I just bought a WD HD Live at bestbuy and I love it.
I can hook up a usb stick or external HD to it and it plays beautifully.

But im trying to setup my network and i am having trouble. I dont even know if what i want to do is possible.

I have a desktop. Connected to my desktop is a bunch of REGULAR non-network USB 2.0 external harddrives. One for my pics, one for my movies, one for my music, etc..They are not NAS, and are just plain regular externals attacked to my desktop via usb.

I want to be able to access these drives via my WD TV Live. My Live is hooked up to router via wired ethernet. But how can i browse my desktops drives (hence my externals) via my WD TV Live??

Any suggestions/ideas/walk throughs would be appreciated.
Ty

Have you made your drives shared?

Right click on the drive in windows and enable sharing. You should then be able to browse them from your WD Live.

Make sure to allow WD library sharing as well (should be enabled by default), as I found it loses network share connections more often without it.

I am using windows 7.

I right clicked on my drive...enabed sharing. Under share name it shows the drive letter.
I click ok and it shows the drive as being shared. The icon in windows explorer changes to reflect it by turning into a new icon.

I have sharing set up properly i think by enabling network discovery and all that stuff in the Network and Sharing Center.

I then go into WD live and chose Video -> Network Shares and it says it cant let me login cause the user name and password is not authenticating. What user name and pass is it referring to?



I know the network settings work cause I got it to work by adding a folder to Windows Media Players Library, enabling streaming in it and then in the WD Live menu, choosing Video then Media Server.

The problem is i dont want to use Windows Media Players library. I dont use windows media player. I just want to be able to browse the drive/folder i want on my pc on to my WD live and just scroll, chose a video and click play.

Am I going into the wrong menu item in my WD live to do this? Is there a user name and pass and if so where can i find it in the network settings in my win7?
Anyone?

I am using windows 7.

I right clicked on my drive...enabed sharing. Under share name it shows the drive letter.
I click ok and it shows the drive as being shared. The icon in windows explorer changes to reflect it by turning into a new icon.

I have sharing set up properly i think by enabling network discovery and all that stuff in the Network and Sharing Center.

I then go into WD live and chose Video -> Network Shares and it says it cant let me login cause the user name and password is not authenticating. What user name and pass is it referring to?



I know the network settings work cause I got it to work by adding a folder to Windows Media Players Library, enabling streaming in it and then in the WD Live menu, choosing Video then Media Server.

The problem is i dont want to use Windows Media Players library. I dont use windows media player. I just want to be able to browse the drive/folder i want on my pc on to my WD live and just scroll, chose a video and click play.

Am I going into the wrong menu item in my WD live to do this? Is there a user name and pass and if so where can i find it in the network settings in my win7?
Anyone?
FYI, I signed up just so I could reply to this. You are not alone in your problems -- it is the WD TV Live with the problem :(

I purchased a WD TV Live today as well, and was really disappointed with the Network Shares capabilities. Basically, I have my shared folders on my Windows 7 machine, but it takes the WD TV Live, like ten minutes before it will see it. And after restarting, the shares are no longer there. I've read around on this site, and on other forums, and there seems to be a problem with the network sharing feature and Windows 7, that hopefully a firmware update will address in the future.

As for me, this is a deal breaker, so I plan on returning my unit to BB tomorrow, and just using my old HTPC until I can find a suitable/quieter replacement.

FYI, I signed up just so I could reply to this. You are not alone in your problems -- it is the WD TV Live with the problem :(

I purchased a WD TV Live today as well, and was really disappointed with the Network Shares capabilities. Basically, I have my shared folders on my Windows 7 machine, but it takes the WD TV Live, like ten minutes before it will see it. And after restarting, the shares are no longer there. I've read around on this site, and on other forums, and there seems to be a problem with the network sharing feature and Windows 7, that hopefully a firmware update will address in the future.

As for me, this is a deal breaker, so I plan on returning my unit to BB tomorrow, and just using my old HTPC until I can find a suitable/quieter replacement.


Right now i cant even get to the point where it will show my folders.

Can i ask how you setup the folders in win7? What network sharing options you chose and what the user name and pass refer to?

Right now i cant even get to the point where it will show my folders.

Can i ask how you setup the folders in win7? What network sharing options you chose and what the user name and pass refer to?

I have it setup on a Work network (make sure its not a home with a workgroup). I have the following settings in Advanced Sharing Settings:
Network Discovery - On
File and Printer Sharing - On
Public Folder Sharing - On
Media Streaming - On
File sharing connections - 128 bit
Password Protected Sharing - Off
HomeGroup Connections - Allow Windows to manage them

This way, on the WD TV Live, when I tried to connect to my computer in Network Shares, you don't have to change the user/password (leave user to Anonymous) and it will let you log in.

Now, to share the actual files, find the folder (not drive) you want to share. If you do want to share an entire drive, I'd suggest making a single "root" folder, and moving everything into there, and sharing that folder. Right click the folder, Share With -> Specific People. You should be in a "Choose people to share with" window now. There will be a drop-down to the left of the Add button. Click the arrow and select Everyone, and give them Read permissions. Click Share and it should be shared now.

Just make sure your WD TV and your Windows 7 are behind the same router, and it should be good to go. But note, I had to leave the WD TV on for a while before I could see my computer in Network Shares. Restarting it would require a wait period as well. My high bit-rate mkvs and m2ts files played fine this way.

Hope this helps.

I had trouble streaming any mkv over 10mb reliably...but i'm using a powerline network device (no way to wire where i am right now). I went and found a high bit WMV and had no trouble streaming it through an XBOX 360...not sure if thats a fair test/comparison. I copied the same files to a USB drive, one stuttered, the other seemed to play fine locally.

As far as seeing the folder, at first i couldnt see it. I rebooted both devices (pc and wdtv live) and finally i could see the MKV folder i created (i created a dvd folder which appeared immediately). I later added antoher mkv, went back and the mkv folder was gone. Had to reboot both devices...and it came back. Something is surely not right here though.

I'll probably return soon as well. I was holding out for the PCH 200 but it appears to be having similar network problems. When is someone going to release a piece of hardware that works (without the promise of a firmware update)...what is this the software world now? Maybe i should just stick to disc media :(

I had trouble streaming any mkv over 10mb reliably...but i'm using a powerline network device (no way to wire where i am right now). I went and found a high bit WMV and had no trouble streaming it through an XBOX 360...not sure if thats a fair test/comparison. I copied the same files to a USB drive, one stuttered, the other seemed to play fine locally.

As far as seeing the folder, at first i couldnt see it. I rebooted both devices (pc and wdtv live) and finally i could see the MKV folder i created (i created a dvd folder which appeared immediately). I later added antoher mkv, went back and the mkv folder was gone. Had to reboot both devices...and it came back. Something is surely not right here though.

I'll probably return soon as well. I was holding out for the PCH 200 but it appears to be having similar network problems. When is someone going to release a piece of hardware that works (without the promise of a firmware update)...what is this the software world now? Maybe i should just stick to disc media :(

I'm actually waiting for the new Apple TV to be released that will finally support 1080p, and install XBMC on it. The current version has built in wireless N. Rumor is, Apple is getting a lot of overtime hours in for their Apple TV team, so I'm hoping it will be out for this holiday season. But what is nice with electronics, only better and cheaper versions come out over time. Waiting has its advantages :)

I had trouble streaming any mkv over 10mb reliably...but i'm using a powerline network device (no way to wire where i am right now). I went and found a high bit WMV and had no trouble streaming it through an XBOX 360...not sure if thats a fair test/comparison. I copied the same files to a USB drive, one stuttered, the other seemed to play fine locally.

As far as seeing the folder, at first i couldnt see it. I rebooted both devices (pc and wdtv live) and finally i could see the MKV folder i created (i created a dvd folder which appeared immediately). I later added antoher mkv, went back and the mkv folder was gone. Had to reboot both devices...and it came back. Something is surely not right here though.

I'll probably return soon as well. I was holding out for the PCH 200 but it appears to be having similar network problems. When is someone going to release a piece of hardware that works (without the promise of a firmware update)...what is this the software world now? Maybe i should just stick to disc media :(

Chris bought the live at lunch ran home hooked it up and it could see my shared folders but i couldn't play anything MP3 - mkv or even youtube,( I could see my files etc but when i tried to play they just buffered) I then rebooted the live still nothing, Made sure my firewall on the PC was allowing the Live, Hmm couldn't t/s anymore had to go back to work...:(:( got home from work and then tried it again and wallah, all worked music videos etc, Keep in mind I am on a wired network, and i know you tried a usb drive but like you i didn't by the live to play off of usb i bought it to stream off the PC, So my advise to you is just wire up to the Live, Don't use power line adapters or wireless they just dont work for HD material. You can hide the wires. fyi- everything worked once i got home and tried it again and yes this little player worked great on 1080P and down MKV'S - mp3 etc , I could crank it up per the family was just above sleeping...

So it appears that the live could have buggy software and if you read the forums there are a few people with connectivity issues, I have noticed that most people are either on Vista or Win 7 - I by the way for my media server am using old faithful XP and it works well with my other streamer a Egreat M34A - I can tell you that the live is more responsive than the Egreat! if you need anymore help let me know...:)

I'm actually waiting for the new Apple TV to be released that will finally support 1080p, and install XBMC on it. The current version has built in wireless N. Rumor is, Apple is getting a lot of overtime hours in for their Apple TV team, so I'm hoping it will be out for this holiday season. But what is nice with electronics, only better and cheaper versions come out over time. Waiting has its advantages :)


emx620 any links to the alleged apple tv coming out? They have announced 1080P support?

emx620 any links to the alleged apple tv coming out? They have announced 1080P support?

Heres a link showing the overtime work on the new apple tv:

http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2009/09/22/apple-overtime-points-to-apple-tv-refresh/

I don't have a link for the 1080p support, but my dad has an apple tv with XBMC running on it, and it can handle 1080p material, just not very high bitrate files, such as raw blu-ray files. We tested out a trailer for Taking Pelham 123 on a divx encode at 1080 ~10mbit bitrate, and it ran fine. I think it would be a pretty safe bet to say Apple's next Apple TV will have 1080p support

I just bought a WD HD Live at bestbuy and I love it.
I can hook up a usb stick or external HD to it and it plays beautifully.

