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Why can't I add my music library to Sonos on my Macbook Air running latest MacOS Big Sur ?

  • 26 November 2020
  • 16 replies
  • 2762 views

I’ve followed the Sonos  instructions for adding my music library to a Mac using the Sonos Controller for Mac  app - Sonos S2. 

But after thinking about it for a few seconds the app returns the message:

Sonos was unable to add the music folder

The computer “Barrys-Macbook-Air” cannot be found.

Q1. Why can’t the app find my computer when it’s been  installed on it ?   Where did it get this computer name from and can it be changed ?

According to “About this Mac” on my machine it names my computer as : Barry’s MacBook Air  

Note the apostrophe s and the use of spaces rather than dashes between words, which is subtly different from what the sonos app says it is looking for.  Incidentally, according to my Plusnet hub the name of the  my computer on the home network is simply Barrys-Air with an IP address of 192.168.1.92

Q2. I don’t suppose it matters too much what names are used for the computer, just so long as the Sonos app and anything else that wants to access it uses the correct numerical IP address ? But how can I check which IP address  the Sonos app is searching for and correct it if necessary ? 

Incidentally according to “About this Mac” the firewall  settings allows all connections with the sonos controller as follows:

com.sonos.macController2:                      Allow all connections

so I can’t see the problem being a file sharing issue.

I can use the Apply Music icon on my laptop to access my library via iTunes and play music through either the MacBook Air Speakers or my Sonos speakers named Dining Room and Bedroom. So I know the library isn’t corrupted.  I don’t have a subscription account with Apply Music but recently I’ve signed up with Spotify. I just want to be able to access my music library through the sonos app, not just access streaming services.

Any help or advice would be very welcome 

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Best answer by droarty 23 December 2020, 19:05

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16 replies

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @Old_geezer.

Thanks for reaching out.

I appreciate your detailed post outlining your concern, as well as the steps you did, let me help and try to figure this out.

Step 1 - Name resolution failure

  • The Music Library setup will use the local hostname of the Mac. Due to Apple naming conventions, the default hostname of the computer can be longer than is supported.
  • Compare the names from the following two locations in Mac System Preferences:

                       a. System Preferences > Network > Advanced > WINS

                       b. System Preferences > Sharing > Computer Name

  • If the names do not match, change the sharing name to something shorter.
  • The computer name must be 16 characters or shorter.
  • Avoid special characters, spaces, and punctuation for best results

 

Step 2 - Verify that the SonosLibraryServer is running

  • Search for and launch Activity Monitor.
  • Select View from the top menu and select All Processes,
  • Then search for Sonos. The SonosLibraryServer should appear.

 

Step 3 - If SonosLibraryServer is not running

  • Remove any existing SMB shares on the Mac and Sonos app.
  • Navigate to the Sharing section in System Preference on the Mac, then make sure you toggle File Sharing OFF. This forces an HTTP share. Try adding the share again.

 

Hopefully, that helps but if not, please submit a diagnostic report when it happens, I'd start by reviewing your system and see if there’s anything causing this issue.

 

Let us know how it goes and if you have any questions feel free to reach out, we’re always here to help.

Hi Annazel,  Thanks very much for your help -- much appreciated !

I’ve followed your step by step instructions as follows:

Step 1 - Name resolution failure

 

According to Network > Advanced > WINS     netBIOS Name: BARRYS-AIR

According to Sharing > Computer Name:     Barry’s Macbook Air

As the names do not match I’ve changed the Sharing name to barrys-air  -- Same name as in WINS except lower case. See below

Step 2 - Verify that the SonosLibraryServer is running

Launched Activity Monitor and search for any Sonos processes. Only found one process which is called Sonos, which I believe is the Mac Sonos controller app. Don’t think this is really the same thing as SonosLibraryServer ??  

So have assumed that SonosLibraryServer isn’t running

 

Step 3 - If SonosLibraryServer is not running

Turned File Sharing OFF  and tried to add my Music Library again from the Sonos app

Manage > Music Library Settings   Got the following error message:

 

At least it looks as if it’s finding the computer now and the correct folder !!

But I don’t know what error code 1002 means ?

….. to be continued in about 90 minutes

…. back again

Decided to turn file sharing back ON and tried to add music library again through Sonos app.

Failed with a different error message

It would appear that the Music folder is either NOT a shared folder or is password protected.

I select the Music folder with the Mac Finder and run “Get-Info” which gives:

Sure enough Shared folder isn’t enabled and under Sharing and Permissions “everyone” has “No Access”. It seems to be continuously searching for some  Fetching Name who has “Custom” Privilege” ?

I’ve now submitted a diagnostic report to Sonos which returned a confirmation Number of 1009330319

Summary :       

The computer naming issue seems to have been resolved because the app is no longer reporting that the computer can’t be found. It would appear to have found the Music folder but can’t  access it because the sharing permissions aren’t right.

