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Adding a Windows SMB Share, Step-by-Step

For those who have been using the Sonos proprietary(ish) file sharing built into the about-to-be-deprecated Windows desktop client (SonosLibraryShare.exe), here are the steps to enable Windows 11 ‘native’ SMB file sharing (applies to Windows 10 with some nomenclature differences). Godspeed to all.

If you’re running an up-to-date version of Windows 10 or 11, you’ll automagically get SMBv2 which is forward-compatible with Sonos. (SMBv1 and SMBv2 discussed at length elsewhere in these forums).


1. Switch your LAN to “Private Network”
Settings > Network & internet > Ethernet/WiFi
- Select “Private Network” radio button


2. Enable file sharing
Settings > Network & internet > Advanced sharing settings
- Under “Private networks” (current profile) section
    - Set “Network discovery” On
    - Set “Setup network connected devices automatically” checked
    - Set “File and printer sharing” On


3. Setup local account specifically for music file sharing
Oh man, I can’t tackle the whole “local account” gauntlet here, so you’ll need to Google/ChatGPT it yourself. This step might not be strictly required, tho’ it is highly recommended from a security standpoint. I’m going to name this user ‘MusicShare’.

4. Share your music folder (or drive)
- Right-click on your music folder (or drive) and select Properties from the pop-up
    - Select the “Sharing” tab, and click the “Advanced Sharing” button
    - Check the “Share this folder” checkbox
    - Set “Share name” to ‘SonosLibrary’ (no quotes)


    - Click the “Permissions” button
    - In the pop-up under “Enter the object names to select” type ‘MusicShare’ (no quotes)
 

db] auto-populates your machine name, cc] type ‘MusicShare’ here

 

- click the “Check names” button to validate, and click the “OK” and/or “Apply” buttons to close the nest dialog boxes

sa] auto-populates the full share name


5. Sonos Music Library Setup
- In the Sonos iOS or Android client, navigate to “Music Library Setup”
- Select “Add Shared Music Folder”
- Path = \\Syour machine name]\SonosLibrary
- User name = MusicShare
- Password = from Step 3]
- Cross your fingers (seriously) and wait for Music Index to build

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44 replies

P
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Well i dont accept comments from Sonos at face value / as true, but that would be unsettling if true.  Applications don't need file sharing privileges to access local files, nor to create data and send it over a local area network.  Each Sonos device connected to your LAN receives, holds, and plays audio from a rather substantial buffer portion of the origin file, the buffer is presumably being created on a rolling basis by the host Sonos app that's reading a local sound file.  Just no need for any sort of file sharing to play a local file.  Control from additional instances of the Sonos app running on other devices on a local network wouldn't even necessitate file sharing, although maybe easier to do that way.  But for God's sake Sonos at least give us the option to simply play back local content from the local app, without invoking file sharing 

 

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Sonos actually works.  The Sonos apps do not “play” or “buffer” anything.  They are only controllers.  They tell Sonos devices what to play from which source, and the Sonos device then goes out and gets the media stream or file from whatever source it is told.  In the case of a local library selection, the Sonos device is given a network share and pathname to a file in your local library to fetch and play.  Without some type of network sharing, there is no way the device can fetch the file. 

Again, the Sonos apps are only controllers.  No media streams through or from the apps.   All media is fetched by the smart Sonos devices directly from the source, and if that source is your local library, the fetching is accomplished through some type of network sharing. 

 

Wrong. You can shut your local area network off and Sonos Plays will continue playing buffered audio for quite some time

jgatie

Wrong. You can shut your local area network off and Sonos Plays will continue playing buffered audio for quite some time

 

That’s because the buffer is on the Sonos devices. If the buffer were on the Sonos app, how would it traverse the downed network connection to get to the Sonos units?  

Look, I’ve been at this many years, and I know the inner workings of Sonos inside and out.  You are not going to win this one.  If your Sonos system used a local library housed on a PC or Mac, you had network sharing enabled.  It was originally SMB v1, until ~6 years ago when they switched to a proprietary HTTP sharing scheme.  You can believe that or not, but it is the 100% truth.  Whether you keep looking foolish about it is up to you.

