0710 RC2, Windows shares mounting but media not showing up

[bbear]

I have installed 0710 RC2 and are struggling with getting it to detect media on my windows shares.

I have scoured the forum and have found a lot of information about shares not mounting but I don't beleive that to be cause of my problems. The reason I say this is because I am able to see files on /mnt/device/32/public/data/audio and I am able to play .mp3 files from there using Amarok

I don't know if it is relevant or not but my setup includes two NICs, i.e an 'Internal LAN' configuration. I did this because I still wanted the Windows PCs to communicate with each other via my Linux WRT54GS wireless router and get their IP from the DHCP server running on that. I followed the instructions on the wiki page (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Internal_LAN_setup)

One thread which offered a lot of pointers was http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?;topic=4260.0, in particular, the debugging suggestions provided by colinjones on Feb 10, 2008 were very useful. However I was still unable to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

When I first installed LMCE it did not detect my shares automatically, so I had to setup the shares manually, following the instructions on the wiki (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Howto:_Using_Network_Shares). I added the share using the manual method, as soon as I completed the steps to add the shares, LMCE detected it and asked me what file structure I wanted it to use, I selected 'use LMCE file structure'. I chose not reload the router at that point. Instead I switched to KDE desktop and ran the configuration script (Configure_1837.sh) and it was able to mount my share. I checked the messages and for the share that I just added and did not not notice any errors. (For the shares which I told LCE I did not want it to use I could see that it failed to mount these, but I assume that is ok)

Next I went in the orbiter to check if it had detected the media files on my Windows share but no files were showing up. I waited for about 30 minutes but still nothing.

I went to the LinuxMCE admin site and could see my Windows share listed but it did not list any files. I selected the option to 'resync' media, which it ran without any errors. However, when I went back into the orbiter no audio files are were listed. I tried a reload of the orbiter but it didn't help.

Then the last thing I attempted was to delete the server in LMC admin site. Again, LMCE did not detect it automatically so I had to do the manual install of the server. This time when I did the resync thing it printed out many more messages (none of them were errors) but nowhere did it report that it had found any files. Again, in the orbiter I still don't see any media.

At this point I am about out of ideas and wondering if my problems are due to some fundamental limitation when using the Internal LAN setup?

I keep scouring these forums but cannot find anything which applies to the problem which I am seeing. However, I am bit of a noob here and I appologise if I have missed the obvious.

thanks in advance for your help

[seth]

 
You may simply need to tell LMCE that the files are there. Chances are if you go to the webadmin, go across the top selections to "Files & Media" > "Media Files Sync"

This will bring up a page and a new panel on the left of the screen, In the left panel you will see an option for "other" click this link and the left and right panels will change again, you should see the drive show up as a sub link under "other" now, click it in the left panel, then the right panel should show you what is contained on the drive, after this you should see some drop down boxes next to the file for your tunes. In this drop down box choose "LinuxMCE Audio File" for tunes, and LinuxMCE Video File" for videos, etc,etc.

Hope this helps. The pluto database just needs to know what to do with these files, that's all. After this is done the appropriate media should show up in the orbiter.

Regards,

Seth

[bbear]

This will bring up a page and a new panel on the left of the screen, In the left panel you will see an option for "other" click this link and the left and right panels will change again, you should see the drive show up as a sub link under "other" now, click it in the left panel, then the right panel should show you what is contained on the drive, after this you should see some drop down boxes next to the file for your tunes. In this drop down box choose "LinuxMCE Audio File" for tunes, and LinuxMCE Video File" for videos, etc,etc.

Hope this helps. The pluto database just needs to know what to do with these files, that's all. After this is done the appropriate media should show up in the orbiter.

Hi Seth, thanks for helping me with this. I do see an option for setting the file type but what I see on the left hand side of the screen is different to what you describe and I wanted to check that I am setting it correctly ..

On the left hand side of the screen I see the following ..

