Media sources

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Revision as of 04:59, 19 April 2017 by Tinwarble (talk | contribs)
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Home icon grey.png   ▶ Video library
▶ Music library
▶ Media sources

Media Sources are virtual links to the content you wish Kodi to use. When you enter any of the Videos, Music, Pictures or the Filemanager, you will see an entry for "Add Sources". When you first start with Kodi you should at least add one source, like a drive or directory on your Kodi device to get you started.

If you select "Add sources" a dialog appears, where you may manually input a path, or browse to a source that contains media that you would like Kodi to use and display. As an example, if you enter the Music section, you could tell Kodi where it should look for your music. This can be as simple as selecting a folder on your computer or you can also choose to browse your home network for media.

Adding media sources

See: Adding video sources

You can select as many sources you like if you have content in different places. When you have finished browsing and found the folder you would like, you should input a name for your source. Your sources will appear on the Home screen when you navigate to Videos and display under Media sources or when you browse Files from the same screen. Note: All your sources, if you've added new sources, may not appear on the Home screen until you restart Kodi

When a source, or a folder within a source, has content set then those entries will be added to the Movies and TV Shows libraries, which then show up on the home screen.

Network file sharing

For details on the supported protocols and configuration

See: File sharing

For details on how to add a shared source

See: Adding video sources#Adding Remote sources

Internet streams

STRM

Scanning sources into the library


Locking

If you want to make a source more private, you can use lockcodes or passwords to protect that source. The easiest way to accomplish this in Kodi, is using the GUI dialogs. First, enable the Master Lock in Settings/System/Master lock. After enabling the Master Lock, a Set Lock button will pop up in the Context Menu allowing you to set a lock on specific sources. Kodi will ask for the master lock code and then give you the opportunity to set a unique Password on that specific share. To Remove the Lock you need to remember the Master Lock code.

Note: Locking a source means you only give it protection in Kodi. Outside Kodi the source is still available and only protected, or not protected at all, by the Operating System. In the same way, if someone has access to manually edit the sources.xml he or she can remove or change the settings for the locked source. So, don't feel too safe when you protect a source in Kodi.


See also