P
Userlevel 1
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Wrong. You can shut your local area network off and Sonos Plays will continue playing buffered audio for quite some time

 

That’s because the buffer is on the Sonos devices. If the buffer were on the Sonos app, how would it traverse the downed network connection to get to the Sonos units?  

Look, I’ve been at this many years, and I know the inner workings of Sonos inside and out.  You are not going to win this one.  If your Sonos system used a local library housed on a PC or Mac, you had network sharing enabled.  It was originally SMB v1, until ~6 years ago when they switched to a proprietary HTTP sharing scheme.  You can believe that or not, but it is the 100% truth.  Whether you keep looking foolish about it is up to you.

Your years spent clearly have not translated into wisdom.  The buffer is created at the app, and sent to the Sonos devices obviously <on a rolling basis>.  A 50gb audio file will continue playing back even on my Play:1s for a significant time after the network is shut off ... So I guess this is where you claim a Play:1 receives and stores a 50gb file onboard and then plays it 🤡

jgatie

Your years spent clearly have not translated into wisdom.  The buffer is created at the app, and sent to the Sonos devices obviously <on a rolling basis>.  A 50gb audio file will continue playing back even on my Play:1s for a significant time after the network is shut off ... So I guess this is where you claim a Play:1 receives and stores a 50gb file onboard and then plays it 🤡

 

Meh, I give up.  You are either a troll, or just won’t listen to facts.  Either way, be happy in your ignorance.

P
Userlevel 1
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Your years spent clearly have not translated into wisdom.  The buffer is created at the app, and sent to the Sonos devices obviously <on a rolling basis>.  A 50gb audio file will continue playing back even on my Play:1s for a significant time after the network is shut off ... So I guess this is where you claim a Play:1 receives and stores a 50gb file onboard and then plays it 🤡

 

Meh, I give up.  You are either a troll, or just won’t listen to facts.  Either way, be happy in your ignorance.

Sure, <I'm> the troll.  You interjected with bs and got called out, all the while spouting ad hominem 

jgatie

Not many can be so wrong and be so sure they are right.  Its rather funny.

P
Userlevel 1
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Not many can be so wrong and be so sure they are right.  Its rather funny.

☝🏼

G

Can someone at Sonos, tell me how to get my itunes music back lese with clear instructions for a MAC. I would be eternally grateful

 

Geoff

F

I try everything you said and i obtain the message Access to the shared folder XXXXXX\SonosLibrary is denied. I even put MusicShare as an administrator.

So f****** conplicated. 

I'm really  thinking to getting rid of Sonos.

So good sound but an as***** application.

 

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

This has happened to me too. So sick and tired of it. I went through all the trouble, even opened command prompt and enabled SMBv2 sharing, and tried all the other steps in this, and it still hasn’t worked.

jgatie

This has happened to me too. So sick and tired of it. I went through all the trouble, even opened command prompt and enabled SMBv2 sharing, and tried all the other steps in this, and it still hasn’t worked.

 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

F

This has happened to me too. So sick and tired of it. I went through all the trouble, even opened command prompt and enabled SMBv2 sharing, and tried all the other steps in this, and it still hasn’t worked.

 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

yes, I did exactly this, and it didn’t work. So I’m not sure why you’re giving me the same set of instructions that didn’t work the first time round… 

Ken_Griffiths

This has happened to me too. So sick and tired of it. I went through all the trouble, even opened command prompt and enabled SMBv2 sharing, and tried all the other steps in this, and it still hasn’t worked.

 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

yes, I did exactly this, and it didn’t work. So I’m not sure why you’re giving me the same set of instructions that didn’t work the first time round… 

Maybe add an ‘Everyone’ (read, or read/write) permission to the folder share and see if that perhaps gets it working for you.

F

This has happened to me too. So sick and tired of it. I went through all the trouble, even opened command prompt and enabled SMBv2 sharing, and tried all the other steps in this, and it still hasn’t worked.

 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

yes, I did exactly this, and it didn’t work. So I’m not sure why you’re giving me the same set of instructions that didn’t work the first time round… 

Maybe add an ‘Everyone’ (read, or read/write) permission to the folder share and see if that perhaps gets it working for you.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve already tried that and it doesn’t work either >_< 

Ken_Griffiths

This has happened to me too. So sick and tired of it. I went through all the trouble, even opened command prompt and enabled SMBv2 sharing, and tried all the other steps in this, and it still hasn’t worked.

