Won't Update Music Library, Part 2

@Alonzo Mosley,

So where are your actual music files stored on the drive? .. it would be helpful to see your Artists/Albums/Tracks. Could you show a screenshot of those, perhaps using windows explorer?

I’m just seeing an available windows DLNA media server service running .. but no actual SMB share with the music files in a shared folder🤔?

I’m not using the My Music folder - for anything (it is literally empty). I presume it’s shielded because I haven’t explicitly given Sonos permission to read it, but that’s because I’ve never asked Sonos to read it.

I’m not using the drive letter to Add the Sonos Library - I’m using the network address. I just posted the screenshot of the mapped drive to show that “the system” recognizes it’s a spinning, active, loving drive.

I have tried multiple configurations of caps/noncaps (and even renamed things offline to take out spaces, caps, etc.). When everything - names, mapping, etc. - was all lowercase, it still didn’t work. (You can tell I never got along with the Unix guys at work, I can’t stand underscores and lower-case file names… [/offtopic])

(Also - you’ll notice that in the router’s interface, “RJBMUSIC” is all caps, in the Network Explorer screen it’s all caps, but in the address bar it’s lowercase...)

And yes I have tried the “Browse” button, results are somewhere on Page One. It was… unsatisfying.

The music files are stored within the “seamusic” subdirectory:

(Turns out that part of the alphabet skews toward a certain genre, doesn’it it?)

First person to blame Pete Frampton for these troubles gets doxxed...

And, yes, it’s:

\\rjbmusic\G\seamusic\ [ARTIST] \ [ALBUM] \ [SONGS]

I swear I will stop complaining about “Alpha by First Name” if I can just get this to work.

Physically, where is the music?  On a USB HDD connected to the router?  What is ‘G’?

If you paste the location into an explorer window does it access the files OK?

The thing I mentioned about the shield, I’m not sure it’s related to Sonos ‘permissions’ because that is shown before you try to access the area.  But yes, if you’re not even going into it then it’s probably irrelevant.

On my NAS I can control access to a connected USB drive.  If you’re connecting to one, are you able to control access to it too?

Have you tried a very basic addition - adding a single folder from another location (eg My Music) with a few songs in to see if access is OK?

Yes, it’s a USB plugged into the router.

Yes, I copy and paste directly from Explorer into Sonos.

This did work fine up until ~December.

[]

@Alonzo Mosley,

I would perhaps consult with the manufacturer of the NAS and/or Router, as clearly there has to be a setting to give users on the LAN permission to access the seamusic folder - it’s not even clear how you would select a version of SMB, or allow certain users read/write access etc.

From the screenshots you have posted so far, it’s difficult to suggest how to go about enabling those things.

You could maybe try to take ownership of the seamusic folder first and then set the read/write permissions via windows explorer perhaps, or to inherit permissions from the rjbmusic/g directories that appear to be hierarchical, but that may cause you other issues with the DLNA/FTP services that I see available via the router interface, or NAS software interface, so I’m reluctant to suggest taking that approach.

You are most probably best to go onto speak to the respective support desks relating to your chosen hardware, or maybe ask relevant questions in their user-forum (if they have one) and see if someone can put you on the right path to solving the issue. 

It’s just strange that once in manifested on Sonos (which, to my understanding, is the only thing with relevant changes - the firmware on my router didn’t change, nor did the physical HD), it continued to (mis)behave this way, even after installing a new router. (And it is supposed to be a pretty good router...

I haven’t assigned specific access to the music folder on the router, because the drive - and all its folders - support other things on the network.

I suppose the solution at this point is to buy a burner PC, put it on the network, share its My Music folder, and hide it under the couch.

Might it be worth a try, despite apparently being unnecessary?

What is your current router make and model?  (Sorry if I have missed this info)

So in all this trouble accessing the drive from Sonos, you haven't assigned any specific access and just hope it will work.

And instead of looking at how the access is configured, your next step is to get an extra pc and leave that powered on just to serve music files? 🤦‍♂️