PS3 and Windows Media Player 11 Media Sharing Tips

[sjj1805]

BASICS:

1. Install Windows Media Player DRM
1. Ensure my firewall is set up properly.
2. Ensure my PS3 and Computer are within the same IP address range and subnet mask, so they can talk to one another. In other words allowing my computer and PS3, to obtain it's information from my DHCP (Firewall router).
3. Ensure any software firewall, has the necessary changes to allow Windows Media Player to communicate out for UuNP. If you use Windows Firewall and enable sharing for WMP, WMP will make the necessary changes to Windows Firewall.
On my PS3:

1. Disable Media Server Connection on the PS3.

On your PC, in Windows Media Player:

ENSURE YOU HAVE ALL THE NECCESARY PLUG-INS AND CODECS FOR WMP TO VIEW ALL TYPES OF MEDIA, LIKE AVI, QUICKTIME, ETC.

1. Install Windows Media Player (unless it's installed already).
2. In services.msc or "Computer Management", Change the account that Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service uses. Changed it to "Local System account", but leave "Allow service to interact with desktop" UNCHECKED. Restart this service. This was necessary to be able to add folders from my FAT32 External Western Digital HDD.
3. Click on Options
4. Click on Library
5. Click on Configure Sharing and then check mark "Share my media to:
6. Click on Settings
7. Put in something you want for share media as, and leave the default settings.
8. DO NOT click the "Allow new devices and computers automatically". Check marking this wil allow everything to connect without you knowing and approving.
9. Click on OK to get back to the main properties screen.
10. Click the "Monitor Folders" button.
11. Once that is up, depending upon how you have your computer set up, and how many user profiles you have choose your options.
12. For me, since all my media is in different places other than my profile in "Documents and Settings", I did an add and ADDED the folders I wanted to add to the library.
13. Let WMP build the library up, and let it completely finish.
14. Click OK on everything til you get back to WMP.
15. Verify your library.

On your PS3:

1. Enable Media Server Connection on the PS3.

On your PC:

1. Once you sit down, you might have a pop up, if you left WMP running, to allow an unknown device access. You can verify your PS3 by checking the MAC address. WMP does not support the PS3 yet, so it will be seen as an unknown device.

If NOT......
1. Click on Options
2. Click on Library
3. Click on Configure Sharing and if things worked properly, you should see an "Unknown Device" Icon.
4. Highlight the Icon and do "allow", and do what ever else you feel necessary, such as customize, or right click the Icon for additional properties.

On your PS3:

2. Go to each Media choice in the XMB (Pictures, Music, Video), and under each do a "Search for a Media Server."
3. Once it has found a Media Server for each choice, you should then be able to see your PC show up with the funky "Windows ICON" and the name of the WMP share you created.

Should be able to take it from there.

[sjj1805]

TROUBLE SHOOT WMP11 Media Share

***NOTE*** These are solutions based on Window XP Home Edition. All of the below may still work for Windows VISTA, but may translate slightly different. I have not confirmed these steps in VISTA as I do not run it any longer, and the version that I did have was BETA....

There seems to be a couple separate issues with Windows Media Player 11/Media Share. I will try to cover all, but I am not guaranteeing that this will fix it. It has for me and some others. I am in no way responsible for any mishaps or occurrences of malfunction in any way….

- But first,To enable Media Share in WMP11 and add files to the library, do the following

1. (with your PS3 on and logged in, and media share enabled in network settings)Open WMP11 and goto the "Library" tab.
2. You will see an down arrow on it, click it, and a drop down will appear.
3. Move down to "Media Sharing", click on it.
4. A new window will appear, check mark "share my media to...."
5. Then(with your PS3 on and logged in, and media share enabled in network settings) you should see "unknown device". "Allow" this device by highlighting the "unknown device" and clicking "Allow".
6. Now select "Settings"... In the new window select all "media types", "all star ratings" and "all parental ratings". Also select "Allow new computers and devices automatically..."(not recommended for laptops you would use at work, as they will see yur stuff).