But im trying to setup my network and i am having trouble. I dont even know if what i want to do is possible.

I have a desktop. Connected to my desktop is a bunch of REGULAR non-network USB 2.0 external harddrives. One for my pics, one for my movies, one for my music, etc..They are not NAS, and are just plain regular externals attacked to my desktop via usb.

I want to be able to access these drives via my WD TV Live. My Live is hooked up to router via wired ethernet. But how can i browse my desktops drives (hence my externals) via my WD TV Live??

Any suggestions/ideas/walk throughs would be appreciated.
Ty

I saw this on an article on this forum, for a user with a similar problem with Windows 7. You should try it out and let me know your results, providing you haven't fixed your problem already:

http://www.mede8erforum.com/index.php?topic=64.0

Chris bought the live at lunch ran home hooked it up and it could see my shared folders but i couldn't play anything MP3 - mkv or even youtube,( I could see my files etc but when i tried to play they just buffered) I then rebooted the live still nothing, Made sure my firewall on the PC was allowing the Live, Hmm couldn't t/s anymore had to go back to work...:(:( got home from work and then tried it again and wallah, all worked music videos etc, Keep in mind I am on a wired network, and i know you tried a usb drive but like you i didn't by the live to play off of usb i bought it to stream off the PC, So my advise to you is just wire up to the Live, Don't use power line adapters or wireless they just dont work for HD material. You can hide the wires. fyi- everything worked once i got home and tried it again and yes this little player worked great on 1080P and down MKV'S - mp3 etc , I could crank it up per the family was just above sleeping...

So it appears that the live could have buggy software and if you read the forums there are a few people with connectivity issues, I have noticed that most people are either on Vista or Win 7 - I by the way for my media server am using old faithful XP and it works well with my other streamer a Egreat M34A - I can tell you that the live is more responsive than the Egreat! if you need anymore help let me know...:)

Unfortunately i'm staying with my brother for a short time and his house can't hardwire. i'll probably have to return this and hold out for another month or two until i get my place back from renters...i can hardwire there. Probably something better will be out or these issues will be addressed as well. One file i tried on wouldnt even play off the local HD, so maybe thats just a bad file. I want to rip my own stuff but i had to search around for some stuff to test this out with for now. Streaming any file to an xbox on the powerline works just fine (HD or otherwise).

I'm also using Windows 7 btw...don't have any xp machines around to try it on. I am planning on getting an HP WHS server...so who knows if that is better or worse.

GOT IT TO WORK AND ITS FAST.

Apparently Windows 7 sharing when set to everyone, is not truely everyone. Annoymous clients dont get access. You have to do some registry magic to make it work but this worked!


Configure the folder you want to share:

1. Select the folder (NOT drive)
2. Right-click and choose 'Share' from the menu
3. From the drop-down box select the Everyone (All users in this list) account, making sure permissions are set to 'Reader'
4. Click the buttons Add, Share and Done.



Here are some further registry 'tweaks'

WARNING: This requires editing your PC's registry which, if edited incorrectly, can cause Windows systems to become unstable and unusable. So, follow the instructions below at your own risk. - we are not responsible for any damage caused by following these steps.

1. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor.
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\
2. On the right side, double-click on 'everyoneincludesanonymous' and change the 'Value data' from '0' to '1'
3. Double-click on 'NoLmHash' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
4. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor:
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Param eters
5. Double-click on 'restrictnullsessaccess' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
6. Close the registry editor and restart PC.

After I did this, just go to Video -> Network shares -> chose ur pc and viola...all the folders u set to share is now there!

Hope this helps to others....

Huh, well i just bought a belkin wireless g F5D7050 and the WD doesn't even see it. I hit auto detect and it says it is unable etc.

I'm thinking that i am either doing something wrong or that it is completely unsupported?

I'm having a TON of trouble with this. I'm using a WHS server box (Acer Easystore) and no matter what I do (sharing, media server service on/off) whenever I try to access my server shares (via the 'Network Shares' option) it comes back "There is no media in the current folder".

WTF?

I can use the 'Media Servers' option, and I can see SOME media (only .avi), because that's all that Windows Media Connect can process...

Can I not use a WHS box as a Network Share?!

Ubuntu 9.04 with Samba share for Videos, Photos and Music all passwordless and I'm getting "There is no media in the current folder".

Very very frustrating, tried to change smb.conf, still with the same error.

Running XP. Since Sunday when I hooked it up, it drops off randomly. About 5-6 minutes into most movies, usually Xvid style. Youtube vids play fine-- watched a 90 min Youtube vid the other day. Local network stuff keeps dropping off.

Oddly enough (to me), on the same network I have an Xbox (1) with XBMC that has never had an issue.

Murph

I'm actually waiting for the new Apple TV to be released that will finally support 1080p, and install XBMC on it. The current version has built in wireless N. Rumor is, Apple is getting a lot of overtime hours in for their Apple TV team, so I'm hoping it will be out for this holiday season. But what is nice with electronics, only better and cheaper versions come out over time. Waiting has its advantages :)

I am a real Apple TV fan and mine does pretty well most of what I need. But I couldn't resist and bought an O!Play and WDTV Live. Bother are very nice but they would get little use if Apple would get around to updating its ATV. What makes you think they will? The Apple TV already does what they want it to do. I can't see them selling/renting 1080p files over the internet so why would it even need that capability?

philip

WD posted a guide about windows 7 streaming too
http://www.wdtvlive.com/articles/view/7

Huh, well i just bought a belkin wireless g F5D7050 and the WD doesn't even see it. I hit auto detect and it says it is unable etc.

I'm thinking that i am either doing something wrong or that it is completely unsupported?

Your USB dongle needs to be able to use ralink drivers, which are embedded in WDTV Live. It also needs to be N , not G.
There's a list of the models that WD says will work with the WD TV Live in the main WDTV2 thread, posted by ScottWD

Windows 7
Trying wireless and wired pc

I'm still having this issue. Just an update though. Some things I have tried:

I enabled UPNP on my router.
I won't explain this because it is widely different on each router and I use DD-WRT for my firmware. Also, I don't know if this helped because nothing kicked in until I did my next step.

I got the device to see my shares by turning off my windows firewall. I swear I turned that off, but I just reinstalled a few months back and that could have been it.
Simple process:
hit the windows button and type firewall.
Launch "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security"
Once the application has loaded make sure all three (domain, private, and public) are disabled.
(side note about disabling all this, I do not have a labtop, I don't connect to outside networks, I'm not worried about it, and I'm behind the firewall on my router. You may want to just disable Private Profile.. However I don't know if just will work)
To disable them just click windows firewall properties and make sure firewall state on each tab (domain, private, and public) to off and click OK.

Once I disabled the firewall my PS3 once again started to recognize the PS3 media player as soon as I turned it on, and so did the WD TV Live. Yay!

Also, I followed directions from guardianali to get my network shares to access without a password. It worked. However sometimes the network share disapears and my PS3 Media server is there.. wtf.. uhg...

Setup: Compy wireless, WD TV Live wired
Outcome: High quality stuff lags but the device doesn’t kill over. (this probably has to do with the router being a G router) I watch the transfer rate and it just suddenly drops at certain points. Maybe because it can't handle the frames and it knows it.. I don't know yet.. testing more of this soon!

Setup: Compy wired, WD TV wired
Outcome: High quality stuff murders WD TV connection.. or it just dies randomly.. I’m not really sure which at this moment.. I'm doing more research on this.

GOT IT TO WORK AND ITS FAST.

Apparently Windows 7 sharing when set to everyone, is not truely everyone. Annoymous clients dont get access. You have to do some registry magic to make it work but this worked!


Configure the folder you want to share:

1. Select the folder (NOT drive)
2. Right-click and choose 'Share' from the menu
3. From the drop-down box select the Everyone (All users in this list) account, making sure permissions are set to 'Reader'
4. Click the buttons Add, Share and Done.



Here are some further registry 'tweaks'

WARNING: This requires editing your PC's registry which, if edited incorrectly, can cause Windows systems to become unstable and unusable. So, follow the instructions below at your own risk. - we are not responsible for any damage caused by following these steps.

1. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor.
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\
2. On the right side, double-click on 'everyoneincludesanonymous' and change the 'Value data' from '0' to '1'
3. Double-click on 'NoLmHash' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
4. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor:
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Param eters
5. Double-click on 'restrictnullsessaccess' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
6. Close the registry editor and restart PC.

After I did this, just go to Video -> Network shares -> chose ur pc and viola...all the folders u set to share is now there!

Hope this helps to others....

I'm getting pretty regular network share drops (and a few I still can't see) from both Vista x64 Ultimate and XP pro shares. Not sure what's causing it as it seems rather random...

Hey guys,

I just tried transferring stuff back and forth between some components at home. (WD TV Live, my computer, and a laptop). This was all wired by the way.

I was using the network shares and just transfering them from a usb/desktop/usb hooked up to wd tv.

Anyways, while transferring from my computer to the labtops usb hard drive suddenly my computer fell off the planet. I opened up my event logs by the way to see what was happening to the transfers and I found there was an error with my NIC. If you are having this problem this is what I found to solve the problem for me:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/fb1d47c2-1c85-4835-9696-e28ce343464f
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itpronetworking/thread/1a4d2315-8481-4473-bf72-0b0787423245

I haven't had time to see if the WD TV will still give me crap wired all hooked up to the TV. I need sleep. But I fixed it for the laptop :D This may have fixed it for the WD TV live. I'm going on vacation- if someone else wants to try it please do tell us the results :D

I'll be back Tuesday, no guarantees on testing it then though. Also, just saying but since I have fiddled with all of this my wireless seems to be going slower. Awesome... Now the 1080p I have stutters constantly. 720p still seemed to play though.

I'm using a Windows SBS 2008 server with some shares on it. I've got a windows domain here.

When i try to browse my server using 'network shares' in the WDTV Live's gui, i get the login/password prompt. I can enter domain.local\User and the password, and it accepts it. If i enter it wrong it tells me it's wrong so that part is working;

however i get the error that there is no media in the current folder. I've tried installing NFS and creating a NFS share on the 2008 sbs, wont do much. Network discovery is on, firewall is completely disabled.

