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salami slices
Contributor I
May 16, 2024

How to solve the Error 913 (Music Library) on a Mac

  • May 16, 2024
  • 251 replies
  • 34532 views

There is a reported bug fix coming mid-June 2024. If you can’t wait until then…

(I did this running Sonoma 14.4.1) And thanks to folks in a separate thread on the details - just tried to put them all in one place.

I made a video of the process if you prefer that way: https://youtu.be/kjhKhDuvgDY


Part 1 - Set up the share (System Settings/Preferences)

  1. Open System Settings (in earlier MacOS it’s called System Preferences).
    • Click on the apple in top left of your screen to find that option.
  2. Choose General
  3. Select **Sharing**.
  4. Enable **File Sharing**
  5. Click the "i" symbol
  6. Click the "+" symbol.
  7. Add a shared folder by choosing the folder where your music is stored and selecting Open
    • The name of the folder here will be the ShareName that you’ll use in Part 3.
  8. Under ‘users’, confirm that the list includes an ‘everyone’ option, and that you set ‘everyone’ to *Read Only* at a minimum (or “Read & Write”)
  9. Ensure the customer's account is set to **Read & Write**
    • I’m not 100% sure ‘customer’s account’, but I took it to mean the account I login with on the computer.
  10. Click the Options button
  11. Ensure that both SMB and the customer's account below are checked and choose Done. 

Part 2 - Find your computer’s name

  1. At the bottom (or sometimes top in earlier versions of macOS) of the Sharing page, you’ll see Local hostname. Everything before the .local is the hostname. Copy that down - that will be your MacName that you’ll need in Part 3.

 

Part 3 - Add the share to Sonos

  1. Open the Sonos app on your mac.
  2. Choose Manage > Music Library Settings
  3. Choose the + for your music folders.
  4. Instead of ‘another folder or drive’, choose Networked Device
  5. Type the network path name when prompted, and press Next. The format will be \\MacName\ShareName
    • Remember the ShareName and MacName you captured earlier? This is where you’ll use them. Make sure the \ are the right ones (not /, but \).
  6. Enter the Mac username and password. The password is the same as when you login opening your laptop.
    • If you’re not sure about the username, you can find it this way:
      • Open an app called ‘Terminal’ on your macbook. (Go into Launchpad and type ‘term’ and it’ll show up)
      • Type whoami and press enter. 
      • The result that shows is your username. (e.g. Perhaps my computer shows my login name as Salami Slices but my username technically is different (salamislices)). Copy and paste that into the username that Sonos is asking for.
  1. If that doesn’t work, someone had mentioned trying the following:
    • From System Settings, on left side, choose ‘users and groups’
    • Click on the ‘i’ next to Guest User
    • Enable “Allow guest users to connect to shared folders” and choose OK.
    • Now, from Sonos app, when get prompted for username and password, leave them blank and just choose enter.
      • The idea is it would treat it as a guest and since gave access to guests, will work.

 

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    251 replies

    Show previous replies
    LikeMusic
    Lyricist I
    December 16, 2024

    Thanks!  I’ve spent about 10 hours yesterday and today trying to share a Music library with Sonos controller on a Mac.  Sonos tech chat this morning provided a new thing to do (change SMB settings), but I could not find any way to change SMB settings, and I found that these settings are done automatically on a Mac.

    There are a couple of critical things where ALL of them must be done to share a Music Library with Sonos controller:

    1.  First, share the folder where the music is stored as stated in this post.
    2. Sonos uses the folder name for shared folders as shown in Apple > System Settings > File Sharing > (i).  If this music folder is a sub-folder, DO NOT use the complete sub-folder name list like I did. This mistake cost me 10 hours.  Also, File Sharing must be toggled to On.
    3. To add a music folder to the Sonos controller, select the third option where it is located “Networked device (ex. NAS drive)”.
    4. Type in the computer name and just the shared folder name as shown in File Sharing.  The format is \\computername\shared folder name.  Here, to be clear, the only two entries are  1) the computer name and 2) the name of the shared folder as shown in Shared Folders.  Do not enter additional sub-folder names.
    5. Last, when asked for username and password, use the username that can be found using the prompt “whoami” in the Terminal app and your password.

    I hope this is helpful and saves others time.

