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Prior20

is this possible? i.e

for a PC you would use something like

\\PCNAME\C$

or

\\192.168.1.1\D$

Mick_J

If talking about an Android TV then sadly I think not. From what I have read when seeking ways to do this, the restriction is that the protocol/port number used by Windows explorer for finding network devices is not recognised by Android, it uses its own protocol. What I found is that it can be implemented but only by rooting the Android box to get access to the system parameters so that the required port number can be used and then running a Samba server with a port number recognised by Windows. A google type search for solutions to this problem that do not require rooting the Android system will turn up a number of alternates using FTP and Web server methods with some solutions using a non standard port number in the UNC string. This requires running an app on the Android box which can then be found by FTP/windows explorer and Internet browser programs.

From the Android TV side there are some options, I use X-Plore which can browse the network and find shared folders on Windows PCs. It also has a web server built in which can be accessed from a Windows Internet browser and used to move files to and from the PC so giving some degree of direct network access to the Android box. X-Plore does require some beer tokens to be purchased to enable this option. Some like ES File Explorer in preference to X-Plore which also can access Windows shares.

It would be very convenient if Android was compliant but I am sure the same applies to Windows in this respect. Have seen comments about future Windows versions having an Android compatibility so maybe in the future.

Edit: had a look in my Browser history and found this link. Discusses in more detail the issues and has one of the workarounds alluded to above.

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1705/using-smb-server-without-root-access

Mick.

View solution in original post

Mick_J

If talking about an Android TV then sadly I think not. From what I have read when seeking ways to do this, the restriction is that the protocol/port number used by Windows explorer for finding network devices is not recognised by Android, it uses its own protocol. What I found is that it can be implemented but only by rooting the Android box to get access to the system parameters so that the required port number can be used and then running a Samba server with a port number recognised by Windows. A google type search for solutions to this problem that do not require rooting the Android system will turn up a number of alternates using FTP and Web server methods with some solutions using a non standard port number in the UNC string. This requires running an app on the Android box which can then be found by FTP/windows explorer and Internet browser programs.