The plan fails at this crucial step. You’d need an S1 player, not a Bridge, to rebuild an S1 system.

I don’t understand why your Samba share is not accessible on the S2 system. Which version of SMB does it use? Is there a username/password? Is it accessible from a PC on the network? What does the shared folder path look like?

Hi Ratty, thanks - so I need a “virgin” play1 to starrt S1 - thanks for the tip.

I was trying to use ASUS Zen WiFi because initially the SONOS ONE kept dropping off SONOSNET - I still see many PHY errors on some speakers.

Wifi6 2.4GHz and 5GHz (1 and 2) MESH signal strength is excellent to very good (-40 db to -85 db)

192.168.xxx.1 is the ASUS ZenwFi_XT-2790 router to which the play1 and the computer are both attached via an unmanaged switch.

Most speakers refused to have their network settings updated to the mesh network’s when I set up the new SONOS S2 system wireless after factory resetting everything, though they made melodious chimes and pings but stalled when “updating network settings” so I went ovcer the lot again and set it up with .4 wired via a Gbit switch to the router .1

Signal strength of SONOSNET has some weaknessesesp. in kitchen - see below

As for music library, I have no idea why it does not work  - case number ********

Music Library (6Gb)  worked until i rebuilt the s2 system after all attempts to set up S2 with 3x XT8 mesh WiFi failed - even after resetting and putting them all on a table next to the router and switching off the other mesh nodes!

music library path is \\ip-address\SHARENAME\Directory or \\devicename\Sharename\directory

it can be accessed via windows explorer no problem but in sonos, it keeps saying

'//192.168.xxx.1/RAS/music' is no longer available. The device where the music files are stored may not be powered on, or the path may have changed.
Go to Settings > System > Music Library > Music Library Setup to check the path.”

'//ZenWiFi_XT8-2790/RAS/music' is no longer available. The device where the music files are stored may not be powered on, or the path may have changed.
Go to Settings > System > Music Library > Music Library Setup to check the path.

plain SAMBA to a SAMSUNG SSD on the router’s usb3 port
 

this is the set-up

Associated Product: (ip address) ………...244
---------------------------------
Play:1: Bedroom
Serial Number: B8-E9-37-B1-61-20:4
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 14.0 (build 67125031)
Hardware Version: 1.8.3.7-2.0
Series ID: A101
IP Address: ………..236
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
Play:1: corridor
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-42-F0-8A:0
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 14.0 (build 67125031)
Hardware Version: 1.8.3.7-2.0
Series ID: A101
IP Address: ………...2
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
Play:1: Den
Serial Number: 78-28-CA-23-1E-06:1
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 14.0 (build 67125031)
Hardware Version: 1.20.1.6-2.1
Series ID: A200
IP Address: …………...4
WM: 0
---------------------------------
Play:1: Dining (L)
Serial Number: 5C-AA-FD-42-F0-80:7
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 14.0 (build 67125031)
Hardware Version: 1.8.3.7-2.0
Series ID: A101
IP Address: ………....244
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
Play:1: Dining (R)
Serial Number: B8-E9-37-83-16-8E:A
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 14.0 (build 67125031)
Hardware Version: 1.8.3.7-2.0
Series ID: A101
IP Address: …………..52
WM: 0
OTP:
---------------------------------
Sonos One: Kitchen
Serial Number: 54-2A-1B-F5-57-98:1
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 14.0 (build 67125031)
Hardware Version: 1.26.1.7-2.1
Series ID: A201
IP Address:………...123
WM: 0
---------------------------------
Connect: Living
Serial Number: 94-9F-3E-B9-7A-FE:B
Sonos OS: S2
Version: 14.0 (build 67125031)
Hardware Version: 1.22.1.5-2.1
Series ID: D102
IP Address: ……….89
WM: 0

Den ……………..4 connected to router (root of STP network?)

……...244 (Associated Product)

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct - removed case number.

BRIDGE is S1 only. Anyway, until proven otherwise, assume that there is a hardware issue with BRIDGE. Typically, the power supplies fail intermittently. If you can measure voltage, BRIDGE’s power supply should be slightly over 5.0V. Less than this you may experience multiple intermittent issues that are very difficult to catalog. If you cannot measure voltage, power down BRIDGE and wire another S1 unit until you get things running, then attempt to use BRIDGE for the S1 system.

Signal strength in the Bedroom is near the threshold of not working. Dining and Kitchen are not much better.

Is it correct that if i find a speaker which is S1, I can set up all Play1 and the CONNECT on S1?
 

