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[G. Shumway]

I have a MS Surface Pro 8 running Windows 11 that I just installed MC 30 on. I want to play from a Library Server that is always on at home.

I can get the MC30 install to connect to the library, but when I try to play anything, first, I see a progress modal that says something like "Downloading Internet Resource", and then I get a prompt to choose the program to open that with. The prompt has no indication of filename or type, just a list of programs of which MC30 is one. If I choose MC30, nothing happens, and if I try to play again, the process just repeats.

Any advice on how to get this to work?

[dennismf]

I have (had - problem resolved for me - see below) a similar problem. I was running JRMC29 on my always on home media server (a Windows 10 NUC). It could be reached reliably via JRemote2; JRiver for Android and JRMC29 on my personal Windows 11 PC.

I installed JRMC30 on my home media server. It is working as expected playing media directly from the media server. It also can be accessed successfully from JRemote2 and JRiver for Android. However when I use MC on my personal PC to access the library server:- the library loads quickly and correctly. All details are visible. However when I try to play anything (audio or video) MC on my personal PC appears to hang. Initially I used JRMC29 on my personal PC. When I discovered this issue, I installed JRMC30 on my personal PC. Both versions exhibit the same problem

While I was writing this on my personal PC, JRMC30 was "hung" in the background. Suddenly the file I had tried to play started playing on my PC. It took around 5 minutes to start playing; during that time MC was unresponsive.  I tried to play another audio file, I got a similar result. These were flac audio files of around 17MB.

My connection between the library server and my PC is a hard wired 1Gbps connection. The MC library server is set to no conversion of either Audio or Video media.

I cannot see any errors in the Media Network Activity Log on the Library Server. I am using MC Version 3.0.15 (64 bit) on both windows machines. 

Any suggestions would be welcome.

DennisMF.

I found an issue with the SMB service on my Synology NAS (where media files are stored). When I restarted the NAS SMB service, correct MC behaviour was restored. Note that this issue only affected the windows library server access. The media files were all playing correctly on the Windows 10 media server PC. They were also playing correctly on my Android devices.

It appears that the file access method used for Windows access to the Library Server is different to that used by JRemote2 and JRiver for Android.

[G. Shumway]

@dennismf I don't think we're having quite the same problem--I am not experiencing hanging. I can connect to the media server and see the library, but when I attempt to play anything, I see something like in the attached screenshot. Essentially, when I instruct my client to play, it downloads what I assume is the file to play, and then Windows 11 prompts me for what do do with it. This is my only client that is having this problem (works fine on Gizmo and 2 Win10 machines), so I assume it has something to do with Windows 11, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Still looking for suggestions...

[G. Shumway]

I can play to the server from the client (playing to "There") with no issue, but any attempt to play locally on the client gives the same problem. I have allowed everything I can find JRiver-related in the Windows Firewall.

Is this some file association than needs to be corrected? I found the "Data File" in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 30\Temp, without a file extension. If I rename the file and add .mp3, I can play the file locally. Why isn't Media Center 30 handling this by itself?

[JimH]

Windows Defender?

[G. Shumway]

Windows Defender?

with Admin

I did already follow the steps of the Windows Defender thread (see attached screenshot). I have also completely uninstalled Media Center and reinstalled with Admin privileges (no joy).

What else might get between Media Center client downloading a served file and that file getting played?

[JimH]

Did the IP address change?

You can turn Media Network off and back on to generate a new Access Key.

[G. Shumway]

Did the IP address change?

You can turn Media Network off and back on to generate a new Access Key.

IP addresses are reserved on the local network, so no change there. Also, my desktop and Gizmo have no trouble playing as clients from that server. Also, also, the client I'm having trouble with has no issue connecting to the server and showing the library. It just does this weird thing when trying to play. If I try to play a single file, I can see that it gets downloaded to the Media Center temp directory, but that's where things go awry.

[G. Shumway]

Also plays as expected via Panel on the troublesome client

[macdonjh]

G. Shumway, are you saying your troublesome client computer is trying to download a media file to its local drive and then play the file?  If that's the case, I wonder why MC on the client doesn't simply stream the media file from your network? 

[G. Shumway]

G. Shumway, are you saying your troublesome client computer is trying to download a media file to its local drive and then play the file?  If that's the case, I wonder why MC on the client doesn't simply stream the media file from your network?

I assume it caches something in order to stream. It is downloading file-extensionless files, which turn out to be audio files if I add the correct extension to them. But yes, something is not working correctly, here.

[JimH]

Some security software may be removing the extension.

[G. Shumway]

Some security software may be removing the extension.

Windows Defender is the only security software installed, and *I think* I have created exceptions for everything related to Media Center (based on the Windows Security thread and a couple extra thrown in just to see).

Would someone be willing to describe to me how the process of playing on a client is *supposed* to work? It may help me troubleshoot. For example, do files cached on the client get file extensions? What processes besides the main executable are involved? Etc.

[JimH]

It should be completely transparent, and require no direction interaction with files.

[G. Shumway]

Well, still unsure about the exact problem, but messing around has brought to light new, interesting facts.

1) I found a handful of files, all recovered from a failing/corrupted hard drive (meaning that none of them have their correct file names or directory structure) that do actually play correctly over the client. In the Media Center 30 Temp directory, files that successfully play appear to get .dat or .dat.cnk file extensions. Other files get no extension still, though.

2) If I map the server files on a network drive, I can play all my files on the client if the Media Network option to play a local file if one is found is checked. I'm assuming this will only work on my home network, though, since the files will be unavailable on another network.

I'm very confused by the first one but thought the second one made sense.

Still looking for any ideas you all might have...