Windows 10: Media streaming options DLNA server having problem to share media file with my Smart TV

Hello,I have Windows 11 Home, and the media streaming options are giving me trouble.My issue is that even with "Media streaming options" enabled, I am unable to share the media file through my laptop. If you know why this is, please assist me.Through an Ethernet wire, my laptop and Smart TV are both connected to the same router. I only ever had the opportunity to share a media file via the media sharing options. I don't know what happened after that, but I was unable to share media files using the option on my laptop. When I enable the media sharing option on my smart TV, I can see that it is

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Windows Media Player - DLNA Server Issues

When did it start happening: After upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10. None of these problems existed when I was on Windows 7. I had a DLNA server setup when I was using Windows 7 too.

Problem(s):

• When viewing the list of available DLNA servers on my smart TV I am getting two identical DLNA servers. One works and the other simply states there are no media files available.
• About once a month, Windows 10 will decide to shut off my DLNA server. That means I have to open up Windows Media Player, click Streaming, and Turn On...again.

I am sure number 2 is harder to resolve than number 1. Number 1 is probably just some registry entry that needs to be removed.

 

Media streaming problems


Since I got the upgrade to Windows 10, Media player has been at best quirky at worse totally useless. Originally I could stream media to my televisions but any editing I did in media player was not reflected in the DLNA client on the TV, for example genres that had been deleted or changed still appeared in the list. I tried deleting the media player database with no change, I reinstalled media player and now I cant stream anything at all. The server shows up on my TV with the proper categories but the list is always empty. I have turned on streaming, shared the files and added them to the media player database. Since the primary reason for this PC is to stream media to TVs in my house I am very disappointed, is there anyone who might have another idea that I haven't tried ?

 

Tips for media sharing/streaming

SMB is the protocol standard Windows network file shares use.

NFS stands for Network File System, it is a different protocol that can be more efficient than SMB but isn't natively support by Windows.

UPnP is very similar to DLNA(they are often used interchangeably). It is the protocol that PS3 Media server and programs like it use to stream media files over a network. It is also the least efficient way to stream media(but compatible with the most devices).