This tutorial is applicable to :
1.
Those who want to change from an all-in-one Music PC to a separate Audio PC which plays the music and another PC which holds the music file (AKA the Music Server) - don't actually don't want to see a change anywhere;
2.
The same, but now for those who use Galleries and who *CAN-NOT* bear any changes to Drive Letters and such (because this is all obtained in the Gallery data).
3.
Those who want to experiment with WiFi-Direct.
Watch out : This tutorial comprises of two parts - a first part which assumes all works out of the box, and a second part which tells what to do when it does not work. With "not work" we mean that you can't get access to the volume on the Music Server, trying that on the Audio PC.
See the section "When it does not work", say halfway (you will see it in bold).
Let's look at a situation (and disregard the two red-crossed volumes beause they are not related to the Tutorial) :
What you see here is a music server and it just as well can be a normal XXHighEnd Audio PC - all integraded (volumes (disks) with music in that PC).
Besides the red crossed not being related, we can tell this about it :
The C_ST01A you see in the middle (Drive N:), is not related.
The Intel 520 (C:) is *not* the OS Volume. This in itself is not related again, but you need to know in order to understand the remainder of the story. So in this case the OS Volume is L: (you can see it by means of the small Windows logo flag).
The C: Drive contains Galleries and that only.
All of the others are music disks/volumes. And for example an album stored on E: (MM-04c) can be obtained in Gallery data which is thus on C: in this case. And, this "E:" as such is the reference name for the Gallary data.
It can not change when we move to another PC for playback (no, you did not understand yet, but it is crucial and in you will understand it after continuing).
Now to take some shot cuts, we will look at such an Audio PC which makes use of the Music Server files (on a W7 machine) you just saw above. Here it is :
Again some remarks :
The OS (W8 in this case) is on Drive C:.
The local Disk (D:) is unrelated.
E: and F: are actually the same, with the F: being errorneously redundant (so it reallt is E:).
V: is unrelated.
Y: is unrelated.
All others (except for Z: but see below) are the very same with the same Driver letters on both machines.
So for example, if you see "T on ST02" and it is Drive T: then this actually tells that the Drive T: on the Music Server (which is named ST02 here) has received a "Share Name" denoting that T so we can see elsewhere what Driver Letter to assign to it (see more below for this).
Z: Is crucial since it is the only one which has a resemblance of it on the Music Server, while it is assigned a different Drive Letter. So what is named Z: on the Audio PC is named C: on the Music Server. And look back ... this is our Volume with the Gallery data.
So this is allowed.
What is allowed ? Well, that we use a Gallery Drive/Volume which is named Z: on the Audio PC (with the knowlegde that the Audio PC can add Albums etc. to the Galleries !) which is named C: on the Music Server.
For better understanding let's have a look inside the Gallery data of an album :
So this Gallery data itself is on mentioned Drive C: of the Music Server, and the content refers to a file on drive G:.
Now what happens ?
You select from the Gallery data that 10CC album and your Audio PC is going to drag it in over the LAN. What drive needs it to be at ? Drive G:. But what is drive G: for the Audio PC ? well, a share on the Music Server PC which the Audio PC is allowed to use. That it is named G: on the Music Server is a "so what", but the Gallery Data tells the Audio PC to use Drive G: and THUS it will do that. Next it needs to end up at the very same Volume as intended or no 10CC is going to play ...
Don't understand yet ? ... not so important. It is only supposed to help you doing this all by yourself anyway, but the Tutorial continues, so no problem. At least not yet. :Swoon:
What is it what we need to do ?
1. Make a Share on the Music Server for each Volume we like to see on the Audio PC;
2. Give that Share a logical name so we can blindly set it (needed once only) on the Audio PC;
3. Give that set Share on the Audio PC a Drive Letter which is the same as it is on the Music Server.
And, of course, take care that all is organised such that the Drive Letters needed are available on the Audio PC. They can't really change on the Music Server you know (not with them contained in Galleries).
