Lots of posts on this but here is what I learned after many hours…
The Sonos tech support site is wrong on how to fix this issue. Their first step tells you to go to Windows support and add a local user account. Then apply that account to file sharing. What they fail to say is that when you install Sonos, a local user account named “Sonos Wireless HiFi System” is created.
So here is how I solved the issue:
Go to your Music folder on your PC
Right click and select properties
Select Sharing tab
Select the share button (NOT advanced sharing as Sonos tells you...)
In the blank space next to the greyed out “Add” button, select the down arrow \/
You should then see “Sonos Wireless HiFi System” show up in the box below - click on that and select “add”
Select the Share Button at the lower right to complete the process
You will then see it take some time to share the folder and it may ask if you want to overwrite older settings (if you are updating Sonos with a new install as I did). Select Yes.
Next launch the Sonos app on your PC and select “Manage” and “Music Library Settings”
Select add and then the “Another Folder...” selection
Use the browse button to go to the Music folder where your music is stored.
Hit Next and it should load all of your music
Why Sonos can’t fix the misinformation in their website support on this topic is tough to understand...
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I’m fairly sure this has been documented a few times elsewhere here in the community - this was the screenshot that was posted previously along with a similar explanation…
Great graphic - thanks. Question remains why Sonos doesn’t correct their technical website when you search for this error. The info they provide is wrong…
Great graphic - thanks. Question remains why Sonos doesn’t correct their technical website when you search for this error. The info they provide is wrong…
I don’t think the Sonos info. is incorrect, as not everyone will have ”Sonos Wireless HiFi System” in situ as a ‘user’, or ‘group’, if they did not originally setup a HTTP library share in the old Sonos desktop App in the first place (ie. use the SonosLibrary Service executable). Sonos really go into more detail and describe to the user how to create the local user account for themselves instead… as perhaps can be seen here:
I went over that link multiple times (as have many) - never could get it to work when I created a local user. More importantly, this level of interaction with Windows is well beyond the average Sonos user. All of this should be set up automatically upon install. Sonos has done a very poor job in general since the major changes made 1-2 years ago.
Just to add here aswell, I would personally prefer Sonos’s suggestion to create/use my own local user account, with a password put in place for the SMBv2 (or higher) ‘read-only’ library share, as that (IMHO) is perhaps the slightly more secure option.
I went over that link multiple times (as have many) - never could get it to work when I created a local user. More importantly, this level of interaction with Windows is well beyond the average Sonos user. All of this should be set up automatically upon install. Sonos has done a very poor job in general since the major changes made 1-2 years ago.
The issue perhaps is that local network shared folders with their users/permissions have been available to PC Home users for years, but I guess the majority of Home users very rarely use them, or know how to setup the shares over the LAN - In the workplace, such shares are usually setup by a System Administrator, or the IT department, so many general users may (or do) find the topic quite difficult to grasp, although it’s not really that complicated when it comes to Windows/MacOS shares - but it seems some don’t like to dabble in these areas.
I don’t think this is just a Sonos issue, as many other Apps/Systems use shared network folders for a variety of different reasons… I certainly have other music Apps and File Management Apps that use SMB access to network folders and I honestly can’t think of (m)any that have ever helped setup the SMB network share in the first instance.
A step by step user guide is probably the simplest solution and/or YouTube videos, perhaps? Even then though things can go wrong, such as having the PC network connection profile set to public, rather than private, or use of the wrong protocol on the host device, or host netbios names with more than 15 characters, or unsupported non alpha-numeric characters etc. just to mention a few (of many) potential pitfalls when setting up a share.
Ken - I created a local account and gave it a password but I could never understand what the user name would be for such an account so when asked by Sonos I was clueless. Given the number of questions in this area that are all over numerous sites you would think Sonos could take 10 minutes to better explain things.
in addition, this all started because a Sonos update failed to fully load and run after many trys. I had to uninstall and then install the program and that started me down the path.
Ken - I created a local account and gave it a password but I could never understand what the user name would be for such an account so when asked by Sonos I was clueless. Given the number of questions in this area that are all over numerous sites you would think Sonos could take 10 minutes to better explain things.
in addition, this all started because a Sonos update failed to fully load and run after many trys. I had to uninstall and then install the program and that started me down the path.
Surely the sharing of any folder on a Windows PC is down to Microsoft to explain, rather than Sonos? Sonos is just a client that uses the local network share like many other Apps and devices. Even my LG TV Apps use such a share to playback my music, or movies that are held/shared locally.
? Even then though things can go wrong, such as having the PC network connection profile set to public, rather than private, or use of the wrong protocol on the host device, or host netbios names with more than 15 characters, or unsupported non alpha-numeric characters etc. just to mention a few (of many) potential pitfalls when setting up a share.