The current setup is with Play1 wired to ASUS XT8 mesh router wired to internet gateway

The Play1 provides SONOSNET

Borderline signals or not, the setup works in spite of reinforced concrete ceilings plus stone or tile floor on gravel and limestone walls. Kitchen SONOS ONE initially had dropoffs when placed where there had been a play1 indicating its radios are weak. Moving it around helped.

That is why i tried to migrate to pure wireless but “updating network settings” of speakers did not work - lots of complaints in the community about problems with SONOS on mesh networks.

As an experiment I’d rename the router from ZenWiFi_XT8-2790 to something with 15 characters or less, and only containing letters from a to z, the digits from 0 to 9, and the hyphen (-). There have been times in the past where Sonos has objected otherwise. (With a hard IP as the share address it shouldn’t logically matter, but it would worth a try.)

Up to 32 S1 units can be part of an S1 system.

Wireless signal viability varies in three dimensions, inch by inch. Unless the antennas of two units can be positioned in exactly the same location and orientation you cannot compare performance. Also, humans are essentially bags of water and water absorbs microwave energy. If a lot of water bags enter the room or the bags are moved around, signal strength will vary. Kitchen, Dining, and Bedroom are near the low end of signal strength viability. If conditions deteriorate for some reason, they’ll drop off the network.

Fortunately, you have very little interference in your area. (low noise floor and ODFM) If BRIDGE is proven to still be usable, moving it to a wired or wireless position about midway between strong and weak coverage areas will help a unit in a weak area. BOOST is more effective than BRIDGE.

With respect to kitchens, some microwave ovens can be troublemakers while operating.

The ‘Living’ node is well placed to act as relay -- and is already doing so for ‘Dining’/L. Other nodes which struggle with a direct connection to ‘Den’ would have the option of doing likewise.

I have a disconnected bridge so it is irrelevant what it does. The thing connected to the router is
Play:1: Den; Serial Number: 78-28-CA-23-1E-06:1; Sonos OS: S2; Version: 14.0 (build 67125031); Hardware Version: 1.20.1.6-2.1; Series ID: A200; IP Address: …………...4; WM: 0

S2 can attach a music folder from the windows controller - the music folder is on the PC connected to the same switch as the play1 and the first router

A ) Could I change WiFi settings on the devices via the web interface port 1400?

B ) Could I register the location of the music library //192.168.50.1/RAS/music via the web interface port 1400?

C ) The speakers are set to region USA and it seems to need a password (which?) to be able to change it to EU

D) while SONOS seems to use multicast on its SONOSNET, my IPdecoders, though they connect if I set the router to multicast, have issues with the interactive functionality of the TV (fast forward, rewind etc. jerk around erratically)  - WOULD WiFi only set-up work without multicast?, seeing that all devices register with no problem on the Mesh network (you can “pin them down” to prevent there roaming between mesh nodes via the mesh network desktop gui)
 

A ) No

B ) No

C ) Where are you seeing a region setting? If it’s on your Sonos account simply change it there.

D ) Multicast seems rather a red herring. You surely don’t have discovery problems locating the players. You have difficulty adding a share hosted on the ASUS main node. Did you try renaming it? 

the share is called RAS or ras depending on OS - tried both - failed
the server name is the router name which apparently cannot be changed

S2 can only map a local music folder

The share is easily seen by WINDOWS

BUT NOT in S2

i.e. imho upnp in S2 is broken or disabled - no network discovery, no SMB

adding music library is not working if I use the ip address \\192.168.50.1\RAS\music

it is not working if I use \\ZenWiFi_XT8-2790\RAS\music

it is not working if I use \\192.168.50.1\music (dlna name)

S2 is also unable to add the mapped network drive drive S: which points to \\192.168.50.1\ras - which is not shared in Windows

I will notice failure to discover NAS drives form time to time, but this is a W10 issue. As I type, two NAS drives are not seen by File Explorer, but I’m currently playing music through my SONOS system from one of these drives.

Edit: In this particular case SONOS was not playing from the NAS because the drive was  still powered down by an earlier power failure. A familiar album was playing from an online service. The network switch promptly acknowledged the NAS was connected, but W!0 File Explorer seemed to take forever before discovering the drive was back online.

It might be important to be aware that your Sonos system doesn’t really care if Windows can or cannot see the NAS. The Sonos devices are not going through your Windows connection, but is running through the Linux kernel that Sonos operates. The Windows controller is just a remote control that tells the operating system on the Sonos devices where to reach the data. 