Out of ideas. :/

I'm using a Windows SBS 2008 server with some shares on it. I've got a windows domain here.

When i try to browse my server using 'network shares' in the WDTV Live's gui, i get the login/password prompt. I can enter domain.local\User and the password, and it accepts it. If i enter it wrong it tells me it's wrong so that part is working;

however i get the error that there is no media in the current folder. I've tried installing NFS and creating a NFS share on the 2008 sbs, wont do much. Network discovery is on, firewall is completely disabled.

Out of ideas. :/

NFS isn't enabled. a firmware modder named B-rad hopes to fix that.

http://b-rad.cc/974/wdtv-live-unboxing-undressing/comment-page-1

[cross-posting this from the general WDTV Live thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=17359048&postcount=1122) for lack of useful replies]

My second big issue with the WDTV Live (first issue here, Component output now working) is with (you guessed it!) network connection not working:

When I connect the WDTV Live with cable to my Linksys WAG54GS, I can't get even basic network connection to work; the network LEDs on the back of the device blinks rapidly for a moment, then the network settings change from all zeros. Most of the time it change to

IP address: 169.254.57.205
Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 0.0.0.0
DNS: 0.0.0.0

which as far as I can tell is completely wrong (my router is 192.168.1.1). [edit: apparently 169.254.57.205 is a special IP address sometimes used if no real address can be obtained, to allow the creation of a small local Windows network with no Internet connection]

Sometimes it change to
IP address: 192.168.1.106
Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS: 192.168.1.1

which looks about right for my network. Still no network connection. Sometimes the DNS is set to 212.159.6.10 which I think is my ISPs actual DNS. With this latter setting I did briefly have a working connection; I could ping the WDTV, view its content by browsing \\192.168.1.106\ from my PC, and even view some YouTube videos, but it only lasted for a few minutes. With the DNS 192.168.1.1 I also briefly had a connection once; I could see the description of some YouTube videos, but no actual videos, and it only lasted for a minute. Configuring the network settings manually yields no better result.

The above is when I just plug the network cable in and view the network settings from the "Network setup" screen. When I press the "Automatic" button on that screen, most of the time I can't get an IP address but sometimes it completes successfully, but still can't access the network. When selecting "Check connection" it most often fail on the "DNS Server", but even on the few occasions the connection checks out it still doesn't actually work.

Interestingly, I've never ever seen the "Selection your network type: Wired or Wireless" screen that the Users Guide show on page 54. Do you guys see it? Every time you plug in the network cable? Can't find it in any of the menus.

Another thing is that when I first got the device I plugged in a wifi dongle that turned out to be unsupported (never saw the network type dialog then either) and it prevented the device form shutting down. Can this have caused my problems? I've reset the device several times since (Factory Reset in the menu and hard reset by pressing the tiny button in the hole next to the USB1 port).

Any ideas? Thanks!

Failed to connect file server, the account/password may be changed. please check it.

I get this when I try Network shares. Using anonymous or hp owner as user name.

I have added folder to share on my Vista 32 machine as hp owner and reset the password. Get same message with anonymous and no password.

On another Vista 32 machine. I get the media server can not be accessed. Any suggestions. Other network stuff works.

1 - Check cable, try another one.
2 - Try another hub/switch/router you might have to see if you have different results, some devices just don't like each other.

I suspect your lan adapter to be defective if that doesn't work. The onboard one in the wdtv.

[cross-posting this from the general WDTV Live thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=17359048&postcount=1122) for lack of useful replies]

My second big issue with the WDTV Live (first issue here, Component output now working) is with (you guessed it!) network connection not working:

When I connect the WDTV Live with cable to my Linksys WAG54GS, I can't get even basic network connection to work; the network LEDs on the back of the device blinks rapidly for a moment, then the network settings change from all zeros. Most of the time it change to

IP address: 169.254.57.205
Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 0.0.0.0
DNS: 0.0.0.0

which as far as I can tell is completely wrong (my router is 192.168.1.1). [edit: apparently 169.254.57.205 is a special IP address sometimes used if no real address can be obtained, to allow the creation of a small local Windows network with no Internet connection]

Sometimes it change to
IP address: 192.168.1.106
Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS: 192.168.1.1

which looks about right for my network. Still no network connection. Sometimes the DNS is set to 212.159.6.10 which I think is my ISPs actual DNS. With this latter setting I did briefly have a working connection; I could ping the WDTV, view its content by browsing \\192.168.1.106\ from my PC, and even view some YouTube videos, but it only lasted for a few minutes. With the DNS 192.168.1.1 I also briefly had a connection once; I could see the description of some YouTube videos, but no actual videos, and it only lasted for a minute. Configuring the network settings manually yields no better result.

The above is when I just plug the network cable in and view the network settings from the "Network setup" screen. When I press the "Automatic" button on that screen, most of the time I can't get an IP address but sometimes it completes successfully, but still can't access the network. When selecting "Check connection" it most often fail on the "DNS Server", but even on the few occasions the connection checks out it still doesn't actually work.

Interestingly, I've never ever seen the "Selection your network type: Wired or Wireless" screen that the Users Guide show on page 54. Do you guys see it? Every time you plug in the network cable? Can't find it in any of the menus.

Another thing is that when I first got the device I plugged in a wifi dongle that turned out to be unsupported (never saw the network type dialog then either) and it prevented the device form shutting down. Can this have caused my problems? I've reset the device several times since (Factory Reset in the menu and hard reset by pressing the tiny button in the hole next to the USB1 port).

Any ideas? Thanks!

Windows 7 Ultimate x86

So I have been having issues since picking this up last Saturday. I have done the recommended changes to the registry. I am also wired and no wireless in the chain.

I can do network shares but no more then 3 with show up when accessing. Then so if something I want is farther down on the list it is not seen. This is both on internal and external hdd's hooked up to the computer. This is my preferred hookup as I have +4tb's of Grateful Dead music stored on external hdd's and about 1 gig on internal hdd's (gapless playback would be nice lol but that is for another thread). I have shut all sharing down and reset the HDTV LIVE and have started from step one a couple of times only to have netwok shares fall away based on where they are in the list.

So I also have a folder full of tv shows and movies in various formats avi, mkv, iso, vob. Now if I only share three folder these show up and play as they are supposed to, now if more folders are added to network share these drop down the list not to be seen.

Next problem. If I enable media sharing all bets are off as network share folders disappear. I have one that is named Movies and it shows up but the one labeled TV Shows goes away. Now if I try the play to feature of WMP and send a stream to the WDTV LIVE with a ripped cd this feature works but if I try a Dead show that is in flac format it does not play. I can see all of my shared pictures and even play flac music off of a network share but no flac music on a media share as it shows as an unsupported format.

I guess maybe I am asking too much of the WDTV LIVE. It just seems that Windows 7, WMP, and all the different media rights etc do not play well together with the WDTV LIVE. Just a guess.

There just seems to be major confusion between the devices as how to handle the different shares whether it be network or media. I just really want all network shares to work no matter what the number of folders and could really care less about media shares.

Failed to connect file server, the account/password may be changed. please check it.

I get this when I try Network shares. Using anonymous or hp owner as user name.

I have added folder to share on my Vista 32 machine as hp owner and reset the password. Get same message with anonymous and no password.

On another Vista 32 machine. I get the media server can not be accessed. Any suggestions. Other network stuff works.

I get the same message. What account and password is it refering to?

Failed to connect file server, the account/password may be changed. please check it.

I get this when I try Network shares. Using anonymous or hp owner as user name.

I have added folder to share on my Vista 32 machine as hp owner and reset the password. Get same message with anonymous and no password.

On another Vista 32 machine. I get the media server can not be accessed. Any suggestions. Other network stuff works.

The network discovery component seems to be very unreliable on this initial firmware.
I have multiple share on my Vista32 and only 2 are discovered. All the shares worked fine on O'play or regular Vista to Vista browsing.
I change the owners, play with permission , remove one share (i.e E: ) and another one appeared (i.e. L: ), put the initial share back in Vista (E: ) and loose the other ones ... etc. Very frustrating as the whole purpose of upgrading from V1 to Live was for the network element.

While I was troubleshooting these shares I tried to see if I have a problem with my routers and I moved all my computers with Widows shares and WDTV Live into the same switch. During testing I bump into this reported "password may be changed" error too when I used my laptop.
What I did was to go on Control Panel and I changed the user password to something very simple like an abcde password with no numeric or symbols and then the error went away.
I still not able to see all my share on my Vista or any of my shares on a NSLU2 NAS ... I will be waiting patiently to get the NFS hack publish and to mount my shares manually as I used to do for WDTV ver1

Got WDTV Live last night from bestbuy and spend good several hours trying to get it work with my WHS shares.
* Had to enable a guest account, it wouldnt always work with a regular user account
* The shares that are not supposed to be visible by the user show up and shares that are sometimes dont
* Worst part is that its impossible to map a network share to something you want like Map "Movies" to "\\MediaServer\Videos\Movies" and "TV Series" "\\MediaServer\Videos\TV Series". You have to navigate the whole network path.
* What follows from this is that when you go to Music you see all network shares including those for photos and videos
As much as I like hte playback, this device is going back and im getting me ASROCK Ion box to install xbmc on it.

Failed to connect file server, the account/password may be changed. please check it.

I get this when I try Network shares. Using anonymous or hp owner as user name.

I have added folder to share on my Vista 32 machine as hp owner and reset the password. Get same message with anonymous and no password.

On another Vista 32 machine. I get the media server can not be accessed. Any suggestions. Other network stuff works.

Update: Just turned on my old XP server. Was able to log on with anonymous and no password. Playing an HD PVR ts file with no problems. Set up the shares here a long time ago. Do not remember exactly what I did to set up the shares on the XP server.

Here are my finding on how to have my Vista shares working

I’ve created a new account WDTVLIVE using Control Panel – Add Remove User
I set a simple password like abcdefg with no numbers or symbols

My volumes letter are C:, D:, E: , (F: to J: for CD-ROM and card readers), K:, L:, M:, N:
Any attempt to share them was giving me only couple shares on the WDTV Live discovery (E and K)

The workaround was to set an additional share name for each of them. I use the following naming convention: D1 for E:, D2 for K:, D3 for L: and D4 for N:.
I believe that there is an issue on the Share name as anything that was starting with a letter >K was not showing.
On the share security in Vista I’ve added WTDVLIVE account to have Read privileges. No owner change for filesystem.