> home
    data
      > audio
      > avwizard-sounds
      > documents
      > pictures
      > samples
      > tts
      > videos

From the above menu, if I select 'audio', I see the following:

Files on disk
  Windows Share-Kevins Media Exp [34]  Type:  - Please select '  Add to database

(sorry, I would include a screen shot but I don't know how to do this from my Linux box. 'Type' has an accompanying pulldown and 'Add to database' appears to be a button which I can 'push'.)

From the pulldown, I selected 'LinuxMCE Audio File' and then I pushed 'Add to database'

A tick appeared by the name 'Windows Share-Kevins Media Exp [34]' but I still don't see any files listed. If I now click on 'Windows Share ...' it brings up another screen, 'Files & Media | Edit Media File' were it looks like I can set Media sub-type and File format if I wish. The 'Location' is set to '/home/public/data/audio' and Type is shown as 'LinuxMCE Audio File' so these appear to be correct.

do you have any suggestions what else I can do to get my media files to be detected and show up under the orbiter, Media/Audio ?

thanks

   

[jondecker76]

I had this problem with my RAID array...  But instead of adding it to the database as a media type, I did a few reloads, waited a while and when I checked back later, everything was how it should be. (I actually caught this series of events on video tape) - it sounds 100% exactly like what you are experiencing (except it was a Raid array).

[bbear]

I had this problem with my RAID array...  But instead of adding it to the database as a media type, I did a few reloads, waited a while and when I checked back later, everything was how it should be. (I actually caught this series of events on video tape) - it sounds 100% exactly like what you are experiencing (except it was a Raid array).

I tried as you suggested, I tried many reloads of the router and have waited for hours, but still it is unable to detect my audio files.

I am going to do yet another reinstall and watch very carefully for error messages. I have already spent weeks sorting out firewall issues wit my XP machine and I naively thought that because my shares were mounting and that I could see their contents from an xterm that I as almost there. 

[Zaerc]

Is the machine with the shares by any chance connected to the external network instead of the internal one?

[Randykc]

Have you tried adding the username/password of the windows machine to the shared device from the admin page?

[bbear]

Is the machine with the shares by any chance connected to the external network instead of the internal one?

The machine with the shares is my XP Pro machine and is connected to the LAN which is on the motherboard of the machine running LinuxMCE. My assumption was that this was the 'internal' one. I have a Pci NIC card plugged into the motherboard but currently it has nothing hooked up to it.

Note, my XP Pro machine is plugged into the same Linksys WRT54G router as the 'internal' NIC of my LMCE box is plugged into. DHCP is enabled on my Linksys router. DHCP is also enabled on LMCE, but I am assuming that refers to the 'external' NIC, ie my plug-in PCi NIC card.

I found the terminology used in that Wiki article a little confusion so I hope that I haven't messed up here.

[bbear]

Have you tried adding the username/password of the windows machine to the shared device from the admin page?

In LinuxMCE admin there apears to be two places where I can set username and password, one place is for the 'server' (Device #31) and the 'share' itself (Device #32)

I have tried setting my Windows username/password for both the server and share settings but it has not helped. For the Server (Device #31) I entered my Windows username in the 'Username' field, and my Windows password in the 'Password' field. I selected the boxes for 'Use Automatically' and 'Password Required' and then  clicked 'save'.

For the share (Windows Share-Kevins Media Exp), under the 'Device data' section I entered my Windows username in the 'Username' field and my Windows password in the 'Password' field, then I clicked 'save'.

[colinjones]

bbear - sounds like you have your network screwed up which would certainly confuse the pnp. Setting up the shares manually, as well, probably leaves you in an unpredictable state which can mean it will be difficult to backout and start again. If at all possible, can you rebuild from clean (using 0710RC2 DVD)?

The network infrastructure needs to be set up like this:

Your broadband router "hosts" your "external" network. Your LMCE core "hosts" your "internal" network. So your broadband router should be connected to the "external" NIC of your LMCE core, either directly or via a switch. All your other computers (particularly the one with your media share on) need to be on the "internal" network connected to the "internal" NIC of the LMCE core, either directly or via a switch.

