Windows 11 is utterly crap at network discovery! First make sure that the SAMBA server is enabled on the Zidoo in Network Settings. Whilst in Network Settings, take a note of the IP Address (probably 192.168.*.*). On the windows PC, open a file explorer window and in the address bar type \\IP_ADDRESS (where IP_ADDRESS is the IP Address ). For example if the IP Address of the Zidoo is 192.168.0.164, in the address bar of the file explorer type \\192.168.0.164 and press enter. And usually wait a few seconds. Sometimes wait a few more. At some point Windoze will realise it has a job to do and show you the Share as in the screenshot in that post.
Hi, Sorry to be a nuisamce but I found the IP address, made sure Samba was on and then went to the tasbar icon that is named file explorer and when it opened I didn't see anywhere to put the ip address into. Should I be opening file explorer in a differnt way/place ?
This is what I see. Hi, Thanks for your patience. When I post in the ip address as found on the Zidoo I gat an error message. Please see the attachment.
Without being sat in front of your PC these things are almost impossible to diagnose. As long as the PC and the Zidoo are on the same subnet (both IP addresses start with 192.168.1.*) and the SAMBA server is switched on it should just work. There are issues where Windows defaults to a "Public" network which means network assets are isolated, so that may be the issue (although if both use the same router, it shouldn't matter). You can check this Settings/Network & Internet/Ethernet > Private Network. (Windows recommends a Public Network but that's just stupid for a home LAN. Windows 11 is as dumb as it gets for this sort of stuff and makes it as complicated as possible!) I've never had to do any of this, but this post may help: Windows 11 recent update and shares problems | Zidoo forum
Hi, I am showing a private connection and a second one which is public. Please see the attachment. Should I change that second one to private and if so how?
Ok, one's your Wifi which is Private which is fine, the other is your ethernet LAN. I assume the Zidoo is connected by ethernet (That's the Local Area Network or LAN) , so change that from Public to Private as explained above.
On your Win 11 PC, open file explorer. once opened, scroll down to where you see "This PC or NETWORK". At the top of the screen you should see "This PC >". Go back into the Zidoo settings, Network, Samba Server options. Write down the IP Address, Samba default username and password that it shows. The username should be "root" and the password should be some numbers it shows. You will need this back at your Windows PC. Now go back to your windows PC where you left off. At the top of the screen where you see This PC > type the IP address you noted from the Zidoo setup, network, samba screens. It should look something like this \\192.168.1.x you should then be prompted to add the username and password of the Samba server. this should be "root" for username and xxxxxxxx for the numbers listed in Samba as password. You should now see a folder called "share" double-click on it. You should now see 2 or 3 folders Once folder is called "storage" the other folders would be letters and numbers. Those are the serial numbers of the internal HDD loaded in the Zidoo. That is where you would see or store your movies. Let me know if this helps. Good Luck PM
Scrolling through your posts I can’t see which version of Windows 11 you have. As long as it is Win 11 Professional you have the answers to update your Windows 11 to allow guest log on.
Hi Paul, Thank you for the detailed and simple instructions. It is appreciated. Unfortunately I get an error message from Windows saying it can't aceess the ip address. It's odd because the 8000 shows up in network devices. Is there anything I can do to get the Ziddoo's ip address to be available ? Please see the attachments which show the error message but also the 8ooo in devices and it's IP address, which is the same as on the web. By the way should I have password enabled or not? I have always run without the password but have tried connecting both ways.
It’s far more difficult to enable guest log in on Home. Longterm you would be better off if you updated to Professional. My post that Mark Swift posted a link earlier applies to Professional. If you follow on my original post there are comments on how it might be possible on Home. Sorry to be negative but Win 11 home is a heap of sunflower as far as networking goes. Professional not better but is ok now with the patch. Mine has been rock solid since I updated it.
Background Microsoft in their wisdom deemed Home users didn’t need guest log in notwithstanding so many devices rely on it. Then during an update to Professional they took guest login away! Hence a hurried update method to restore. Nothing at all to do with Zidoo https://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/windows-11-recent-update-and-shares-problems.99585/
Completely agree - I didn't consider that it might be Windows Home - horrific POS. Not that Professional is overly brilliant, but at least it's usable. I've never had any of those issues - it's always just worked. Mind you I only discovered recently that it stupidly defaults to using a "Public" Profile on a LAN which caused a problem when I installed a second router and couldn't access the Zidoo (using one router) from the PC (using another one).
Do me a favor, At the window start search type "CMD". This is the command prompt. At the command prompt window type "ping 192.168.1.2" this should be the IP address of your Zidoo box. Let me know if you are getting replies to the pings. This tells you that your PC can reach the zidoo on your network. Next: At the windows start search type "features". This is the "Turn features on and off" for windows. scroll down until you see "SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support" once you see it select (checkbox) this option and all options below it. If it does not show checked What this does is allow SMB file sharing in Windows. Let me know how it goes. Good Luck PM
SMB 1.0 is definitely not required and definitely not desired - even though this is a closed LAN, enabling SMB 1.0 is not a good idea since it exposes a truckload of potential exploits.
Since this is Windows Home which is a total s**tshow for networking, the problem is likely authentication.
I had to enable SMB features to get my Zidoo Z2600 to connect to the network when I purchased it. I now have upgraded to UHD8000 and it just works. My PC is running on Windows 11 Pro. In order to connect to my Zidoo UHD8000, I just go to file explorer, click on This PC, and add my IP address into to search window. \\192.168.1.x it then should prompt for username (root) and password. That information is found in the SMB Server settings in the Zidoo Network options. That's it. If you can ping the Zidoo from the PC and get replies with no packet drops, you should be able to connect to it.
