+8
A continuation of this thread.
Now, even when I manually update, it won’t play music.
The controller shows all albums and songs, and also album art - so clearly it’s pushing/pulling info to and from wherever. But it tells me it’s “Unable to connect” to the server address.
Every device on the network - Windows and Android - can connect to the device where the Library is stored. Sonos says it is able to add the Library at that address (and again, it sees songs and artwork).
I’m so, so tired.
+8
The “\\rjbmusic\g\seamusic\” is the literal path from the router. (Caps doesn’t seem to make a difference).
Router Screenshot
From the Manual:
“Secure Sharing” (i.e., password-protect) is turned OFF, and “Media Sharing” is turned ON.
The “Partition G:” doesn’t seem to be changeable or matter, other than the “g” needs to appear in the address to point any other machine on my network (Android, PC, TV) to that drive. On my former router, it was “sba1”. (If I omit the G and just point Sonos to “rjbmusic\seamusic”, it returns with “There is no shared folder...”)
As far as I can tell, I am doing everything correctly.
If your music library is on a USB drive connected to your new router, then the router manual or it’s configuration pages will normally tell you what the ‘path’ is to that shared drive on the network and then onto the end of that ‘path’, you would add the folder structure to where your library is situated - I would ignore the mapping of drives on your computer, as I’m not sure that will help a Sonos speaker on the network find your library that’s connected to your router. So try to discover the actual UNC path.. It’s probably something similar to:
\\192.168.0.1\MyUSB\SharedData\Music - or - \\MyNewRouter\MyUSB\SharedData\Music
Note: the above are just ‘mock’ examples - you need to discover the real path.
I would start by looking at what the router manual says about using/sharing a connected USB device.
+8
Do you perhaps need the routers IP address (or Netbios name) at the start of your path
Prior to reading that post (I want to slap the guy who’s in love with his system), I had tried:
//192.168.0.1/g/seamusic
\\192.168.0.1\g\seamusic
Which HAD worked on the previous router, but not this time.
I’ve also tried with my PC plugged directly into the router via CAT-5. I couldn’t imagine it would make a difference, and it didn’t.
Two Other Things
Thing One: Adding the Library from the A: Drive
I have the entire USB drive mapped on my PC as the A: drive. Just for giggles, I tried to add the Library using the middle “Another folder or drive...” option. It spun just long enough to get my hopes up, and then returned:
And, before you can say “Firewall!”:
I presume that, even if I get this mounted, it’s only going to work when my PC is up on the network and has that drive actively mapped.
Thing Two: Choosing the Network
This may be something.
When I’ve been trying to add the Library through the “Networked device (ex. NAS drive)” option, I have been manually typing the address. (e.g., “\\rjbmusic\g\seamusic”).
Today I’ve been trying to add it by hitting the “Browse” button, and selecting “Network”:
Could resolving that get us closer to a solution?
Oh, please, for the love of all that is holy, please help me solve this.
+8
Likely, your drive is case sensitive.
Interesting idea.
On my router, the media/server name is “RJBMUSIC” - All Caps.
When it shows up in Explorer Network, it’s “\\rjbmusic” - all lower.
So I tried both, I renamed the destination folder to all lower, and still, nothing. (Well it spins for a few seconds, then tells me otherwise.)
Do you perhaps need the routers IP address (or Netbios name) at the start of your path
I’ll have to play with that in the morning. I had hoped that FTP’ing could work, but Sonos doesn’t let that go.
Do you perhaps need the routers IP address (or Netbios name) at the start of your path to the shared USB drive/music library? (Assuming you have connected it to the new router?) Perhaps see if this thread might assist you…
Likely, your drive is case sensitive.
+8
I just installed a new router.
In the spirit of “your path is too long”, I changed it to \\rjbmusic\g\seamusic
(Well the router changed “sda1” to “g”)
I can access the drive from all Windows devices, in Windows Explorer. But I instantly get the “not connected” message.
I am so, so, so, so tired and dispirited over the many failings of this system and all the money I have spent.
Why can’t I get a straight answer on why this won’t work?
While not exactly your symptoms, I wasn’t paying enough attention to notice that a NAS was failing. I had odd issue reports. Finally, there was a full failure that captured my attention. Actually, there were warning drive lights, but the drive was out of sight.
+8
The point is it doesn’t update unless I remove and reinstall the whole library. So it’s not just one suspect file, it’s the whole dang thing.
Album art is almost entirely embedded in the files, and almost every album is in its own subdirectory with an folder.jpg or index.jpg. Sometimes hidden, sometimes not.
If album is shown, the file names are likely correct. I’d suspect some sort of networking issue. SONOS is impatient. If something is slowing down the file fetch, SONOS will simply give up.
How are you storing album art? Is it embedded in the music files or stored as “folder.jpg”? If you PING a few files, are the times reasonable?
Check a few of the ‘bad’ files to see if they break the 100 character limit.
+8
Of course, that means losing mapping on other things. And I’ll lose all my Playlists if I change the name, right?
What stymies me is, that still doesn’t explain how it’s pulling down names and album art, and occasionally plays music… Even as it says it can’t connect. So how does a bad naming convention explain that it can get some information but not other from the files?
Maybe remove the hyphen from the netbios name (RJB-MEDIADRIVE) or replace it with a (static) IP address and see if that first resolves the issue.
I would also strongly consider removing the spaces and shortening the name of the library folder ‘Seattle Music Folder’ as the path/track total characters may possibly be exceeding the Sonos track/path limit of 100 characters (IIRC🤔?)
Hope that resolves your issue.
Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.