ADSLRouter -> (NIC)-Core-(NIC) -> Windows XP Media Share PC

So which NIC is which?! That is the key question - whatever Kubuntu detects as eth0 or the "first" NIC must be connected to the external network. The second NIC it discovers will be eth1 and must be connected to the internal network.

You can leave the broadband router's DHCP server on, this is easiest and doesn't effect the internal network because the broadcasts won't pass through the Core. But you mustn't put any DHCP server on the internal network as LMCE relies on DHCP for pnp (among other methods). The Core itself will provide the DHCP services needed for the internal network (and you XP machine).

You can use "ethtool -p eth0" to blink the LEDs on the card that needs to be your external network (connected to your broadband router)

Connect your network up correctly, then rebuild and you should be fine - it will autodetect your shares and add them. It is notoriously difficult to get the core to redetect devices that you have already either ignored or manually configured. And rebuilding from DVD only takes about 40 odd mins, so it really is worth it, trust me!

Also, as Randy mentioned, sometimes the UI does not prompt you for username and password details (it hasn't prompted me for a long time, I think this is due to how the Windows workgroups are setup) and you may need to add these details as described. To answer your question, put the username and password in both the server-object and the share-object - it really only needs to be one, but I never remember which, so I always put it in both to be sure!

Also, in the share-object, you will see an "Online" check box. If this isn't ticked, then you have a problem. You can tick it yourself, but if the problem still exists, then it will untick itself again after a few seconds, so this is a good test.

As long as the box stays ticked, then you can go into the Media Sync menu, and confirm that it see the folder structure. Once UpdateMedia has run and picks up your media into the database (takes a long time if you have a lot of media), each item should have a big tick next to it. If the share is "online" and the big tick is next to each piece of media then you will be able to see the media and play it. Just be aware that if UpdateMedia is still running and it hasn't scanned in the folder structure yet, then you won't be able to browse when sorted by Filename in the UI. Patience.... !

[bbear]

bbear - sounds like you have your network screwed up which would certainly confuse the pnp. Setting up the shares manually, as well, probably leaves you in an unpredictable state which can mean it will be difficult to backout and start again. If at all possible, can you rebuild from clean (using 0710RC2 DVD)? ...

thanks for going to the trouble to provide such detailed information, it does (unfortunately) sound like I completely misread that Wiki document on setting up an Internal LAN 

I suppose that I was driven towards connecting up my network such that I would be able to turn off my LinuxMCE box whenever I wanted and my Windows environment and it's connection to the outside world (public internet) would continue to work. From what you describe, I will always have to have my LinuxMCE box powered up. Apart from the concern about energy consumption and saving the planet, etc, I am not at a stage yet that I am ready to hook up my LinuxMCE box and have it running full time. Ultimately I would like it to be my media center and also get MythTV setup (that's if my cable provider gives up on their current habit of encrypting just about everything!). I am a long way off having my LMCE box ready for deployment so whenever I want to work on my LinuxMCE box I will just have to switch the cables over as necessary.

Just to make absolutely sure I am on the right page, my current network setup looks like this ..

XP Box_______________
                                 |_ __ ADSL Router
                                 |
LinuxMCE core (NIC1) __|
       |
       |
    (NIC2)


‘NIC1’ is the Ethernet form the chipset on my motherboard
‘NIC2’ is the Ethernet from the plug-in Ethernet Pci card

Sorry for the crummy diagram, hopefully you can make it out ok.

Thanks again for your help.

[colinjones]

Your diagram is how I understood it, and is almost certainly the reason it isn't working. It is assuming that the NIC1 side is the "external" network, and so does not provide DHCP or pnp on that LAN. You are correct about the "correct" network setup requiring the Core to be on permanently if you want devices on the "internal" network to be able to access the Internet at any time - think of it as your firewall (which it happens to be as well, anyway!) Your options are:

1. Repatch every time you want to turn off the Core - note that the two networks are different subnets, so you will have to do more than simply repatch. There are ways of making this easier, but they tend to need a considerable amount of IP networking and/or VLANing knowledge ... are you up to that? Otherwise, you will need to force new DHCP requests on each device on the internal network when you repatch. Also, there is the possibility that this may cause the core to loose track of your devices - it does base much of this on the MAC (which doesn't change) but I think that the DHCP server, in some circumstances, can honour out-of-scope lease renewals, which potentially could cause problems.