- To add folders and files to the library

1. Open WMP11 and goto the "Library" tab, and click on the down arrow again.
2. In the drop-down you will see "Add to Library...", click on it.
3. In the pop up you will see an "Add" button, click it.
4. A new window will appear. Just show it the path to your movies or music. **Note** Keep the videos that are compatible with the PS3 in a separate folder and direct to only that folder. It will save you a headache later.... If you want to play the other files types on your PC, just locate the folder and double click it instead of adding it to your library. This is work around for one of the glitches until they fix it....
5. Click "ok" and WMP11 will start to scan for media files. It will also monitor these folder, so if you add a file it will automatically add it to the library and instantly show up on the PS3.

- [Edit 1/20/08]This solution is to fix a problem with the PS3 not being able to see the folders, or "there are no tracks" message, etc. It has worked for a few people, including myself. In doing so, if it works or not, should not effect or harm anything else.
It is important that you do it in this order....

Try resetting everything by cycling everything.

1. Do so by going into your PS3/Settings/Network setting/Media Server Connection and disable it. Shut down your PS3.
2. Stop sharing in Media Server within WMP11, then shut down your PC.
3. Shut off your router, wait at least 10 seconds
4. Then turn your PS3 on first and Enable Media Server Connection. Then turn on your router and then the PC. Turn on Sharing on the Media Server in WMP11.

Once you have confirmed that it is working, doing the following should ensure that I will not happen again(not guaranteed though: wink:).

1. Goto the "Control Panel", click on "Administrative tools" and then "Services".
2. Turn the "Ipsec" setting to "manual" rather than "automatic".


- [Edited 1/01/08] One issue is an network DLNA error being thrown when trying to look at the files on the PS3. It is also usually accompanied by an error on the host computer " an unexpected error has occurred and Media share needs to shut down". This is due to un-accepted, wrong format, and corrupt or incomplete files in your shared folders and most of the time, absolutely nothing to do with your router, or firewall settings. In other words, one or more bad movie files is making the PS3 flip out. Just because your computer plays it, does not mean that the PS3 will. By cleaning, organizing or figuring out which of these files are causing the problem and removing them from the folders, the PS3 will see only the files that it accepts and it won’t go bazerks. This is how I did it- - -[Edited]

Please read the whole thing through before hand.....

1.

