Media Sreaming will not turn on

Growler

New Member
Messages
5
Location
Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK
I updated to Win 8 as I like to be in on things early and for the most part this seems to be functioning well. However, today I decided to transfer some photos from my Laptop (Dell Inspiron 1520, 2.5 GB RAM, Intel Celeron 540 @ 1.86GHz, 32-bit) to my PS3 and was, and am still, unable to do so because when I attempt to turn on Media Streaming it simply refuses to do so, telling me instead to refer to the Windows services administrative tool. Which seems pointless as I can't seem to find any dependencies that aren't met.
This is the first time I've tried connecting the two machines since updating to W8 and am utterly perplexed as I had no such problems with any previous version of Windows that I tried to do this with.
Can anyone please offer some help or advice without resorting to mockery or insults?
Thanks.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Beta
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell onspiron 1520
    CPU
    Intel Celeron 540
    Memory
    2.5 GB
Hey - nah most if not all are friendly around here.

Control Panel (Large icon view) | Network and Sharing Center | click Change Advanced Sharing Settings

Check your media streaming options here.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
Thanks, but I've already been there and everything's now set to be as open as is possible but I'm still locked out of being able to stream media.
I'm wondering if Windows Firewall might be causing a conflict somewhere. I'm running out of ideas at this point.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Beta
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell onspiron 1520
    CPU
    Intel Celeron 540
    Memory
    2.5 GB
Thanks, but I've already been there and everything's now set to be as open as is possible but I'm still locked out of being able to stream media.
I'm wondering if Windows Firewall might be causing a conflict somewhere. I'm running out of ideas at this point.

I use TVersity myself to stream to PS3. It's quite awesome but as of a few days ago, it's not free. You can Google for version 1.9.7 if interested.

Otherwise, for the native ability you're trying to get working - did you perhaps disable or tweak any services? These should be set to Automatic and currently running so it can work:

Windows Search
Windows Media Player Network Sharing
UPnP Device Host
SSDP Discovery
Media Center Extender
Function Discovery Provider Host
Device Association
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
I updated to Win 8 as I like to be in on things early and for the most part this seems to be functioning well. However, today I decided to transfer some photos from my Laptop (Dell Inspiron 1520, 2.5 GB RAM, Intel Celeron 540 @ 1.86GHz, 32-bit) to my PS3 and was, and am still, unable to do so because when I attempt to turn on Media Streaming it simply refuses to do so, telling me instead to refer to the Windows services administrative tool. Which seems pointless as I can't seem to find any dependencies that aren't met.
This is the first time I've tried connecting the two machines since updating to W8 and am utterly perplexed as I had no such problems with any previous version of Windows that I tried to do this with.
Can anyone please offer some help or advice without resorting to mockery or insults?
Thanks.

Here is what I get for this problem.

1) open services.msc "windows key + r" type "services.msc" no quotes, and Disable "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service"

2) Go to the following hidden folder: You may need to go to "folder options" and unhide the hidden folders.

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player (where <user> is the the account you're logged in as)

3) Delete all the contents of this folder then enable Media Player again in services.msc

4) Open Windows Media Player 12 and head to Stream -> Turn on Media Streaming

It should work now. There are a couple more things we can try if this doesn't work. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
It should work now. There are a couple more things we can try if this doesn't work. :)

It worked! But only as a way to enable the streaming button and the next page of menus to come up. It doesn't seem to actually be turning streaming on and if I go in and hit any other buttons like "allow other devices to control WMP" and even if I hit no (the default setting) it seems to add more files to that cache folder that disable it again. So I delete them again and try rebooting and the files just seem to fill up again.

I think we're getting somewhere. I'll give you all my background: I have had this problem since doing an annual fresh restore of my year old computer and also setting up a homegroup (possibly the culprit here). First thing I did today was leave that homegroup. Also I noticed that even an old router I had setup previously was being treated as 'Public' and wouldn't accept home or work settings unless the troubleshooter eventually can force it to switch to home (or something else I did in the menus). There's something going on with the firewall too (which doesn't seem to let me turn it off or restore defaults properly).