The network connection was set to Private and my Sharing and Discovery settings are
Network Discovery: On
File Sharing: On
Public Folder Sharing: off
Printer Sharing: On (password required)
Password protected sharing: On
Media Sharing: On

I still can't get it working. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate (x64). Media sharing does appear to work (for videos, but not music). Here's the vitals (and I've rebooted in between changes):

- Sharing folders (not the root drive)
- Guest account is enabled
- Joined Windows 7 to a Homegroup (tried it without a Homegroup)
- Tried both Home network and Work network
- Under Advanced Settings - Home Network:
- Turn on Network Discovery
- Turn on File and Print Sharing
- Turn on sharing so that anyone with network access can read and write to Public Folders
- Media Streaming is on
- Enable file and print sharing for devices that use 40 or 56 bit encryption
- Turn off password protected sharing
- Allow Windows to manage homegroup connections (recommended)
- Public settings are all OFF
- Turned the firewall OFF
- Set both NTFS and Share permissions to Everyone Read
- Performed all these steps:

1. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor.
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\
2. On the right side, double-click on 'everyoneincludesanonymous' and change the 'Value data' from '0' to '1'
3. Double-click on 'NoLmHash' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
4. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor:
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Param eters
5. Double-click on 'restrictnullsessaccess' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
6. Close the registry editor and restart PC.

One last thing - sharing works to my 2 Vista PCs at home (not in Homegroup obviously)

If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

So I solved my network shares problem. I now show seven shares with everything showing up and all media, pictures, movies, tv shows and music on both internal and external hdd's showing up. Right now I am sharing off of three internal and 1 external hdd which is plugged into usb on my computer.

Now what I have done is share the folders and not the hdd's. The names I had assigned to the original folders were Music, Music1, Music Others, etc. I also had the movies folder named Movies and the TV Shows as TV Shows. This is where the problem lies. The WDTV LIVE has issues seeing these names when running Windows 7. Under Network in Explorer I right clicked on the original share name bringing up the menu and went to Share with -> Advanced Sharing and added a share name using A,B,C,D with a number and then a name saying what in in the folder ie TV, Movies, Pictures, Music

A1 Movies
B1 TV
C1 Music
C2 Music
C3 Music
D1 Pictures
D2 Pictures

I added Guest and my user login to permissions along with Everyone being there by default. I am not setup as HomeGroup but as a Work Network.

I can now say that this unit now does what I wanted it to do and that is play all of my different media through my stereo and flat screen. I really wish these instructions had been somewhere for me to find vs me spending six days trying all different things to get this working. I will give props to someone out there as I had read about the naming issue but I do not remember where it was. I do not have media sharing turned on as I want to be able to play flac and mkv which does not get passed through to the WDTV LIVE using media sharing.

I am now up ten network shares and no issues.

I've been having the exact same issues. Got my WD TV Live yesterday and my desktop has Win 7 Ultimate x64 on it. I seem to have the same problem as the rest of you. The WD TV finds my Win 7 media server, but since i want to stream mkv files i need to share the folders. I've tried all the suggestions above including creating a new WDTVLIVE username with a basic password, adding new shares called A1 Videos, etc, and messed with the share settings A LOT. No matter what the username/password is, i'll still get the same error that my username and password is wrong. I might just go ahead and revert back to Win XP today, but it would be cool if I didn't have to worry about that right now.

I'm getting pretty regular network share drops (and a few I still can't see) from both Vista x64 Ultimate and XP pro shares. Not sure what's causing it as it seems rather random...

I get the same thing and it makes it unusable. Everythime I try to watch a movie, I loose the network connection. I am using a Wireless N network.

GOT IT TO WORK AND ITS FAST.

Apparently Windows 7 sharing when set to everyone, is not truely everyone. Annoymous clients dont get access. You have to do some registry magic to make it work but this worked!


Configure the folder you want to share:

1. Select the folder (NOT drive)
2. Right-click and choose 'Share' from the menu
3. From the drop-down box select the Everyone (All users in this list) account, making sure permissions are set to 'Reader'
4. Click the buttons Add, Share and Done.



Here are some further registry 'tweaks'

WARNING: This requires editing your PC's registry which, if edited incorrectly, can cause Windows systems to become unstable and unusable. So, follow the instructions below at your own risk. - we are not responsible for any damage caused by following these steps.

1. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor.
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\
2. On the right side, double-click on 'everyoneincludesanonymous' and change the 'Value data' from '0' to '1'
3. Double-click on 'NoLmHash' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
4. Navigate to the following location in the registry editor:
MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanManServer\Param eters
5. Double-click on 'restrictnullsessaccess' and change the 'Value data' from '1' to '0'
6. Close the registry editor and restart PC.

After I did this, just go to Video -> Network shares -> chose ur pc and viola...all the folders u set to share is now there!

Hope this helps to others....this does work, but while processing folders/file.. WDTVLive craps out (no media message).
other times (after reboot of device) I can access files but audio playback is wonky.
WD TV Live testing done with a network share of 30,000 flac audio files. hardwired Cat5e/gigabit LAN
Wireless is a joke for HD media today..I wouldnt even attempt the headache.

As a certified network systems engineer, I'm sorry to state that this device is not ready for prime time.

I do have Orb ( www.orb.com ) loaded on my Windows 7 system - this workaround does work well with WD TV Live.

There is no excuse for a wonky samba config for windows/mac users.
This will be a nightmare for WD customer support. Good luck with that guys.

Im taking my $119 and putting it towards a proper certified DLNA a/v receiver.

the Onkyo 807 looks great.

So, it now appears to be working. Despite previous attempts, I moved the Network back to Work instead of Home. I also added Guest to have Read rights per the suggestions. I left the device on for about an hour and didn't check it. When I finally came back, the shares were there.
I really want to like this device - it solves a lot of problems for $120. It's difficult so far.

Yeah, I'm dealing with wonky Samba myself :\

I can view all of my shares on my NAS (Ubuntu 8.04) from my Macbook, guest access is good, everything seems ok. I've got netbios name configured in Samba, too. But no matter what, my wdtvlive does not acknowledge their existence. I can stream Pandora and Youtube without issues, so there's no networking problems on that end.

Anyone have any luck getting Samba to play nice with the WDTV Live? If so, could I trouble you to post the important parts of smb.conf?

My samba install exists solely for WDTV Live, so I have no requirements. I don't run Windows at home, so I don't need AD or WINS or anything extra. Just want three shares...hope that's not too much to ask.

- sav

I'm running the latest Unraid Pro server and having similar Samba problems. WDTVLIVE can see the machine, but unable to browse any folders. NFS is turned on, but no go.

try lowercase for username.

I've been having the exact same issues. Got my WD TV Live yesterday and my desktop has Win 7 Ultimate x64 on it. I seem to have the same problem as the rest of you. The WD TV finds my Win 7 media server, but since i want to stream mkv files i need to share the folders. I've tried all the suggestions above including creating a new WDTVLIVE username with a basic password, adding new shares called A1 Videos, etc, and messed with the share settings A LOT. No matter what the username/password is, i'll still get the same error that my username and password is wrong. I might just go ahead and revert back to Win XP today, but it would be cool if I didn't have to worry about that right now.

Update: Just turned on my old XP server. Was able to log on with anonymous and no password. Playing an HD PVR ts file with no problems. Set up the shares here a long time ago. Do not remember exactly what I did to set up the shares on the XP server.

I now got it to work on my Vista x86 machine.

First Step
1. Select the folder (NOT drive)
2. Right-click and choose 'Share' from the menu
3. From the drop-down box select the Everyone (All users in this list) account, making sure permissions are set to 'Reader'. I also did guest the same way. Not sure if one or other or both are necessary.
4. Click the buttons Add, Share and Done.

Second Step
Control Panel > Network and Printer Sharing
Make sure Network is a Private Network
Network Discovery - On
File Sharing - On
Public Folder Sharing - On(read only)
Printer Sharing - Off
Password Protected Sharing - Off
Media Streaming - On

It would now connect and show some folders. But not the ones I wanted.

The folder and files I wanted for my Beyond TV shows were nested in Public Documents. They would not show up until I reset each folder in the nest individually with the above First step.

I also did some playing around with Windows Media Player to make it do the Media shares in WDTV.

A side benefit is that my www.orb.com Media shares on my XP machine were available. I now can remotely on my Ipod touch with Orb Live play my music and with WDTV Live play my music there as well.

Hi.
1. can anyone tell me what exactly is these two thinks i check in the picture below?
http://yfrog.com/0iimg2894xjhttp://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3812/img2894x.jpg
And if the one it is a sata port can you have access to that WITHOUT lose the guarantee of the product?
2. Is there a way to copy files from a pc threw lan port to one connected hard disk on the wd hd tv live?
And if we can how exactly do that?

A lot of thanks.

If by "lose the guarantee" you mean the warranty, I'm pretty sure you lost that when you opened the case.

If by "lose the guarantee" you mean the warranty, I'm pretty sure you lost that when you opened the case.

Yep, I would agree, once you popped it open, it's yours. They can tell if you've tampered with it.

Still can't see the shared folders on my XP computer. Am I'm just missing how to select? I'm looking for movies installed in a shared folder on a second harddrive (E) in my desktop so on the WDTV I select VIDEO, enter, NETWORK SHARE then enter again on the remote, then nothing, no prompt for user or password, no files. Same if looking for a shared music file, nothing.

From a desktop computer can move files off and on the WDTVLive, play them on the PC etc. I've followed instructions for sharing, turned off the Windows Firewall, turned on the user guest account, run the Network Setup Wizard, but no luck. I have connected a laptop to the router and with it can see the shared files on the desktop (and also the WDTVlive) so appears no problem with the shares on the DT.

I'm XP (SP3), wired connection with a Trendnet router (TEW-432BRP) that shows on the supported list.

