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Server 2008 R2 Network Shares with WD TV Live

Having been so impressed with the WD TV I picked up the WD TV Live to stream my various media over my home network.

At current my media is shared from a Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller, which from various forum posts seems to be causing problems for the WD TV in browsing shares. Playing with a few settings it now seems to be working perfectly so thought I'd share my findings.

Setup:
Windows Server 2008 R2 as a Domain Controller
Firewall Disabled
Shared Media drives/folders with Everyone given Read Access
User Account created specifically for shares, set with default Domain User membership
WD TV Live device on DHCP

With the above configured the device would see the server and using domain\user credentials it would attempt to connect. This appeared successful however it would then show that it could not see any shares / no media detected on the server. Playing with this further it looks like the below has resolved the issue (at least in my case).

Firstly I needed to amend the servers local Group Policy to allow Link-Layer Topology Discovery (a work colleague had mentioned this step being posted on some of the AV/WD forums).

To do this click Start - Run - type in gpedit.msc and click OK.
Browse to Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Network - Link-Layer Topology Discovery.
In here set both items to Enabled as per the screenshot.

Once set open at Command Prompt window to run gpupdate /force

Next I checked the services running and noticed the SSDP and UPnP services were set to disabled. I set these to Automatic and then started them both.

I tried to connect again although got the same error. Checking wire shark it didn't seem to be sending the domain\user credential correctly as it removed the \ and combined the domain with the username. Connecting again with just the Active Directory user account with no domain set it has connected and I can successfully browse shares. I've also set the device with a DHCP reservation as I've read a few places that mention the device disconnecting every so often when streaming media.

So far all seems fine, have watched a few films, turned the device off / on etc and it works a treat!

**NB Since using this more I've noticed when turning on my Win7 laptops that it kills the WD causing it to drop the network shares. It looks to be due to the Streaming options that Win7 has introduced, so the quick fix is to disable sharing on these devices and you should find the WD TV Live plays again uninterrupted. I'm looking to confirm the exact sharing options that cause this shortly.