I'm only using this to stream to my Xbox until I find my HDMI to DVI cable somewhere, but I'd sure like the networking to work properly. Now it's annoying me that Windows 7 has such an odd glitch. I've loved it until now. It worked before (despite forcing me to repeatedly TURN ON media streaming unlike XP which was permanent and less paranoid).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
If you are using an old router you might try a firmware update for the router.

Certain old routers will not work correctly with Windows 7 or Homegroups and I suspect that is the cause of your problem. Upgrading the router to a new one should fix this problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
If you are using an old router you might try a firmware update for the router.

Certain old routers will not work correctly with Windows 7 or Homegroups and I suspect that is the cause of your problem. Upgrading the router to a new one should fix this problem.

This is an astute observation but I have two things to add:

Why would router firmware affect my Windows 7 computer's WMP streaming button to not function at all? And why does deleting the cache you directed me to seem to fix that?

This has been the case with every router I've been on with my Xbox (at least 3) since I got this computer. The router I used at home was updated to the latest firmware 2 years ago and I'd be shocked if that router had not been updated for Vista/7 with that update, but I could be wrong.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
If you are using an old router you might try a firmware update for the router.

Certain old routers will not work correctly with Windows 7 or Homegroups and I suspect that is the cause of your problem. Upgrading the router to a new one should fix this problem.

This is an astute observation but I have two things to add:

Why would router firmware affect my Windows 7 computer's WMP streaming button to not function at all? And why does deleting the cache you directed me to seem to fix that?

This has been the case with every router I've been on with my Xbox (at least 3) since I got this computer. The router I used at home was updated to the latest firmware 2 years ago and I'd be shocked if that router had not been updated for Vista/7 with that update, but I could be wrong.

Honestly I've never heard of this problem before and it took a good amount of time just to track down the streaming button problem.

I personally have never had a problem with streaming and Homegroups works great for me.

I've read about this problem and it seems that just resetting the Windows firewall to defaults has fixed the problem for some.

One solution is this: Go to the start menu, type "service.msc". In the window that pops up, scroll down until you get to "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service". Mine was set to "disabled". I double-clicked on it and switched it to "automatic".

You should check out the link below and try various solutions that seem to be working for some people. I can't begin to guess at which solution may work for you as there seems to be many of them. :)

Cannot enable streaming in Windows 7. - Microsoft Answers
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
I've read that thread and I've done literally everything there (except uninstall Windows Media Player but all that does is clean the cache, which you figured out and not one person said it worked). As I mentioned earlier, my firewall doesn't seem to allow me to turn it off and when I reset to defaults it gives a warning but doesn't seem to actually do it.

These are all tied in somehow. I searched high and low and this problem is extremely common, built right into Windows 7 as far back as 2009... yet nobody has EVER pinpointed it. Is there a place to submit unsolved Windows 7 glitches? I've frankly given up on it. I refuse to deal with it anymore. I've long ago realized that only XP must be at the center of my home media network.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7
I've read that thread and I've done literally everything there (except uninstall Windows Media Player but all that does is clean the cache, which you figured out and not one person said it worked). As I mentioned earlier, my firewall doesn't seem to allow me to turn it off and when I reset to defaults it gives a warning but doesn't seem to actually do it.

These are all tied in somehow. I searched high and low and this problem is extremely common, built right into Windows 7 as far back as 2009... yet nobody has EVER pinpointed it. Is there a place to submit unsolved Windows 7 glitches? I've frankly given up on it. I refuse to deal with it anymore. I've long ago realized that only XP must be at the center of my home media network.

Which is why I concluded it is most likely a router problem. One thing for certain is that millions of people using Windows 7 have never had this problem at all including me.

In either event a reinstallation should fix the problem if it's related to Windows 7. Carefully checking the streaming functions as third party programs are installed might help narrow it down.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
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