Making a ShareWe do this on the Music PC. We will do this for all our Volumes which contain music and we do it so the Audio PC can reach them. Notice that a "Share" as such is nothing more than denoting a Volume (or part of it) as allowed to be shared to/with others. Others : Other PC's. In our case our Audio PC.
Let's start with RightClick on that Drive G: (remember, we do this on the Music PC) :
This ends up in this :
And here you see the end result. Notice that it was me who created the text "G on W7 SP1" and where the "W7 SP1" part (Windows 7 Service Pack 1) could be informative for myself (if not today then maybe later) but that the "G" is completely crucial. So without this information I will not be able to see later (when setting stuff on the Audio PC) that I must denote that "mapping" as Drive G:.
For any normal circumstance, these are the settings :
(so click Advanced Sharing in the first screen, click Permissions in the second and set what you see for "Everyone" + Apply and OK)
Now we go to the Audio PC, cause it to be in Normal OS Mode (so not Minimised), start Explorer and Rightclick on Computer and select Map Network Drive :
Select Map Network Drive :
And now watch out ...
What I did there was TYPING the known Share name and I did not Browse for it. Why ? because most often the automatic detection of available Shares in the Network does not work for too many reasons to count. However, if you just give it the known name (and assumed that all further is fine (also see more below)) it will just work.
So what did I type in there ? first the \\ST02\ because this is the name of the computer (the Music Server) and secondly the Share Name as I made/entered it on the Music Server (this is not really visible in the screen shots above but you will start out with the "Share ..." button (see a few screen shots back where it is greyed out) and there will give the name which is/was only (!) G on W7 SP1. So the \\ST02\ I never entered.
Notice that I should have selected Drive G: but this is all after the done fact so it now shows X:
When you click Finish, and it works, then the Drive will be opened with a new Explorer instance and the root folders will show.
If you now go to Minimised OS and leave on the LAN - see Services and OSD section in XXHighEnd Settings :
then in there you will be able to browse the G: Drive.
In the end, when all is done and my earlier shown Z: Drive maps to the Galleries Volume on the Music Server, then all just works if only the Galleries Volume is properly denoted on the Audio PC :
This was the simple version, just in case all works out of the box. Some times though it is more difficult. The tutorial for this you will find hereunder.
When it does not workThere is no real reason that we can see for a Share not working out (can't be accessed from the other PC) and all we do know is :
- It depends on the Share itself and not the environmental situation (such as the PC's involved or network setup etc.);
- It is action related.
About the latter : For example, when you have to apply what's described below (in order to let it work, that is) then you will be doing that for the PC at the other side and with that PC active at the moment it will start working for that PC. But, change the PC (so the Audio PC in our situation) and it has to be done again although maybe not for the exact same volumes. Also, what we are going to do below is a trick anyway, to let things work which do not otherwise. Also, it is to be emphasized that what we are doing anticipates "worst case situations" like neither of the PC's seeing each other to begin with (which should be an error / illegal situation). Lastly, the procedure emerged from
WiFi-Direct connections which at least at the start of Windows 8 were not official (they told you it was, but nothing worked for real). So in case you're into WiFi-Direct, the procedure below is for you anyway.
Here goes :
Open a Command Prompt (cmd.exe from the Start Button) and in there type :
fsmgmt [enter]
First this screen appears (and you can close the command prompt screen now) :
After dragging it somewhat larger and clicking "Share" in the left pane, it looks like this :
RightClick the one which does not want to work at the other side - in this case Q: (not the $ denoted one) :
After choosing Properties you'll get this :
And after clicking the Security tab you'll see this and in there we are going to click Edit (what is selected in there is not important) :
We are going to add a new one :
And name it Guest like this (press OK) :
Notice that ST02 is the computer name and the Guest should be added exactly as you see. Also : Don't make up other names; it has to be Guest.
Select the new Guest and tick Full Control :
And click Apply (this can take quite a while to process all the individual files ! (which is thus what's happening internally - apply the share to the files themselves and which makes it extra odd that it can disappear for another PC)) :
Now you can hop over to the Audio PC and click the Entry from Explorer (thus the Q: Drive from our example) and you will see that the folder now opens.