1. First go into the "add to library" within WMP11 and removed all the manually added folders in the MONITORED folders and highlight "C:\Documents and Settings\All users\Documents\My Videos" and click "Ignore".
2. Make sure that "my personal folders" is selected and not "my folders and those of others I can access". IF YOU CHOOSE THE LATER OF THE TWO, YOU WILL HAVE TO DO THE FOLLOWING TO ALL OTHERS THAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO. It is best to keep all of the working video files(the ones that work on the PS3) in one location(like an automatically monitored folder like "MY VIDEOS"), and keep all of the non working ones(ones that work on the PS3)in a folder that is NOT monitored or automatically monitored by WMP11. You can still play these videos in WMP11 on your computer by double clicking the actual file.
3. Goto your desk top, and create a new folder(doesn't matter what you name it as long as you remember it). Try to keep this folder on the same drive as your original shared folder as it will make it easier to cut and paste them later.
4. Goto the folders that the movies are located and move them to the folder that you just created on your desk top. If you have more in the "My Videos" folder, then move those also, as the "My Videos" folder in your "Documents" folder is automatically monitored within WMP11.
5. Open up WMP11 and goto "Library". If there are any more movies still in the window, right click them and "open file location" and move those files from that folder to the desktop folder until there are no more movies showing in the Library window.(do not delete them from the library....)
6. Now shut down your computer, shut down the PS3, and turned off your router. Boot up router, the computer and the PS3(log into the PS3 also). This will reset everything for good measure, but may or may not be necessary.
7. Once the computer has booted up, open WMP11 and goto "Library" and assure that there still are no videos in the window.
8. Now go back to the "add to Library" and within the Monitored folders list, enable the "C:\Documents and Settings\All users\Documents\My Videos".
9. This next part can take some time if you have a ton of videos, but is the only way you will figure out what video file(s) are causing the problem. Now go to the folder on your desktop where you put all of your videos. You are going to start to move these videos one by one back to the "My Videos" folder making sure that you see it in the WMP11 Library window first(you may have to close and re-open WMP11 sometimes to see it, but most of the time you just have to wait a few seconds), then check to see if it works on the PS3 each time. Start with a videos that you know will play on the PS3 if you can. Try to move the DivX movies first and Xvid, then move on to other formats. If you move a file and you do not see it in the WMP11 Library window, then it is possible that WMP11 does not play this format, and there for will not stream it to the PS3. To check this, double click the actual file. If WMP11 says that it doesn't recognize or will not play it, then move it back to the desktop folder. If you run into one that says that it is "Unsupported data" or "Corrupted Data", move it back to the desktop folder. If you run into one that does not play on the PS3 and you suddenly have a network error you will also see on the computer that an unexpected error has occurred and Media share needs to shut down , move the file back to the desktop folder. These files that do not play, has unsupported data, or corrupt data, right click on these videos in the WMP11 Library window, and click "delete" and choose "delete from library only". On the PS3, you may have to exit out of the media server within the XMB and back in each time to see the newly added file, and if you run into an error, it may be necessary to reboot the PS3, but not always.

I know that most people have their computers in another location than their PS3s, but this is the best way and only way I know of to find these corrupt files.... That is until Microsoft or Sony fixes the issue.... But if you do find files(movies) that are corrupt, and they are still playable on your PC, they still can be fixed or re-encoded to play on your PS3. Look here for help converting to a usable format.
Check it out, you will find you can fix any movie....

-[edited-1/19/08]Another issue is not seeing your PS3(should be seen as "unknown device) in the “Media Share” window within Windows Media Player 11. What has caused this is not known to me. It may be because it was deleted in the Media Share window. But anyhow, there are three possible ways to fix it. The first way may be the best way....
-
This fix was found and edited by Hamah, and he and I confirm this as a successful solution. I would highly recommend tring this first.

"Originally Posted by daveon View Post Success at last...

Check Event viewer and look for errors on the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

If you get the event error 14344 then you need to upgrade your DRM component. (I did not have these errors but followed this process anyway)

You can upgrade the DRM component here:

Though you must be using IE as your browser.

If you encounter DRM issues, cannot upgrade/update your DRM component, or see the grayed out 'Upgrade' buttons on the Security component upgrade page, it may be worth the while to check below link:

DRM Reset Utility - to download go and get this program here

(I had to run this as the upgrade button was grayed out for me.)

Remember to restart your computer after running the utility.

Once you have restarted your PC go back to the DRM component upgrade site:

You should now be able to run the upgrade. Once the upgrade is complete check your PS3 and your PC should be there."

----The second way would be to uninstall Windows Media Player, and re-install it. This is a much simpler way than the following, and will essentially do the same thing, but you will have to fill your Library all over again… I suggested this to another member and he confirmed that it worked for him.

----And the third way....

It is most likely that your DRM folder has been corrupted.... The DRM folder is the Digital Rights Management folder. If it gets corrupt, it will cause a few different problems for Media Share.... The most common reason for WMP11 and uPnP devices not "seeing" each other is a bug in WMP11. When the DRM folder is corrupted, WMP11 will behave in a few erroneous ways. One being that it will not "See" devices. This folder can get corrupted for many reasons but most often it's because of a recovery or restore point creation.