     

      philooo
      Lyricist I
      December 17, 2024

      Thanks!  I’ve spent about 10 hours yesterday and today trying to share a Music library with Sonos controller on a Mac.  Sonos tech chat this morning provided a new thing to do (change SMB settings), but I could not find any way to change SMB settings, and I found that these settings are done automatically on a Mac.

      There are a couple of critical things where ALL of them must be done to share a Music Library with Sonos controller:

      1.  First, share the folder where the music is stored as stated in this post.
      2. Sonos uses the folder name for shared folders as shown in Apple > System Settings > File Sharing > (i).  If this music folder is a sub-folder, DO NOT use the complete sub-folder name list like I did. This mistake cost me 10 hours.  Also, File Sharing must be toggled to On.
      3. To add a music folder to the Sonos controller, select the third option where it is located “Networked device (ex. NAS drive)”.
      4. Type in the computer name and just the shared folder name as shown in File Sharing.  The format is \\computername\shared folder name.  Here, to be clear, the only two entries are  1) the computer name and 2) the name of the shared folder as shown in Shared Folders.  Do not enter additional sub-folder names.
      5. Last, when asked for username and password, use the username that can be found using the prompt “whoami” in the Terminal app and your password.

      I hope this is helpful and saves others time.

       

       

      GIVE this man a beer !!!

       

      this is what helped me

       

      1/ use the THIRD OPTION of network drive...even if it is your LOCAL filder

      2/ DO NOT use the FULL path to your folder but only //localcomputername/foldername

       

      NO WONDER everybody is lost… these 2 steps alone MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL !!!

       

      it is totally counter intuitive.. but with SONOS I guess who gives a damn right ??

       

      SONOS you are heading out of business if you can’t figure out your MAC OS app… come on.. don’t come crying when you have to close shop 

       

      AMATEUR HOURS !!

        jgatie
        jgatie
        December 17, 2024

         

        GIVE this man a beer !!!

         

        this is what helped me

         

        1/ use the THIRD OPTION of network drive...even if it is your LOCAL filder

        2/ DO NOT use the FULL path to your folder but only //localcomputername/foldername

         

        NO WONDER everybody is lost… these 2 steps alone MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL !!!

         

        it is totally counter intuitive.. but with SONOS I guess who gives a damn right ??

         

        SONOS you are heading out of business if you can’t figure out your MAC OS app… come on.. don’t come crying when you have to close shop 

         

        AMATEUR HOURS !!

         

        Those very instructions (Use the network drive option, use a network path, etc.) have been listed here in countless threads, and given in the official support page for months.

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

          philooo
          Lyricist I
          December 18, 2024

          when is sonos going to fix their app !! i mean if the support knows about it… are they short in cash or something, may be I can send them $5 … 

          GeoffPro24
          Lyricist II
          February 9, 2025

          Thanks for this info. Really Helpful.

          I kept getting error 913 trying to add new folders to Sonos from MacBook Pro.

          Your fix worked but I had to keep the .local in the MacName. Also just put the Folder Name (not e.g. Desktop/Folder Name).

          Then Sonos picked it up okay.

          Now I just need to find a work round to get Sonos to play my local audio files from my Android phone. It used to work fine. Have they withdrawn this? I only have early Play 1’s so no Bluetooth only WiFi.

          DTMW
          Contributor I
          February 24, 2025

          Ive tried this and it certainly didn't work for me on my Mac

          GeoffPro24
          Lyricist II
          February 24, 2025

          It took a few goes and I had to restart for it to see the folder. Hope that may help.

          DTMW
          Contributor I
          February 28, 2025

          Thanks Geoff - out of interest how many goes? I’m on 4 or 5 and keep getting the error message.  Thanks

          GeoffPro24
          Lyricist II
          February 28, 2025

          Probably two or three if I recall.

          The other issue was making sure there were not multiple devices running Sonos when you set up the folder e.g. MacBook and Phone. Once I got it set up on the MacBook I could then play stuff from my phone as well. It’s not easy though. Wish these things were simpler. I just had to set up my Play speakers to see a new router…...2 hours of online support! Good luck. Geoff.

          GeoffPro24
          Lyricist II
          February 28, 2025

          Actually, their online support was pretty good. Even on a Sunday.

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