Yeah, I'm dealing with wonky Samba myself :\

I can view all of my shares on my NAS (Ubuntu 8.04) from my Macbook, guest access is good, everything seems ok. I've got netbios name configured in Samba, too. But no matter what, my wdtvlive does not acknowledge their existence. I can stream Pandora and Youtube without issues, so there's no networking problems on that end.

Anyone have any luck getting Samba to play nice with the WDTV Live? If so, could I trouble you to post the important parts of smb.conf?

My samba install exists solely for WDTV Live, so I have no requirements. I don't run Windows at home, so I don't need AD or WINS or anything extra. Just want three shares...hope that's not too much to ask.

- sav

I have the same problem with Samba. I have a server running Fedora 11 with Samba and NFS shares. The Samba share is visible to all of the Windows machines on my network but the WDTV Live doesn't see it. I've tried every configuration I can think of so if anyone knows the magic combination of options I'd appreciate it. I have a friend who has one that saw his Samba shares out of the box so I'm not sure what the problem is. I eventually got the WDTV Live to see my media using ushare, which is ridiculously easy to set up. I'm assuming there will be modded firmware in a couple of weeks that will open up alot of options.

I have the same problem with Samba. I have a server running Fedora 11 with Samba and NFS shares. The Samba share is visible to all of the Windows machines on my network but the WDTV Live doesn't see it. I've tried every configuration I can think of so if anyone knows the magic combination of options I'd appreciate it. I have a friend who has one that saw his Samba shares out of the box so I'm not sure what the problem is. I eventually got the WDTV Live to see my media using ushare, which is ridiculously easy to set up. I'm assuming there will be modded firmware in a couple of weeks that will open up alot of options.

Oh yeah I have two Macs which can also see my Samba share.

I'm running the latest Unraid Pro server and having similar Samba problems. WDTVLIVE can see the machine, but unable to browse any folders. NFS is turned on, but no go.

I am having the same problem with Unraid. I can browse the first level of directories, but as soon as I try and enter a directory with media files in it, It just freezes. Any help here?

I'm running the latest Unraid Pro server and having similar Samba problems. WDTVLIVE can see the machine, but unable to browse any folders. NFS is turned on, but no go.


Upgrade to the latest version of unRaid. That resolved my problems

I connected my device to my network and saw my network drive. I selected it and all was good. I then went into file management and chose particular directories. I played some music from the Network share. Was very happy.

Then I wanted to test a video. Selected video and network drive. Would display anything. Tried again. Nothing. Went to settings and file management, only saw my USB drive and not my network drive/share.

Restarted. Same thing.

Anyone have thoughts?

Wdtv wired to router.
Windows xp sp3 wired as well.
My other pcs on my LAN have no proble
finding the share, but the wdtv lost it.

Hi.
1. can anyone tell me what exactly is these two thinks i check in the picture below?
And if the one it is a sata port can you have access to that WITHOUT lose the guarantee of the product?
2. Is there a way to copy files from a pc threw lan port to one connected hard disk on the wd hd tv live?
And if we can how exactly do that?

A lot of thanks.

1. The top one is not SATA. That's the optical out.

2. Once you plug in your WDTVLIVE, you can just naviate to \\WDTVLIVE (XP/Vista/7) or smb://WDTVLIVE (OSX) and the WDTV will share whatever HDDs are currently connected to it. No username or pass required.

Am I'm just missing how to select? ... [O]n the WDTV I select VIDEO, enter, NETWORK SHARE then enter again on the remote, then nothing, no prompt for user or password, no files. Same if looking for a shared music file, nothing.


That seems to be the general problem everyone is facing at the moment, I was able to access a Server 2008 R2 (Windows 7) installation first go, and then it has completely dropped from sight and has not returned. My XP machine and Printer (!) show up as computers sporadically but apart from that, exactly the same situation as you.

What you SHOULD see is Video, enter, Network Share, enter, and then a list of your networked computers, press enter on the one you want, and then press enter on the share you want. It asks for the password at this point.

I'm hoping that firmware 1.00.01 will give us the ability just to type in the standard '\\HOMEPC\Share' rather than this roundabout method.

The way that it works at the moment is by using a method where it 'listens' for computers that have 'announced' their presence on the network. This feature has been builtin to Windows since Windows 2000, but at best is hit and miss and it's a feature that Vista and 7 switch off by default.

maybe this might help, simple fix that worked for me. i don't have guest account on, i don't have any passwords, and i'm not asked for any either. it works, don't ask me how.

I have windows 7 x64 with homegroup on,

1. when you go to network and sharing center click on "choose homegroup and sharing options"
2. click "choose media streaming options"
3. click on your WDTVLIVE share, or whatever name you gave in on the WDTV.
4. click customize... (small link in blue)
5. uncheck default, and then check "make all of the media in my library available to this device"

hit ok, and then mine worked... when i'm on the WDTV live i go to "media servers" not "network shares"

all my stuff is in there as it should be, and exactly like i have it set up with my home group. on another note, vuze media server is also working for me, and in fact was working before i did this trick.

i know it's simple and stupid, but it fixed mine, maybe it'll fix yours. cheers.

This WD TV Live works great when it works but 90% of the time it does not do what it was advertised to do.. The network connection keeps dropping and and you get " THERE IS A PROBLEM CONNECTING TO THE NETWORK " " THE DEVICE COULD NOT CONNECT TO THE NETWORK "..... I have tried all the work arounds and TVERSITY works but the thumbnails are not displayed.. YOU SHOULD NOT have to use Tversity or any other 3rd party software for this unit to work... I have been patiently waiting for WD to correct this problem... and if not these WD TV Live are going back and I will get POPCORN or some other device that works as advertised.. One other problem is that all JPG's show up as thumbnails in the movie listings as a JPG thumbnail along with the XXXXX.ISO thumbnail JPG.. WD you have a problem.... I am not going to search any more for a fix to these problems.. and you will not get any more of my MONEY in the future.... FIX THE PROBLEMS......

How are you connecting to your network?
Ethernet cable or wireless?
If wireless what dongle/router?
Have you contacted WD support with your issue yet?
If not, why not?

How are you connecting to your network?
Ethernet cable or wireless?
If wireless what dongle/router?
Have you contacted WD support with your issue yet?

If not, why not?

If you are talking to me I have contacted WD and they reffer you to the FAQ's Dont work....
I have a BUFFALO WHR-G300N and D-Link DIR-825 IEEE 802.3/3u Routers with USB Buffalo Nfiniti Wireless-N WLI-UC-G300N also wired directly using ethernet cables tried 4 different cables still no go.

the Buffalo WHR-G300 has the antenna MOD using DD-WRT on XP, VISTA 64 and WINDOWS 7 PRO 64 and none of these combinations work with the network streaming RUNS 5 or 10 MINUTES and then the DISCONNECTS....

Looks like you have all the right hardware. Maybe you should insist to connect with WD service level 2 person & set up a problem ticket on it.

i am very confused.
i have a windows 7 share and it works most of the time. but there is that 3 or 4 out of 10 times that i turn on the wdtv that it will not see anything in the Network Shares. I dont know how to get it back, i just somehow wait long enough and it is back.

Can someone please review once again the best way to setup a proper share so that this does not occur?

Thanks.
Loving my LIVE when it finds my content.

This WD TV Live works great when it works but 90% of the time it does not do what it was advertised to do.. The network connection keeps dropping and and you get " THERE IS A PROBLEM CONNECTING TO THE NETWORK " " THE DEVICE COULD NOT CONNECT TO THE NETWORK"

Same problems here, did some troubleshooting and posted in another thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17412813

Problem might be related to FF/RR video while streaming over the network. I'm playing back a video right now and so far so good as long as I haven't hit FF/RR buttons on the remote. I'm also playing a VOB instead of a DVR-MS file this time, but, neither should crap out with 'network' errors, and both play fine locally from a USB connected disk.

Ah well, I will contact WD support on Monday and see what they can do but I suspect I'll have to return it since this could take some time for them to debug and patch up.

I had the problem streaming MP3 files this weekened as well so it's not just video related. I contacted support this AM and they were very responsive. L1 put me right through to L2 (no unnecessary / scripted troubleshooting steps) and L2 was very friendly as well and advised they'd work with Engineering to update them on the situation. I'm going to be doing some additional troubleshooting when I have some time to help them narrow down the issue. Given that they seem genuinely interested in resolving this, I may just hold off on returning it and hope for a software patch or at the worst, an RMA.

Can somebody please post a guide on how to connect the Live to Windows 7 x64 homegroup?.

I have everything setup correctly and tried even that little fix by marting10 but the WDTV still does not see the media in my drive. I get a message saying "There is no media in the current folder".

Can somebody please post a guide on how to connect the Live to Windows 7 x64 homegroup?.

I have everything setup correctly and tried even that little fix by marting10 but the WDTV still does not see the media in my drive. I get a message saying "There is no media in the current folder".

these things are all rubbish lol.

these things are all rubbish lol.

Whats the correct way of doing it?

these things are all rubbish lol.

good answer?:rolleyes:

this wd tv live works great when it works but 90% of the time it does not do what it was advertised to do.. The network connection keeps dropping and and you get " there is a problem connecting to the network " " the device could not connect to the network "..... I have tried all the work arounds and tversity works but the thumbnails are not displayed.. You should not have to use tversity or any other 3rd party software for this unit to work... I have been patiently waiting for wd to correct this problem... And if not these wd tv live are going back and i will get popcorn or some other device that works as advertised.. One other problem is that all jpg's show up as thumbnails in the movie listings as a jpg thumbnail along with the xxxxx.iso thumbnail jpg.. Wd you have a problem.... I am not going to search any more for a fix to these problems.. And you will not get any more of my money in the future.... Fix the problems......

amen!

i am very confused.
i have a windows 7 share and it works most of the time. but there is that 3 or 4 out of 10 times that i turn on the wdtv that it will not see anything in the Network Shares. I dont know how to get it back, i just somehow wait long enough and it is back.

Can someone please review once again the best way to setup a proper share so that this does not occur?

Thanks.
Loving my LIVE when it finds my content.

I have the same problem. I just wish I knew the answer. I fiddle with the Live, change security again, log in log out etc and eventually it works. Tonight it took 2 hours from power on to connect to the network share. All other networking works perfectly. Wired cat5 network.

