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Xbox360 Forums => Xbox360 Software Forums => PC Tools and Utilities (Xbox 360 related) => Topic started by: blinky2134 on December 04, 2005, 11:18:00 AM

Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: blinky2134 on December 04, 2005, 11:18:00 AM
Hi folks,

I have got all my music stored on my Windows 2003 server. Does anybody know how I can get it to stream onto my 360? I know it says XP SP2 only but that surely means that it should be possible from other version of the OS too? If not then I am planning to run XP SP2 in a virtual machine on the server and do it that way!
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: InflatableMouse on December 04, 2005, 11:29:00 AM
I know its possible with a few registry hacks on 2003 to have programs think they're installing on xp. That way you can install no probs.

I will have to look it up how to do it exactly and I don't know what other implications these hacks might have on 2003.

But is 2003 the only machine you have or is it just the one holding all the music? Otherwise your second machine should be installed with xp and the proggie to stream, and just point to the network location.
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: blinky2134 on December 04, 2005, 11:46:00 AM
I do have another machine and it is XPSP2 but the server is the only machine that is on 24X7.  If I were to steam from the XP machine how do I do it? Do I need to install something on the machine to just enter some details in the XBOX 360, if it is just the details then maybe I can just point it to the server machines music share?
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: InflatableMouse on December 04, 2005, 11:51:00 AM
On the XP machine, install Media Connect 2. Make a share on the 2003 server from your mp3 folder. Map to it from the XP machine (Tools menu in explorer, choose map network drive) then add that drive to Media Connect to share with the xbox (double click the icon in your task bar or start it from the control panel).

I don't know what your network config is, but notice that in this setup media is streamed from the server to the xp machine, and then sent to the xbox. It would help if your connected full duplex to a switch, but if your on a hub or even wireless this might become problematic due to the limited bandwidth.

But then again, for mp3's that won't be a problem I guess. Just try it and see what happens.  jester.gif
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: phunk on December 05, 2005, 03:41:00 AM
Using a mapped network drive (on a win2k3 server) from within WMC2 thats running on an XP box doesnt seem to work ; at least not for me. The 360 just doesnt see the mapped drive, either if shared at mapped root or within a path. Creating a shortcut doesnt seem to work either.
Bit of a pain in the ass, really. As it means i have to copy mp3s down from my win2k3 box to an xp workstation.

IMO MS have made a seriously piss attempt to copy xbmc and managed to fuck it royal. And not releasing an 2k3 of WMC version is just dull. does anyone know of any technical reason why WMC cant run on 2k3, and if theres a way to make it run? Would be much appreciated :-)
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: InflatableMouse on December 05, 2005, 05:16:00 AM
Hmm .. I will have to actually test it then. I added the mapped drive to the shared folders and that worked. I haven't actually tried to stream mp3's from it though.

But I have an educated guess as to what might be going wrong. Locally when you install MC, it adds a user that can read from these folders. On the remote host, you will have to manually modify the rights on these folders. Check it out.
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: steve008 on December 08, 2005, 12:40:00 PM
I have two xp machines and i have one running connect and i can play mp3's through that computer from the mapped drives on the other pc. I would like to just run connect on the one pc that has all the mp3's but i carn't get it to install so have to do it via another pc. It says extracting files but then never shows anything, any deas?
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: InflatableMouse on December 08, 2005, 12:50:00 PM
Yeah, I'm sure it's a rights issue. I've been working on running MCE in VMWare so haven't looked into this yet.

How are your rights set?
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: phunk on January 05, 2006, 03:40:00 PM
QUOTE(InflatableMouse @ Dec 8 2005, 08:50 PM) View Post

Yeah, I'm sure it's a rights issue. I've been working on running MCE in VMWare so haven't looked into this yet.

How are your rights set?


Thanx for the reply mate.
When I installed WMC2 on my xp w/station, i didnt see any new account being created (have just rechecked accounts).
My rights on the w2k3 box allow full read/write access to the account im using on the xp w/station thats running WMC2. So, I personally cant see how it would be an account issue mate, but if you know the actual ins and outs, im more than willing to listen! ;-)

cheers
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: museumsteve on January 06, 2006, 05:38:00 PM
I was running win2k3 server for my HD material to a Roku. I spent weeks trying to get Xbox360 to recognize network shares/mapped drives and more (via my MCE PC) but was always unsuccessful. The shares always showed on 360 MCX when going to removing the shares but that was it.
I decided to scrap the server O/S and this week installed a new shiny MCE 2005 on the server and it's peachy.
Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: InflatableMouse on January 29, 2006, 02:21:00 AM
Sorry for the late reply guys.

As you might have figured out yourself, adding network shares in WMC doesn't work, the files need to be on a local drive.

I tried to find a generic device driver that 'emulates' a local disk from a network share. This must be possible and I'm sure it exists, but I can't find it  rolleyes.gif

Point is that when (for instance) an ISO or image created by a backup program (Acronis) is mounted, a drive letter is added and the system sees it as a local drive. Instead of mounting an iso, I see no problem why this can't be done with a network share.

If someone knows of sucha  proggie, make us happy and share it please  smile.gif

Title: Streaming Music To 360 From Win2003 Server
Post by: quaker5567 on April 09, 2006, 07:23:00 PM
If you're using the xbox360 gamepad, go to the My Music folder, press X, then Add Folders and choose the local or networked folders you want to add.