2. Bite the bullet, and leave your Core on as the firewall, per design.

3. Look into setting up a single NIC LMCE environment where all devices are on the same segment, and can all access the Internet independently. Be aware that this does take some more setup, and will mean that some functions don't work, or don't work as well as they should - inadvisable option!

4. Move all your media onto the Core, and eliminate the internal network completely - this way you can move your other devices (such as the XP machine) to the external network as they will not be interacting with LMCE at all. Note - if you do this, you need to be careful if rebuilding your Core because most options in the DVD form will destroy all the data on the HDD (including the media!)

5. Buy a NAS device, move all the media onto that on the internal network, and move all the other devices over to the external network.

[bbear]

4. Move all your media onto the Core, and eliminate the internal network completely - this way you can move your other devices (such as the XP machine) to the external network as they will not be interacting with LMCE at all.

5. Buy a NAS device, move all the media onto that on the internal network, and move all the other devices over to the external network.

4. and 5. are probably my preferred route at the moment. I have lots of photos, audio and HD video for which a backup to some external device is long overdue. A NAS would be a perfect solution if I can afford it. Also I should be able to make it so my family overseas could access my videos, photos, etc so that would be very useful. In the short term however, just copying over the media onto my LinuxMCE box would do.

Can you advise the best way to do this? Could I connect it as I have it now, just for whenever I want to do the copy? I could set up a script then to do use scp to copy over from certain folders on my Windows box as and when required. After doing the copy I would just unplug the cable.

Would I be better to avoid trying to use LinuxMCE to mount the Windows box and just mount it manually, again only for a short time while I copy my media over?

Eventually I will be looking at trying to use my Dlink DWL-122 wireless USB dongle for my network connection to my LinuxMCE box. I have some experience of this when I way playing about with MythTV (using KnoppMyth distribution), again that was another painful experience. For now, if I can just find a reliable way of transferring my media onto my LinuxMCE box using a wired connection I would be happy.

thanks

[colinjones]

As a general rule, never mount disks manually in LMCE, again the pnp and autofs will get screwed up. If you already have the drive mounted (I believe you said you did earlier, by setting it up manually), then go to the KDE desktop - it should appear under /home/public/data/{etc} - you can just drag and drop.

The only problem is, if it has mounted and UpdateMedia has scanned in some/all of the media, then you will end up with two copies of everything in the database. I guess in practice, the "remote" (XP based) copies will be under different folders (ie /home/public/data/video/Windows Share [30]/ blah), which you can then navigate to in Media Sync after you delete the share from the devices list, and click the "files missing from disk" option ... can't remember the exact name. It will then show you that folder and you can delete it. It should delete all content under it.... again, this is only from the database, not from disk as long as you disconnect it first.

Alternatively, rebuild your core and don't add the share (even if it autodiscovers it), then use Dolphin or something similar from KDE desktop, and navigate to smb://xphost.... and copy them to the local drive under /home/public/data/{etc}

[bbear]

4. Move all your media onto the Core, and eliminate the internal network completely - this way you can move your other devices (such as the XP machine) to the external network as they will not be interacting with LMCE at all.
5. Buy a NAS device, move all the media onto that on the internal network, and move all the other devices over to the external network.

colinjones,
I was thinking again about your suggestions 4. and 5, but I have some issues with both ..

With 4.  After I have moved my media onto the Core and eliminated the internal network, will the LMCE box still be able to access the internet? I would still like to be able to go to Youtube, play streaming audio from websites, etc.

With 5. If the NAS has to be on the internal network, I think that means that when I want to access the NAS from my Windows boxes I would have to have my LMCE box powered up. Also, if friends and family want to access my NAS to view my pictures remotely, I would also have to keep the LMCE box powered up.

Sorry for the stupid questions, I am still having a hard time figuring out what configuration will work for me.