For all having a problem getting the WD LIVE to talk to their Windows machines... The fix is simple.
I have seen many long winded overly complex solutions to this, and it is crazy.
Setup the network like your supposed to. (And WD leaves out of the instructions.)

Ready?

Goto your windows machine and to the control panel.
Open USERS
Create new user.
Now create a user here. I will call mine wdtvlive
Now create a password for that user like wdtv
Done.

Now on the WDTV Live try to connect to a Network Share.
Enter the corect credentials when prompted
Name = wdtvlive
pass = wdtv

(UPDATE)
Now, make sure this new user is also listed in your share permissions, or in your Win 7 Homegroup.

TADA.

Simple. (Removed snarky sounding comment)
W2k, XP, Vista, 7... All want to know who is connecting, just make a account for the user/device.

(Same applied when connecting my xbox running XBMC to my pc. Created a xbox/xbox account)

Also of note.. I'm in Win 7 Ult, and had already disabled Password Protected Sharing. Not sure if that matters.

For all having a problem getting the WD LIVE to talk to their Windows machines... The fix is simple.
I have seen many long winded overly complex solutions to this, and it is crazy.
Setup the network like your supposed to.

Read?

Goto your windows machine and to the control panel.
Open USERS
Create new user.
Now create a user here. I will call mine wdtvlive
Now create a password for that user like wdtv
Done.

Now on the WDTV Live try to connect to a Network Share.
Enter the corect credentials when prompted
Name = wdtvlive
pass = wdtv

TADA.

Simple. I learned this crap back when I was supporting Win2K for Microsoft.
W2k, XP, Vista, 7... All want to know who is connecting, just make a account for the user/device.

(Same applied when connecting my xbox running XBMC to my pc. Created a xbox/xbox account)

Smartass first post. This is exactly what a ton of people, including me (I am a network analyst...work with servers/shares/cisco swithes all day long) but network shares drop, there is no two ways about it. I am using Windows 2008 R2 for my shares and they drop like mad a few minutes in. There is a big issue with how wd implemented this, because using xmount results in 0 of these network problems. The problem is obviously with the way WDTV interacts with some versions of Windows. I only have W2K8R2 to play with but being that is it based on the same platform as 7 I can imagine similar problems with 7. Don't know about XP ect.

For all having a problem getting the WD LIVE to talk to their Windows machines... The fix is simple.
I have seen many long winded overly complex solutions to this, and it is crazy.
Setup the network like your supposed to.

Read?

Goto your windows machine and to the control panel.
Open USERS
Create new user.
Now create a user here. I will call mine wdtvlive
Now create a password for that user like wdtv
Done.

Now on the WDTV Live try to connect to a Network Share.
Enter the corect credentials when prompted
Name = wdtvlive
pass = wdtv

TADA.

Simple. I learned this crap back when I was supporting Win2K for Microsoft.
W2k, XP, Vista, 7... All want to know who is connecting, just make a account for the user/device.

(Same applied when connecting my xbox running XBMC to my pc. Created a xbox/xbox account)

Followed your script to the T.
Didn't make any difference. Now, when I attempt in WDTVLive to go to Network Shares & click the remote, it doesn't even open at the icon for the login now. Win XPPro SP3 here.
Thanks.:rolleyes:



updated:
rebooted the WD, tried to hit network shares again. This time I get the usual "the device cannot connect to the network"

bravo! return this piece of junk lol

Not sure if this will help anyone, but here is what I have noticed. I run a mix of Windows 7 and Vista machines. Setup is Tomato router->switch->PC's and a machine connected wireless to the Tomato router.

When I first unboxed the unit, I plugged it in, it saw my workgroup fine. Trying to access the workgroup kept saying "no media in folder" or whatever that error is. Tried resetting the WD, rebooting random PC's, etc - nothing helped. Then I realized I had to push the down arrow on the remote to see the individual PC's. I have no idea why the workgroup is even listed as an option (note I use a non-default workgroup name).

Then while pushing my TV back into place (moved it for plugin access), the power cable got pushed our of the surge protector, turning the WD off. After re-connecting power and booting up, nothing. All it would show was the workgroup - no other PC's would show up under network shares.

I tried everything possible on the WD side. What fixed it was rebooting the Windows 7 machine. After that every PC showed up. From then on it worked fine for days. Note I leave the unit powered on 24x7.

I had some friends over and someone turned the WD off overnight. The next day, same thing, no PC's would show - only the workgroup itself. I figured the WD was messed up, went through the reset, power cycling, etc. Nothing helped. Then I rebooted the Windows 7 PC, and magic, all the PC's showed up again.

So from what I see, the only time my WD drops the network shares, is when it's turned off and back on. I realize these may be really basic tips, but try rebooting your Win7 machines, and also make sure you are hitting the down arrow on your workgroup name.

Was not trying to be a smartass.
In fact I have seen soooo many posts telling people to instead enable the guest account then do 4 or so reg hacks.... WHY?

I have had exactly 2 issues with the new WDTV Live.
1. When connecting to a network share within less than a minute of booting the WDTV, It sometimes takes 2 tries.

2. Everything I watch has the audio dropout for maybe 2 seconds, every 20 minutes. If you rewind, the audio plays for the spot it dropped out on, so it is a WDTV buffer/cache thing I believe.

bravo! return this piece of junk lol

Yo Mister AVS Special Member

Do you ever have anything constructive to post about in these threads?
How's about keeping the noise in here to a minimum, eh?:rolleyes:

As many of you I ran into several networking related issues, but believe I have it down to just the WD box dropping connection in a couple minutes issues at this time. Let me share what I discovered to date in the hope this may help some of you...

I started with many networking problems - primarily the issue was with accessing shares on network drives. Accessing media servers seemed to be less problematic. These issues caused me to reset the router many times, re-do the networking configurations of many of my devices on the network, etc.. The following is what got me to a reliable - repeatable state, which should help get the final (WD BOX I believe) issue resolved.

a) I replaced the router. I had a Linksys BEFR41. Worked great for a while, but I discovered that it simply doesn't play well with Vista (64) or later. The box hangs upon certain requests and looses capability to vend DHCP addresses. Not all devices register their names properly on this box either - not sure that has an impact (E.g. if other devices read the name from this router versus the master browser server on the network). My solution: replaced this unit with my (Still somewhat old) DLink Wireless router. I can see the devices on the DHCP list consistently and it captures their network names much better than the Linksys. Note - When you reset any of these routers, make sure you get all devices to re-register with the box. Easiest might be by disconnecting the wired ethernet cable and reconnecting it, or on wireless by disconnecting and reconnecting to the wireless network. Preferable disconnect before you reset the router. Also consider sequence of connecting the master browser:

b) Master Browser computer... Another area that seems somewhat troublesome on networks. Basically this is the way microsoft shares network device names between computers so that other computers discover the devices. Issues I have run into in the past is that any computer can assume to be the master browser and other become backups, who, in turn can become the master when the previous master goes off line. Because I have run into issues with this in the past, I decided to dedicate one of the computers on the network to be the master, by turning this service OFF on the other machines. This can be done by permanently turning of the computer service called "Computer Browser" (Start - right click on Computer and select Manage. Go to Services and change the setting for the Computer Browser to stop the service and disable it - Do this on all machines except for one that is connected and on the network all the time. Remember (to change) this setting in case you visit other networks as this may cause discovery issues there..

c) Configuration of 'dumb' network devices. Some of the items I have on my network seem to have issues with their connections and name registrations on the network. E.g. older NAS devices, Directv HD DVR, Newer Samsung TV, Pioneer Elite stereo. Previously I had set some of these devices to FIXED IP's vs. DHCP. While they were outside the DHCP IP range, which should not cause any conflicts on the network, I did run into some IP conflict messages on PC's that made me suspect something else is going on here. Hence - I changed the configuration and put everything on DHCP. Some of these items still don't register a name with the router, but the (computer's) master browser seems to pick up on them ok allowing other computers to discover them (more quickly).

Between doing the above items, I now have networking capability that seems much more reliable. Devices discover other devices much faster and the WD Live TV device is more reliable connecting to the network. Basically I am down to one problem with networking drops on the device: It drops the network after 3-5 minutes of playing mpeg files (I have played 2 VOB files that ran more than an hour without network drops). All network items are dropped except my NAS device. So this hopefully that will help tell WD something about where their firmware or Network adaptor has an issue... With limited testing to date, it appears this problem may be limited to playing certain video files from networked shares. To recover, you simply go into the box's network configuration and re-do the Automatic Configuration for the network. All network shares show up again (But playing mpeg files will cause the lost network connection consistently after a couple of minutes.

I am hoping that WD will fix this issue in a future firmware release as the box seems to have a promising future (I really would like to see .IFO support for DVD menus - can't scroll through the menus I created and go directly to the sections of the (Ulead) homevideos I created..

Bought WD live...nothing but troubles. Dropped connections...Stutters. Can't get thru a single movie!
Wow...Just Wow!

Perhaps a little bit more details as to how you have it connected, etc?

I had major issues with network shares drop. Tried eveything from this forum. Tried Tvarsity and did not help. Well I decided to try Twonky and since then I have no problem and been watching movies everyday and no network drops. I wish twonky had options to organize my media folders. And also I wish it was free but its on sale now so would just end up using twonky.

I have no idea why twonky works and not any other suggestions that I followed from here. Maybe its just my good luck.

For all having a problem getting the WD LIVE to talk to their Windows machines... The fix is simple.
Setup the network like your supposed to. (And WD leaves out of the instructions.)

Ready?

Go to your windows machine and to the control panel.
Open USERS.
Create new user.
I will call mine "wdtvlive".
Create a password for that, like "wdtv".
Done.

Make sure this new user is also listed in your share permissions, or in your Win 7 Homegroup.

Now on the WDTV Live try to connect to a Network Share.
Enter the correct credentials when prompted
Name = wdtvlive
Password = wdtv

Simple.
W2k, XP, Vista, 7... Just make an account for the user/device.I got kicked off after about 5 minutes of a 1080p h.264.

No problems with other 2 movies (XVID and another 1080p h.264).

