Unable to add files from any drive but C:

I am having trouble adding files from any other drives, including USB external drives, to Serviio.

I am not certain what I am doing wrong, but the all I can get to work is the C: drive.

I have added both Local and Path information at different times, but all that seems to work is my C: drive. I am not certain what I am doing wrong, as I got it to work with an older version of Serviio on another computer. I have since upgraded my computer and been unable to add new files from other drives.

I am new to this stuff and I think I might have just been lucky the first time, but could you keep the explanation as close to "lay" terms as you can.

BTW is there a limit to how much can be added? My library is a mish mash of formats, and they worked fine on the older computer, but I have since added quite a bit of material, as I have the disk space. Could this be the problem?

[jhb50]

Console/Library/Shared Folders/Add local/Computer/Click desired Drive or Sub folder

[atc98092]

First, is your computer always logged in, or do you log out when not at the screen? If you log out, any drive mappings you have are gone. This of course doesn't apply to a local drive, including a USB external drive.

If they are local drives, then there's a permissions issue between the location you are trying to use and Serviio. I am assuming you are using Windows. This means that Serviio is running as a system service, which may or may not have permission to access the drives you are referring to. By default, Serviio runs with the permissions of the "Local Service" user account. You can't alter this "user" account, but there are two things you can do to change the permissions.

First, you can open the properties for the folder you want to share, then select the Security tab. You can see the different user accounts that have permissions for the folder. Click the Edit button, then add Local Service as a user, and give Modify rights to it. Then click OK to close all the windows. Now try adding your shared location.

The second option is to change what user Serviio runs as. Go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, and Services. Scroll down to Serviio and double-click it. Click the Log On tab. You will see Local System Account is selected. Instead click This Account and then click Browse. Find the user name you want to use (use the same name and password you log into the computer with), select it, and then click OK. After you are back to Serviio properties, go back to the General tab. Click Stop, then Start to restart Serviio with the new user account. Now see if you can add your shared location.

[jhb50]

You can avoid all that with Control Panel/User Accounts/Change Account Type/Click Administrator

[atc98092]

You can avoid all that with Control Panel/User Accounts/Change Account Type/Click Administrator

True, but I was assuming that he was (as are most Windows users) already running with administrator privileges.

[jhb50]

Now you have me totally confused. Then why tell him to do all that? It was not necessary for me as administrator I already had those privileges. I just added my drives in serviio as I told him to do.

[atc98092]

Well, I've seen administrator accounts still have permissions issues, even when they shouldn't. Frankly, his problems have me confused. I was simply offering suggestions. You're probably right, I got too far into the weeds.

Hope I didn't scare him off!

I've done all the "sharing" and "permission" changes, and, it truth, with Mezzmo, on the same computer, I don't have these issues.

I've managed to get 2 drives to work, both internal, but Serviio 1.6 clearly does not like the external drives and there are clearly formats that the server does not like, as the server will only transcode to a certain point and then either it "jams" on a specific file, or it has reached some kind of limit. Initially I thought there might have been a maximum number of files Serviio could handle, but that turned out not to be the case.

Then I wondered if I had enough drive space to handle my own transcodes, but that turned out to be wrong as well, as this problem showed up on a new (larger) drive and I came to a halt again. This may be an issue of a corrupted file or a format that makes Serviio puke. Problem is that there is no easy way to find the file, as the transcoding is not obviously sequential.

I got more into my library by converting an enormous amount of files to MP4's, but there is definitely no changes after this massive conversion to another format but I think these files are viewed as "new" after conversion, and not all of them end up in the library.

The new version of Serviio is better for this, than the older one, meaning the 1.4 and 1.5 series, but I still can't get the external drives to be recognized, when I add them any version. This has included re-installation, re-doing the library, and playing with the other settings which appear to be "superficial" to this problem.

If I could do a re-install, with a way to tell what file was "jamming" Serviio, it would really help. Is there anyway to identify a file that is not "compatible" without waiting for the library to stop and then looking in the library for the last completed file? I might be able to circumvent this whole issue, by taking the file "out of cue". Even Winrar has an error screen that will tell you what file is screwed up.

Also, is there a way to remove the entire library and transcodes without re-installing the program? There is a chance that the library is constantly running into the same "jam" if the library is not removed in a re-install. If I am constantly writing to the same old and potentially corrupted database, that might part of my problem as well.

In the event that I do re-install, either soon, or in the future, should I be adding the drives one at a time, or can I do them all at once, and give the program "all night" "alone" to set-up the library?

Lastly, thanks for sorting out the path, drive choice at the start of the set-up. The single choice is far "cleaner".

I'm still not completely certain if I understand what "metadata" is other than descriptive information about the individual files. It would be nice to be able to edit this info after transcoding, in the Serviio database, as the program tends to rename and change pics according to online sources regardless of what one "checks" off in the screens. The best example I can give you here is that I have tv show titles like "101, 102 etc." but the program will put anything close in to "fill" out the title. Checking or unchecking the boxes doesn't really seem to make a difference.

[atc98092]

Well, the certain way to start with a clean database is to uninstall, ensure the install folder is completely gone, then re-install. As to adding the shared locations, I've never had an issue adding them all at once. I have over 3000 files, so it does take a little time to catalog them. If you are adding network drives, make sure you are adding them with a UNC, not a drive letter. Remember that Serviio installs the service to run with local system privileges, which seldom gives network access. If you change the user account that Serviio runs with to your personal user account, then it will have the same network access as you do.

As far as metadata, there are multiple ways to handle it. One is to not use it at all, which makes library updates extremely fast. Another option is to use local NFO files, one for each file. This gives you complete access to editing them individually if desired. It's also a lot of work, unless there's software that can read the file and create them automatically. There's a couple of other options I'm not familiar with. The option used by most people is the Online metadata sources. This uses THETVDB.com and THEMOVIEDB.com to retrieve the metadata. However, file naming is critical for the correct metadata to be retrieved. There is better explanations in the wiki for more detail.

If can offer an example of the file naming convention you are using, we can help identify where the metadata identification issue could be. And yes, metadata is just information about the video, including release year, actors, director, summary and DVD case image. Some players (like my Sony BD players or my Panasonic TV) doesn't use anything but the year, my Roku players show the summary as well, my Samsung only shows the DVD art, etc.

Well that gives me something to work with. I'll give it another "stab", starting with a clean install.

I'll keep you posted.