Conclusion

>>>Post video of shares and adding sources with SMB, within Kodi<<<

Now you can add your sources in Kodi without difficulty, but the guide to Kodi sources and scraping is in the Wiki and doesn't need to be repeated here.

A final note:

SMB sources may time out (FAILED CONNECTION) for some devices, regardless of the configuration settings above when connecting a front end to the backend (or Main) installation. Usually this will persist and then stop, and repeat the condition, garnering much frustration.

This can cause a various amount of issues, including removal of library files upon update, or cleaning of libraries. The below is a possible solution stabilize those that have the persistent "failed connection" state for SMB in KODI.

WARNING: You attempt registry entry editing at your own risk. Incorrect configuration could cause you to reload your operating system. It is recommended you attempt this fix ONLY if it is required.

This is based off of a WIN 7 kb: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/232271

From the kb, edit the following entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters\siz​e

Your choices for this registry key are 1,2 and 3.

1 = Minimize Memory Used

2 = Balance

3 = Maximize Throughput for File Sharing and Maximize Throughput for Network Applications

Ensure size is set to "3". This has cleared the intermittent issues on failed SMB connections from the backend to a front end device. This has been verified on various devices, such as Ouya, Matricom devices, Fire TV stick, and others.

The other options in the kb may be tried, but success has been accomplished with this one setting.


Windows 8.1 fix

Users can use the Windows 7 instructions but should also do the following if they have issues with protected shares:

SMB Windows 8.1.png

  1. Plain share doesn't seem to be used or doesn't work with Kodi's samba; Use Advanced Sharing
  2. "Share this folder"
  3. Click "Permissions"
  4. Add appropriate users and permissions

Windows 10 fix

Using the Windows 7 instructions, with the following if you have issues:

  1. Open the registry editor
  2. Go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters]
  3. Add the string value "IsMasterDomain" with "Yes" as the value
  4. Restart Windows

For more info see:

Further reading