The cause is simple:-

the SONOS S2 system is not recognising FDD or SDD with NTFS file systems, a USB stick with FAT32 has no problem

All other devices have no problem mapping the NTFS SMB share.

It is thus most likely a SONOS LINUX problem, not a router problem.
 

update

S2 is the latest “release/update” build 67126143 - though SONOS never publishes release notes a.f.a.i.k.

On the ASUS XT8 router or satellite node

SONOS S1 could easily add the ~43Gb music folder on a USB3 NTFS 1Tb Samsung PSSD T7 to the music library

SONOS S2 cannot add the same folder to the music library

On a satellite XT8 node

• SONOS S2 cannot add the ~43Gb music folder on a FAT32 64Gb USB3.1 stick (SANDISK 3.2 gen1) to the music library
• SONOS S2 cannot add a ~ 7.5Gb music folder on an 8Gb FAT32 USB2 stick (near max capacity of the stick) to the music library

   BUT if you delete some files -

• SONOS S2 can add a ~6.8 - 7.2Gb music folder on an 8Gb FAT32 USB2 stick  to the music library

I now have 2 satellite nodes with an 8Gb FAT32 USB2 stick each, and have added both ~7Gb folders to the music library (“8Gb” - in reality 7.2-7.5Gb)

BESIDES

SONOS S2 does not see any DLNA servers which other devices and applications have no trouble using

My conclusion

unlike SONOS S1, a build with SONOS S2

1. cannot handle SMB shares (SAMBA) on NTFS or FAT32 USB3 of ASUS XT8 mesh pods
2. cannot handle the SAMBA share on an 8Gb FAT32 USB2 device when the music folder is larger than ~7.2Gb max at a time, though there seems to be no problem adding several of them
3. is blind to dlna services (yes the tickbox is marked)

AND

SONOS is apparently unable to work on nowadays commonplace wifi6 or higher multiband mesh networks

• a Wireless-only build with a CONNECT, several Play1 and SONOS ONE in S2 on XT8 mesh network does not work, both in my experience and as documented in various online articles

there are reports of crippling workarounds which are impossible for me
- e.g. using the 2.4GHz band exclusively for SONOS, connecting all speakers to one 2.4GHz only node -

The Asus XT8 has its own problems with Sonos compatibility (search for it on these forums) outside of file share access. You might want to look into that also, especially as you are using Nodes.

 search here for  “sonos mesh networks” => Sonos has problems with many triband or dual band mesh systems

2949 entries

p.s. the 64Gb usb3 drive was exfat not fat32 - windows refuses to format it fat32

one issue cleared - XT8 does not support exfat -

So I formatted the 64gb usb 3.1 sandisk as ntfs

I put a small 6Gb music folder on the drive which was successfully mounted and SMB-shared on the router - then added to SONOS music library successfully

hence it is

• not a USB3 problem,
• not a file system format problem

BUT, when I added files to the folder to see what happens - S2 says that the drive is no longer available - 20Gb on disk, 19Gb files

Therefore UNLIKE S1, SONOS S2 is no longer capable of indexing large drives

S2 is worse than S1
shame on SONOS developers

I currently have five folders in my library with a total of 337GB on my NAS and it’s working fine on S2.

I currently have 6362 folders in my library with a total of 937 GB on my NAS and it's working fine on S2.

My five “folders” are what is listed in Music Library Settings. Each of these folders (shares) has sub folders.

I am reading that MERLIN Gnuton fork has published a firmware version with support for XT8 (ASUS RT-AX 95Q (= XT8 = AX6000)

It possibly solves the problem

read carefully

@buzz @beynym

I do not use a NAS
I use a 1Tb SSD on the router’s USB3 port

Why do you reply quoting your experience with a NAS when I am asking about USB3 SSD on a router?

The music folder on the SSD is 43.2 Gb and has 6,626 Files, 558 Folders

It could be mapped to the music library by SONOS S1

It cannot be mapped by SONOS S2 version 14.8 build 68329090 or the GNU FORK mentioned above

Therefore UNLIKE S1, SONOS S2 is no longer capable of indexing large drives

S2 is worse than S1
shame on SONOS developers

SONOS has other problems unrelated to this:-
https://www.google.com/search?q=sonos+problem+mesh
About 374,000 results (0.32 seconds) 

Your router plus SSD (assisted by SMB/CIFS firmware) is a NAS (network attached storage).

I have a similar number of (FLAC) library files, taking up 4 times as much space, sitting on a 256GB flash drive plugged into a router. S2 indexes and accesses them fine, using SMBv2.