I have my Sonos Play:5 setup and I've been playing around successfully with my music services (Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, Amazon, Google Play etc..I've also set up a music library, adding folders from my networked computers, and even found a hack for using Dropbox (windows 10 share named Sonos in my dropbox folder.
What I'd also like to do is play 'anything' off of the hardware I'm using at the moment, whether it is iOS, Mac or Windows. One approach is to use the Audio Line in. First, I plugged a Google Chromecast into the audio line in of my Play:5 and I can cast from chrome. That worked great and i could now play youtube in Chrome.
But what if I want to CAST from the output of any software, such as a DJ software, or my DAW (music production software)? For this on my Mac I purchased Rogue Amoeba Airfoil and can cast all system audio to my chromecast and onto audio line in in Sonos. All pretty cool... But what about iOS and Windows?
QUESTION:
On one of my windows 10 machines, on the context menu I see 'Cast to Device' and when I expand it I see - wow - my Play:5. I can then play any audio file on my file system. However on my other two windows 10 machines the 'cast to device' context menu doesn't show my Play:5. I suspect that this may be due to a version of Windows 10 or some other update I haven't gotten.
I sure would like to do this. Does anyone know much about this?
Kithara
Question
Windows 10 Context menu: Cast to Device
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.
Hello Kithara, just checking in on your question.
Most likely the Windows 10 is seeing it through UPnP streaming, which does work usually based on your network profile settings. We don’t directly support this sort of connection, but we’ve definitely seen it working before. You can try checking on the computers that don’t see Sonos inside their network and sharing centers. Perhaps others in the community here have some suggestions regarding the Windows 10 casting.
Most likely the Windows 10 is seeing it through UPnP streaming, which does work usually based on your network profile settings. We don’t directly support this sort of connection, but we’ve definitely seen it working before. You can try checking on the computers that don’t see Sonos inside their network and sharing centers. Perhaps others in the community here have some suggestions regarding the Windows 10 casting.
+21Yeah, it could be that your two computers that don't see your Sonos through UPnP (i.e. the "Cast" function) are set to not discover devices on your home network. Usually the first time you connect to a network you're asked a question. The question might seem like you're potentially putting your computer at risk (and you could, if connected to a public network), but at home on your own network, it would be fine to allow this.
The question is something to the effect of... "Allow your PC to be discoverable by other PC's and devices on this network?" While that sounds like it's strictly allowing your computer to be found on the network, it also affects the other way too. If disabled, your computer won't actively seek out other devices and computers on the network, including Sonos devices.
So how to change your response to this question? Hopefully you've kept Windows 10 current with all of the updates... these steps/screenshots are from a fully updated Windows 10 system.
Open the Settings app, then go to Network & Internet...
Click the network type; WiFi if wireless, Ethernet if wired...
Then click the network name (could be something as simple as Network 2, could be the same name as your wireless network...
Change the "Make this PC discoverable" setting to ON.
Hopefully after going through those steps, you should now be able to see your Sonos device(s) on the Cast menu when you right-click a music file. It may take a few minutes for your computer to discover everything, so if they don't immediately show up, don't be discouraged. A reboot might speed things up, in terms of Windows discovering things on your network.
The question is something to the effect of... "Allow your PC to be discoverable by other PC's and devices on this network?" While that sounds like it's strictly allowing your computer to be found on the network, it also affects the other way too. If disabled, your computer won't actively seek out other devices and computers on the network, including Sonos devices.
So how to change your response to this question? Hopefully you've kept Windows 10 current with all of the updates... these steps/screenshots are from a fully updated Windows 10 system.
Open the Settings app, then go to Network & Internet...
Click the network type; WiFi if wireless, Ethernet if wired...
Then click the network name (could be something as simple as Network 2, could be the same name as your wireless network...
Change the "Make this PC discoverable" setting to ON.
Hopefully after going through those steps, you should now be able to see your Sonos device(s) on the Cast menu when you right-click a music file. It may take a few minutes for your computer to discover everything, so if they don't immediately show up, don't be discouraged. A reboot might speed things up, in terms of Windows discovering things on your network.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.