[SOLVED] Windows not finding my UnRAID server

[GreggP]

For the past few days, I haven't been able to get Windows 7 to find my unRAID server (v5.05). Whenever I use Windows Explorer to navigate to my Network it no longer displays my 'MEDIA' unRAID server in the list of network devices. All of my other connected and awake PCs are listed, but not 'MEDIA'. I can only get it to display by typing '\\MEDIA' into the address bar. How can I get my unRAID 'MEDIA' server to automatically appear in my list of network devices?

 

This isn't really a big deal, but some applications, like Google's Photo Slideshow, which I use as a screensaver, won't allow me to select a folder unless the device shows up in the network list. All of our family photos are stored on the unRAID 'MEDIA' server, which I like to use for the slideshow. I have lots of photos, so I like to change the selection of photos every so often. I was trying to change the slideshow on our family HTPC and I can no longer select the 'MEDIA' server and the contents of its folders. I have also tried from other PCs on the network with no luck.

 

I've tried rebooting unRAID. I've tried rebooting my router. I've tried rebooting the PC that runs the screensaver and none of these reboots have helped. The 'MEDIA' device shows up in the router's list of attached devices.

 

This is a new problem because I almost always see 'MEDIA' in my list of network devices. Something weird has changed and it probably has more to do with Windows than unRAID. because I haven't made any changes to unRAID for a very long time (although, I am currently reading through all the instructions for upgrading to v6, which I plan to do in the very near future). Since many of the folks who frequent the lime-technology forums have lots of networking expertise, I thought I'd post this question here, hoping to find an easy solution.

 

THANKS!!

[trurl]

Is your server set the be the local master for SMB? Try searching the forum for "local master" and you will probably find a lot of other threads discussing your problem. See search tips in my sig.

[GreggP]

Thanks for the response. I think I found what I need in this post:

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=20734.msg183962#msg183962

 

However, the author says to set your router to be the local master and uses his Netgear WNDR3700 router as an example, but I can't find any similar settings with my ASUS RT-N56U router settings. I've been searching for "ASUS RT-n56U" and "local master" but haven't been able to find any info.

 

I did check to see if my unRAID server was set to be the local master and it is not. I tried changing it to local master, but 'MEDIA' still isn't listed on my network device list. Maybe I need to reboot my machine. Anyhow, based on his recommendation in the above post/link, it is better to set your router as the local master. Now I just need to figure how to do so with my router.

[trurl]

Another machine on your network probably already has assumed the local master role, so after setting unRAID to local master, you may need to reboot all other machines on the network so unRAID can take over.

[GreggP]

I finally identified which computer was the master browser. After setting my unRAID server to be the "Local master" under SMB and rebooting the PC that was previously the master browser, now all the devices on the network appear in the network list on all my other PCs.

 

I'd still like to figure out how to set my router to be the master browser, but that may not be possible with my ASUS RT-N56U router. Since my unRAID server is always on, this should be ok.