Don't know what to think. Maybe this works. Maybe mine wasn't a connection problem after all. Or the new firmware fixed something.

FYI.. Firmware 1.01.11 version did not fix my problem... But the change to at least have repeatable error recovery (previous post) remains. Streaming seemed to last a little longer when on just one network switch (Previous disconnects experienced were with 3 netgear GB switches in the chain). I don't experience any of these drops with my other media player (Rapsody N35), so am convinced this has to be within the WD Live TV box somewhere...
As for the earlier post on signal stuttering... I have experienced that a lot in the past. Make sure you have enough bandwidth on the network and a pc (that shares the files) that can handle the job of the streaming speed required (and is not running may other jobs, like virus updates/scans, continuous disk access / etc.. . Wireless 'b' will (11MB) not work seemlessly for mpeg 2 (DVD) files. not sure 'n' will work with 1080p content (Not tried that myself). If the video content is on a USB drive, try to direct attach it to the WD TV Live unit. Should stream just fine...

I got the same problem which you guys are facing. And the new firmware 1.01.11 didn't help any thing with network drop. For the first time, I played a 1080p movie from my WHS, it stopped suddenly with "THERE IS A PROBLEM CONNECTING TO THE NETWORK " " THE DEVICE COULD NOT CONNECT TO THE NETWORK". Tried to reboot several times to overcome "There is no media in the current folder". Then tried another 720p movie, still kicked out the network. Damn it! I threw it to the wall, and you know where it is now.... Really disappointed!

Your USB dongle needs to be able to use ralink drivers, which are embedded in WDTV Live. It also needs to be N , not G.
There's a list of the models that WD says will work with the WD TV Live in the main WDTV2 thread, posted by ScottWD

Funny the Linksys WRT54GL is listed as a supported router and it only does up to 'G' wireless speeds. I was going to get the WD Live to get wireless support but now I'll just hang on to my existing WDTV and update the firmware if necessary.

here is the crazy thing.. you are all complaining about getting drops ect. I cant even get into my network or out into internet world for utube. ip addreess wrong.. will not do it auto ect. did manual maybe some suggestions out there''

1.. first the settings are wrong for the factory so i looked at my iphone and it shows... default gateway.. 192.168.0.1 and dns 192.168.0.1 sub net 255.255.255.0 so i matched those and then assigned a ip address of 192.168.0.150 and then tried others with the last three digits of lets say. 195 or 191... my other compnents are fine in this range..

called costomer service and they could not help .. said call for level two service in california on monday..

i also got the seagete/.. now that had no problem conecting to the internet and network but the thing is its just not as nice user friendly.

help
thabj==nks sorry cant spell today or type.. :mad::mad::eek:

now.. says dns server incorrect.. arg....

I have the same problem others are reporting with share drops after several minutes into a DVD or BD movie. I have to go back to settings and use the "automatic" option in network setup and I can see my shares again. It usually just drops again after a short period of time... obviously it would be nice if WD would figure this out.

I have determined that my wireless N+ just will not keep up with the streaming from Hulu to the WDLive box. Its not the WD live box. I can watch Youtube and movies from my NAS using the N adapter on the WD Live box no problem. But my home computer Windows 7, new N+ adapter, no issues, just will not stream correctly with Playon or simply from my home movies from "My videos" to the WD live. Im going to plug it directly into the network and see what happens.

It could just be the adapter, but I just bought the best Belkin makes. Im tempted to buy a TrendNet USB and try it because that is what I have on the WD Live.

If I can narrow down its network related, then I can figure its the USB adapter.

Love the WDtv live box. Just wish I could get Hulu/Playon and my Media PC to stream correctly over the wireless. I guess wireless is just not there yet.

My WDTV live and NAS plugged into the network works flawlessly. So does Youtube from the WDTV live. No issues.

Just an update. Plugged my PC directly into the router at 1gig. Hulu worked fine then (Playon).

I checked my wireless N adapters and they are not going past 54megs. I force my N router to N only, my n adapter would not work.

I think its a Windows 7 issue. I plugged my same N adapter, same location into my laptop and I got 72megs. My laptop is XP.

So I think the N technology is not quite there or reliable in Windows. or you have to find the right mix of hardware.

Back to the wires for now I guess. Although, WD Live seems to wirelessly fine with my TrendNet USB adapter and TrendNet router

Same network issues here too....sad...

Edit: This thread helped me solve my network dropping issue (so far at least):
http://community.wdc.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/tv_live/thread-id/75/page/1

Just curious what information you found on the web-site that worked so-far. I have not found anything to date that fixes the dropped network shares issue. Also since my last post found out that the dropps are not file specific, just intermittend in terms of when they occurr. Typically in about 3-5 minutes, but sometimes it hangs in there longer... It's clear the issue is with the WD box. I also have a Rapsody N35 player that never experiences anything like these network drops.

With the recent catastrophy in updating their firmware to v...12 I suspect that WD is probably well aware of the issue and looking for an answer - perhaps sending out some firmware a bit too quickly (not enough testing?) in an attempt to fix the issue. What I don't get is if v...12 worked ok and maybe (pure speculation on my part) has a fix for this network drop issue, why they don't make it available for manual install (via USB) as they indicate the firmware installation problem is with the internet update process... Anyway.... Hope to get the firmware fix we all seem to need soon.....

Update - after some more testing I noticed that the device shares itself in the default windwos 'workgroup'. I wonder if this has anything to do with the lost connections as I configure my workgroup to another name for all devices in the house (At least those that allow it...).

The problem is obviously with the way WDTV interacts with some versions of Windows. I only have W2K8R2 to play with but being that is it based on the same platform as 7 I can imagine similar problems with 7. Don't know about XP ect.

I've done a test playing during more than 2 hours a 1080p mkv from my synology NAS via Samba and "no issue". In fact I've not watched the movie but have looked at the output graph of the NAS and it has thrown 2MB/s during more than 2 hours.
I'm not using samba share for playing movies but the NAS dlna and nearly no issue so far.

My router is a linksys wrt54gl (using tomato firmware), both NAS and WDTV are hard wired to GB switch behind the router. Note that the router is only providing IP adresses, as soon as a connexion is done between let's say my PC and my NAS, the traffic goes through the switch. I've difficulties to understand why wd is providing a list of compatible routers.

Seems to me that you are right by saying that it is more a Windows plateform issue. In any case they should address it !.
Note as well that WD is not the only one hardcoding the workgroup name, my all in one printer (canon mp980) is as well on "workgroup" and no way to change it (or not found but have looked everywhere).

David

Just curious what information you found on the web-site that worked so-far. I have not found anything to date that fixes the dropped network shares issue. Also since my last post found out that the dropps are not file specific, just intermittend in terms of when they occurr. Typically in about 3-5 minutes, but sometimes it hangs in there longer... It's clear the issue is with the WD box. I also have a Rapsody N35 player that never experiences anything like these network drops.

With the recent catastrophy in updating their firmware to v...12 I suspect that WD is probably well aware of the issue and looking for an answer - perhaps sending out some firmware a bit too quickly (not enough testing?) in an attempt to fix the issue. What I don't get is if v...12 worked ok and maybe (pure speculation on my part) has a fix for this network drop issue, why they don't make it available for manual install (via USB) as they indicate the firmware installation problem is with the internet update process... Anyway.... Hope to get the firmware fix we all seem to need soon.....


I had the same problem. But then it started to work. I did a lot of changes in the setup. If I remember correctly it started to work after I switched of the sharing WDTV Live on the network.. or something like that. The device was no longer visible on the network, but it worked fine. This is just a tip. Maybe it worth trying.



Now I'm unable to use the device because of the last firmware upgrade. Waiting for the solution.

This worked for me.

Follow up to our post of 4 Dec 09 regarding problems with the firmware update 1.01.12 for
WD TV Live HD Media Players

We have tracked the problem to the Internet update process for WD TV Live firmware version 1.01.12. The firmware version is functioning normally, the problem intermittently occurred when using the Internet to update WD TV Live to version 1.01.12. If you've successfully installed update 1.01.12, there's nothing further you need to do.

If your product failed during the update process, we will replace it free of charge. Please contact our customer service department.

The product in stores and shipping today is functioning normally. Update version 1.01.11, and the Internet update process for 1.01.11 are also functioning normally. So if you own a product that you haven't updated, or buy a product today, you can safely update it with version 1.01.11, which is now the most current update.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

FAQ for WD TV Live Devices affected by Firmware Release 1.01.12
Options

For those who have had WD TV Live Media Players fail from the recent 1.01.12 firmware update (12/04/09), we apologize for the aggravation you suffered over this, and we want to thank you for your patience as we work this out.

What do I do if my WD TV Live stopped functioning after the update?

* If your device failed after the update, you will need to replace it. WD will replace all units, at our expense, that were damaged due to the firmware release, whether they failed through the auto-update, USB update, or by update from our web site.

How do I go about getting the WD TV Live replaced?

* If it's possible, you have the option to return it to the place of purchase for a replacement.
* If you can't return it to the place of purchase, you can replace it through WD. You can create an RMA online or contact us for assistance.

Who will be responsible for my shipping costs?

* WD will pay for shipping. Once you create an RMA, you will receive an email with a link to your pre-paid UPS shipping label. Just click on the link, print the label, and tape it to the shipping container; and please follow the rest of WD’s RMA procedures.
* For customers outside the US, you can still create an RMA online, but you will need to contact WD's Customer Service and Support for your region to get your shipping label.

If I already paid for a label, can I get reimbursed?

* If your RMA was created after December 3rd, 2009 for a WD Live Media Player that failed due to the firmware 1.01.12 update, please contact us for reimbursement. Please make sure to have your RMA number available. If your RMA was created before December 3rd, 2009, it will be not eligible for reimbursement.

Also running W7 x64. I set the WD Live up last night and it worked fine streaming an .mkv. Now today I get the No Media in Folder error???????