1. Shut off the ps3. In Windows go to “start”, “run”, then type “services.msc”.
2. When that pops up go to the bottom and pick “Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service” and stop the service. Close the window.
3. Go to “My Computer” then go to “tools” at the top and “folder options”. From there hit the “view” tab and select the “show hidden files and folders”, check that, and about 2 spaces under that is "Hide protect system files", un-check that. When you click the second one it will ask you if you are sure and say yes. Close that window.

The following are the typical locations of the Windows Media DRM folder, depending on your operating system version:
Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\DRM
Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DRM
Windows 98: C:\Windows\All Users\DRM
Windows Millennium Edition: C:\Windows\DRM

If you cannot find the Windows Media DRM folder, the exact location of the folder on the computer is stored in the following registry key. Make sure that this key points to a valid path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DRM\DataPath
Note By default, the path is displayed in binary format. To see the path in plain-text format, double-click DataPath. In the Edit Binary Value dialog box, the path is displayed in the column on the right.

1. Once you have found the “DRM” folder back it up by copying the contents and saving it to another folder location(name the folder something like DRMbackup), then delete all contents inside the original folder. If that does not work, it may be that the DMA folder is corrupt(contents inside), so rename the folder to something else like DRaMa. When you restart the computer and Windows Media Player, it should create a new DMA folder and restart the service that you stopped automatically.
2. After that go back to the tools folder, options, view tab, and put back the two checks that you took off.
3. Now turn your ps3 back on and it should work!!!!!

Full article on DRM(Digital Rights Management) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/891664

Other things to consider----

-----Are you sure that Media Share is turned on in WMP11? Open WMP11, click the arrow below the Library tab, and then click Media Sharing. There will be a check box labled "Share my media to..", check mark it to turn it on...

-----When in WMP11/media share, does the "settings" button appear? If not then Media Share is not enabled on your computer. If it does, click on it, you will see at the bottom, a check box that says "Allow new devices and computers automatically", check it(if you take your laptop to work, this is not recommended). You will also see "Star ratings" and "Parental ratings", check "all" on both of these.

-----Turn off or uninstall any third party firewalls. If you have a router, you have a hardware fire wall as well as windows XP's fire wall, so having a third one is overkill, and usually causes all sorts of problems....

-----Is XP up to date? There are many, MANY updates to XP.... My computer is always updated, so I don't know if this would cause a problem, but if framework isn't up to date, it may be an issue....


Windows help guide for sharing media
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Window ... a4d8b-e19d
-4d7f-bef1-116cb711364c1033.mspx

[sjj1805]

Removed Unknown Device(PS3) from Allowed list in Windows Media Player Sharing

This is exactly what I think you need. I did the same thing and after two weeks of trying I ran across this post. It worked perfectly:Thumbs: :

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playsta ... 802#M86802

-Another issue is not seeing your PS3(should be seen as "unknown device) in the “Media Share” window within Windows Media Player 11. What has caused this is not known to me. It may be because it was deleted in the Media Share window. But anyhow, there are three possible ways to fix it. The first way may be the best way....
-
This fix was found and edited by Hamah, and he and I confirm this as a successful solution. I would highly recommend trying this first.

"Originally Posted by daveon View Post Success at last...

Check Event viewer and look for errors on the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service

If you get the event error 14344 then you need to upgrade your DRM component. (I did not have these errors but followed this process anyway)

You can upgrade the DRM component here: http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/Ind ... ndivit.asp

Though you must be using IE as your browser.

If you encounter DRM issues, cannot upgrade/update your DRM component, or see the grayed out 'Upgrade' buttons on the Security component upgrade page, it may be worth the while to check below link:

DRM Reset Utility - to download go and get this program here:
http://www.netflix.com/pages/previews/resetdrm.exe

(I had to run this as the upgrade button was greyed out for me.)

Remember to restart your computer after running the utility.

Once you have restarted your PC go back to the DRM component upgrade site:
http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/Ind ... ndivit.asp

You should now be able to run the upgrade. Once the upgrade is complete check your 360 and your PC should be there."