Also, why isn’t the SonosLibraryServer process running ?

Does that only run on successful access to the Music files ?

2 steps forward and 1 step back !!  

Thank You  … over and out

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @Old_geezer.

Thanks for your response.

Let’s try one more thing since you checked Sharing & Permissions.

Kindly try to change the  Everyone to Read & Write access to the parent folder. (User/Admin was set to Read & Write also)

Then, select the gear icon at the bottom of the Get Info dialog box, and hit Apply to Enclosed Items.
 

Let us know how it goes and if you have any questions feel free to reach out, we’re always here to help.

Hi @Annazel S     Thanks for your suggestions.

I’ve changed the permission on the Music folder for Everyone to  Read & Write and

Apply to enclosed items as you suggested .  Then I tried to set up the Music Library as before.

But unfortunately I still get the same error as previously :

 I  then checked the Shared folder box in the “Get-Info” display of the Music folder and tried to set up the Music Library again  -- still didn’t work -- same error as before.

Finally I returned to Systems Preferences > Sharing and noticed that under the Shared Folders column a new entry named Music had appeared, also a new user called Music ?

I finally changed the permissions for folder Music to Read & Write for all users (including user Music).

See below           Who is this user called Music

But this didn’t work either  --- still get the same error message as before.

What username and/or password is it expecting in order to be able to add the Music folder ?

I notice under where it displays File Sharing:On  it says:  Other users can access shared folders on this computer at smb://barrys-air.lan  Does the Sonos app do this i.e. try to access using the smb protocol ?

Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hi @Old_geezer.

Thanks for your very detailed response.

We appreciate your patience working through this, but at this point, it would be best to reach out to Sonos Support so we can take a closer look at this and continue working with you in real-time to expedite the process.

I suggest our phone team for they have more resources available on their system for advanced troubleshooting, and the tools our agents can use would be very useful in this case, there can be an advantage if they need to remote into the computer/controller to see what's going on.

When calling, you can help us by also having a Mac or Windows computer available so we have the option to perform any hands-on troubleshooting and testing as needed.

 

​If you have any questions, please feel free to let us know, we are always here to help.

Hi @Annazel S 

Thank you again for your reply.

I am now in email contact with Xander P  (Sonos Support)  Case #: 02331902. It may take some time to arrange a phone call with him, depending upon his workload and the time difference from the UK.

In the meantime please could you kindly answer my following query ?

I’m puzzled by the path-name used in the Sonos Error messages when it is unable to add the music folder. For example it describes my shared Music folder as “//barrys-air/Music”

Q1. What is the significance of the double forward slash //  rather than a single forward slash / , at the start of the path-name ?

If I select my Music folder with Finder and then Get-Info, it tells me where the folder is on the computer:   Macintosh HD > Users > myusername

We have already established that barrys-air is now the correct name for the computer as I changed it to this in order to match the name on the Network -- although perhaps it should be BARRYS-AIR for an exact case match ?

Q2. Putting the above together shouldn’t the full path-name to the Music folder be something like:

//barrys-air/Macintosh HD/Users/myusername/Music   ? 

What is the full path-name that the Sonos app is using ?

Kind Regards

I am have the same problem. If @Old_geezer‘s issue has been resolve, can you post the solution here? This must be the 10th time I’ve had to work through this same issue, and every time there’s some new twist.

Userlevel 1
Badge +3

Hello. I have a similar problem. The Sonos S1 app on my iPhone couldn’t connect to the Sonos library on my MackBook Air which is a 2020 M1 model running MacOS Big Sur. The path to the music library is \\MacBook Air\chrismellor\music. When I entered this into the phone Sonos 1 controller apps Music Library Setup Library ‘Add Shared Music Folder’ screen it seemed to work and the Music Library’s Music Index page on my iPhone says “Updating Music Index...” and it completed and my iPhone Sonos App can now see the music library.

 

I have the same issue too.

Same problem here….

 I also have same problem since upgrading to Big Sur.

I can manage to temporarily correct the problem by moving the sonos file to trash and then redownload, but after shutting down my computer and restarting I get the same problem

fshrjmpn

It looks like there will be no music for Christmas.

regarding the \\ preceding the files, I removed those file paths and added a new file path directly to my Music folder which worked just fine.  Then when I tried to update the music library, I got no errors but I also go no music in my music library.

Ok.  I got sonos working again… but had to downgrade to the Sonos S1 app.  

In case this is useful to anyone else, my situation is that I got a new Macbook M1 with BigSur.  The migration app put the Sonos app on my new machine but it wouldn’t play anything in my library.  After trying all of the above steps I finally just uninstalled the Sonos app.   Then went to the sonos download page (https://support.sonos.com/s/downloads?language=en_US) and scrolled down past the S2 installers to the S1 installers.   Then I followed the steps to install the S1 version, added my Music library, and everything worked fine.

Uninstalling the Sonos app and installing S1 worked for me too.