If you can't see your shares at all using Windows 7 its probably due to the default group policy for Windows 7. In order to correct this you need to Start --> secpol.msc --> Local Policies --> Security Options --> Now look for the following:

Network Access: Allow Anonymous SID/Name translation = Enabled
Network Access: Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM Accounts = Diabled
Network Access: Do not allow anonymous enumeration of SAM Accounts and shares = Diabled
Network Access: Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users = enabled
Network Access: Restrict anonymous access to Named Pipes and Shares = disabled

After you do all that then you should be able to leave the password blank and use anonymous as the user with windows 7
Just make sure you give "Everyone" read rights to your shares

Easiest way to use WDTV Live with win7 is to use libraries.
open explorer, select network, WDTV should show up on right, right click it, select allowed and add the files you want to play into your libraries by right clicking them and picking include in libraries.

They will show on WDTV Live under media servers.
No passwords, groups, security or anything else has to be changed.
That is why MS put that into the OS so devices in the home could use media stored on the pc without concerns of samba, sharing and all that stuff.

Problem solved with the help of this post (http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=3655.msg30371#msg30371). Thank you dude!

Basicaly MS suck balls... I have uninstalled the Windows Live Sign-In Assistant and the shares from Windows7 x64 magically appeared on WDL. Functional and all. Logged on with my regular username and password from Win7 as it should.
No media straming, no guest account, no disable password, nothing stupid, just how it should be.

After reading 100's of posts on various boards to get my network shares working properly I almost threw in the towel. Nothing I read anywhere worked.

BUT I tried a few simple ideas of my own and BAM! IT'S ALL WORKING!! :)

I'll explain what I did and hopefully something here can help some other once frustrated chaps like myself. Now I am using a VISTA desktop, (similar enough to win7), and I have about 14 shares setup on 15 1TB drives.(some internal, most external). I DONT allow EVERYONE ACCESS, NOR ANONYMOUS ACCESS, nor "media sharing". My shares can only be accessed with a username and password. (which is how you should WANT it, any other way is insecure and opens to many security holes.

Anyway, the MAIN key for me, was going into settings on WDLIVE & turning "AUTO LOGIN to network share" to "OFF". If this is NOT turned off it seems you are NEVER prompted for authentication of any sort. Now when u go to File management or "Network Shares" you should be prompted with "account" and "password" fields. Here you can firstly try using your regular login on your pc/server and your password. What I did though was create a dedicated account for the WDLIVE, IE:a NEW user name with password on my pc/server. Then on each folder I wanted to share, I selected "properties", then "share" tab, then "advanced sharing". Check "share this folder". Then "permissions", then "add", and enter the name of the new user acct. you just created, then select "OK". I then highlight "everyone" and click "REMOVE". Then hit apply and ok. That's it. Any folders you share in that manner will only be accessible for "read" access AND only accessible with that username and password you just created above. That is the same username and password u enter into WDLIVE for network share access.

The only other settings to confirm are the following.
1- Make sure windows firewall is off.
2- In "Networking and Sharing Center" on server/desktop/laptop I have "network discovery" and "file sharing" set to "ON".
3- Remainder or other 4 options below "sharing & discovery" set to "OFF".

**Note: I've read alot of posts referring to intermittent or lost network file access after working fine. I've experienced this often as a result of the router becoming overloaded or running out of memory. Running p2p or torrents will definitely cause this sometimes. The same can occur on your file server or windows OS as there are various limits on connections etc. The usual fix is a disconnect/reconnect of power to router first, if that isnt successful then a reboot of NAS or Fileserver/Desktop.
(In addition, I personally feel "static" IP's seem to work a bit more reliably.)

Make sure to turn off WDTV Live sharing on the network. This setting is in the network setting under setup.
Once I did this, expecially because I don't use "workgroup" as my workgroup name, my problems stopped immediately.
I rewired my house trying to get rid of this problem and it all had to do with this one simple fix.

I'm a windows/network/linux/programmer sysadmin by trade.

I've experienced this network timeout after playing a video as well. It's rather random. I can play 720p or 1080p movies 8GB in size without issue, and other times I can't play a 350mb dvdrip without it saying there is a network failure.

When I go back to the network shares, most of the computers have disappeared. I have XP, Win 7, and Server 2008 computers on the network, and the xp ones show up much more consistently than the 7 and 2008.

I have also confirmed that this issue is not network/cable/router related. If I ping the wdtv live from the server sharing the videos, the ping will never time out even when the wdtv live network no longer available error occurs. I've also used 3 different switches, 4 different cables, etc.

This means that the issue definitely lies with the wdtv software and how it interacts with 7 or 2008. I suspect it has something to do with the master browser and windows networkign discovery but I haven't been able to confirm that yet.

I'm trying the last fix posted of disabling the network sharing on the wdtv live itself. So far, so good.

There is new prerelease beta firmware v1.02.14 that apparently has many fixes in it...specifically fixes for Windows7 networking issues. Haven't tried it yet but it's available at

http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showtopic=12867

This thread (http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=3251.15) sorta fixed the network issues for me by playing with the master browser settings using browstat.

It is to do with setting your media server as the MBR, but after a while it loses the MBR status and the network drops. So reset it to become the MBR again and it will work.

OS : WinXP SP3
Workgroup name : Workgroup (standard)

I can bear with this workaround until a proper fix is available. Hopefully in the latest 1.02.x firmware?

This thread (http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=3251.15) sorta fixed the network issues for me by playing with the master browser settings using browstat.

It is to do with setting your media server as the MBR, but after a while it loses the MBR status and the network drops. So reset it to become the MBR again and it will work.

OS : WinXP SP3
Workgroup name : Workgroup (standard)

I can bear with this workaround until a proper fix is available. Hopefully in the latest 1.02.x firmware?

After I got all the workgroup, etc, bugs worked out and set the WDTV Live to a reserved IP on my router I have zero issues with network drops. I also made sure my IRPStackSize was properly setup in my registry (look for my post, on page 111 of the WDTV Live thread in this forum, about how to setup it up).

I started out with a D-Link DIR 655 router. Then I wanted a gigabit network, so I bought a Linksys WRT310N. Then lo and behold I decided I had to have a N Dual-Band router, so I bought a Linksys WRT610N. After setting all the devices on my network to a reserved IP address I have had zero issues with losing the network.

I have two XP SP3 machines and a WHS HP Mediasmart Server running on my network as well. I can get shares all day long from all 3.

Derelict_Drvr

Any chance you can help me set-up a reserved IP for the WDLive on my router? It's kind of info overload on these forums when it comes to the WDLive, hard to find what you are looking for.

Thanks

What router do you have?

If I remember right, the option to rerserve IP addresses in advanced setup. I do not think it is under the wireless tab. Give me the brand and part number (I.E. Linksys WRT310N, etc) of your router and I will do a little research and get back to you.

Linksys WRK54G

I'm going to be buying an N as soon as we buy a house. Not going to mess with it in the meantime. I'm on a wired network right now, so I'm not worried about wireless woes.

I don't see anywhere in there for reserving IPs. It has Static Routining in "Advanced Routing".

Linksys WRK54G

I'm going to be buying an N as soon as we buy a house. Not going to mess with it in the meantime. I'm on a wired network right now, so I'm not worried about wireless woes.

I don't see anywhere in there for reserving IPs. It has Static Routining in "Advanced Routing".

I could not find exactly how to set up a reserved IP in the Linksys WRK54G. However, on my WRT610N, the option to do so is under "Basic Setup" and "DHCP Server Setting". There should be a button for "DHCP Reservation". Go there (or something similar) and there should be a listing of the devices on your network. You chould get a box that looks something like This (https://commcenter.bresnan.net/Session/464622-38An0pZzi3XJZGGlF1GM-jizkfbu/WebFile/DHCP/Doc1.mht). Just check the boxes of the devices you want to reserve address for and then click "Add". They should then show up in the bottom table.

This applies to Windows 7(x64, not sure if that matters)
My specific problems were:

1) If I turn off the WD box, I had to reboot my computer or renew my ip for the box to see my win 7 shares
2) after about 20minutes, the video would stop and lose the shares
3) I could no longer see my shares and had to reboot again

After some research, I came to the conclusion that the home group is messing with the share, EVEN when I leave the home group. So I tried disabling the home group services.... and everything works no :| 10 seconds after I turn the box on, I see the shares, it logs on, I watched 2 hours of TV since with no disconnects.

Steps:
1: get to your services
- Control panel -> administrative tools -> services
2: Find the 2 home group services, there are 2, home group, and home group listener.
3: disable both, and stop both, make sure start-up type is set to disabled.
4: Enjoy !

I'm not sure if people are still having this problem, but since I could not fiind an answer I'll assume it's still giving issues to some users, if not all.
I ran this without any streaming software, just windows 7 network share, no TVersity or anything else installed.

If you can try this and post your feedback that would be great!

I was able to get this to work for a little bit at the beginning and now my network shares aren't working at all. When I check my shares, I get this:

http://imgur.com/SfCL7.jpg

The computer freezes for a bit when I enter the sharing screen then that user "S-5-1_21-etc etc" quickly turns into Homeuser again. Anybody know what this problem is?. I freshly formatted and did the whole process again but yet I'm still having that sharing problem.

I was able to get this to work for a little bit at the beginning and now my network shares aren't working at all. When I check my shares, I get this:

http://imgur.com/SfCL7.jpg

The computer freezes for a bit when I enter the sharing screen then that user "S-5-1_21-etc etc" quickly turns into Homeuser again. Anybody know what this problem is?. I freshly formatted and did the whole process again but yet I'm still having that sharing problem.

try my suggestion above your post

try my suggestion above your post

I tried that its still the same thing:(

I tried that its still the same thing:(

Weird, remove that user if you don't use it, make sure everyone has all options checked, disable streaming, and if that still doesn't work, install tversity?

on that note, I never have a problem seeing my shares now, but I do randomely get network disconnects

Have anyone have the network drops problem?
- I'm using Windows XP Media Center Version 2002/ Service Pack 2
- Set up wireless connection using Airlink101 Wireless 11N Mini USB Adapter.
- I have the WRT150N router.

The connection will drop in about 10 minutes from streaming movies. It also happens while watching youtube vidoes too.

Here's the message "There was a problem connecting to the network. The Device could not connect to the network"

So, have to restart everything to be working again for 10 minutes or so, and it happens again.

By the way this is only happen with wireless. I tried with the wired mode and no drops whatsoever.


Any idea? TIA