 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

yes, I did exactly this, and it didn’t work. So I’m not sure why you’re giving me the same set of instructions that didn’t work the first time round… 

Maybe add an ‘Everyone’ (read, or read/write) permission to the folder share and see if that perhaps gets it working for you.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve already tried that and it doesn’t work either >_< 

Maybe see if there is anything in this link that may help…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/configure-windows-10-network-and-security-settings

Also see if "temporarily" switching off the local firewall on the PC (if applicable) may make any difference too. 

F

This has happened to me too. So sick and tired of it. I went through all the trouble, even opened command prompt and enabled SMBv2 sharing, and tried all the other steps in this, and it still hasn’t worked.

 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

yes, I did exactly this, and it didn’t work. So I’m not sure why you’re giving me the same set of instructions that didn’t work the first time round… 

Maybe add an ‘Everyone’ (read, or read/write) permission to the folder share and see if that perhaps gets it working for you.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ve already tried that and it doesn’t work either >_< 

Maybe see if there is anything in this link that may help…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/configure-windows-10-network-and-security-settings

Also see if "temporarily" switching off the local firewall on the PC (if applicable) may make any difference too. 

hey, thanks for continually helping out -- I’m on Windows 11 Home, will these steps apply?

Ken_Griffiths

hey, thanks for continually helping out -- I’m on Windows 11 Home, will these steps apply?

Yes - particularly the public/private network setting will need to be switched (if relevant to your LAN connection). It needs to be a ‘Private’ connection to enable sharing for Microsoft networks. It’s usually set to ‘Public’ by default. 

MoPac
Userlevel 4
Badge +10

 My music is on a NAS which works well, by I wanted to try a test with my Windows 10 PC.  I created a folder on the desktop and dropped one album into it.  Then I created a Local Account and shared it to the folder I created on the desktop.  Next I opened the Sonos PC app Music Library Settings and used the third option to Browse to the folder on the desktop.  The index worked so the music I put in the folder showed.

 Sonos takes care of the Microsoft security settings & sets the Power and Sleep settings to “Never” for PC sleep.  I don’t want my computer on 24/7 so I deleted that share and put the sleep back where it was.  Was a test after all.

 YouTube has lots of info on how to add a Local Account and Sonos has info on how to share it in your music folder.

 

C

 My music is on a NAS which works well, by I wanted to try a test with my Windows 10 PC.  I created a folder on the desktop and dropped one album into it.  Then I created a Local Account and shared it to the folder I created on the desktop.  Next I opened the Sonos PC app Music Library Settings and used the third option to Browse to the folder on the desktop.  The index worked so the music I put in the folder showed.

 Sonos takes care of the Microsoft security settings & sets the Power and Sleep settings to “Never” for PC sleep.  I don’t want my computer on 24/7 so I deleted that share and put the sleep back where it was.  Was a test after all.

 YouTube has lots of info on how to add a Local Account and Sonos has info on how to share it in your music folder.

 

Links please? Can’t find what you suggested. 

Ken_Griffiths

 My music is on a NAS which works well, by I wanted to try a test with my Windows 10 PC.  I created a folder on the desktop and dropped one album into it.  Then I created a Local Account and shared it to the folder I created on the desktop.  Next I opened the Sonos PC app Music Library Settings and used the third option to Browse to the folder on the desktop.  The index worked so the music I put in the folder showed.

 Sonos takes care of the Microsoft security settings & sets the Power and Sleep settings to “Never” for PC sleep.  I don’t want my computer on 24/7 so I deleted that share and put the sleep back where it was.  Was a test after all.

 YouTube has lots of info on how to add a Local Account and Sonos has info on how to share it in your music folder.

 

Links please? Can’t find what you suggested. 

Here’s a few links (including the first post in this thread)…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/add-your-music-library-to-sonos

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/share-your-windows-music-folder-with-sonos

https://en.community.sonos.com/controllers%2Dand%2Dmusic%2Dservices%2D229131/adding%2Da%2Dwindows%2Dsmb%2Dshare%2Dstep%2Dby%2Dstep%2D6892060

 

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