The VideoLAN Forums

Please advice.
Accessing with Android tablet Windows computer shared folder over WiFi network fails.

I wish to share Windows 7 audio mp3 folder for Samsung Galaxy active 2 to play with VLC but no success.
Looks like Android (9) device doesn't have any access to Windows desktop computer.
No signs from tablet that any WiFi sharing exists.
Both devices are in same WiFi network and same subnet-router.

Is there any prerequisites ?
Is there any Android test tools to check Windows network accessibility?
When W7 is by default in "workgroup", should I join Android device to same workgroup? How?

I have spent several hours and no success.

Corporate-wise, the two OS's are indeed from different "planets."

Your sentence "Looks like Android (9) device doesn't have any access to Windows desktop computer." suggests that the problem is not a VLC problem. If the device did have access to the files but VLC did not, that would be open to investigation.

I just hoped some VLC user could share personal experiences, how successfully set up Android tablet to enjoy multimedia content from local Windows network resources.
Or to confirm, that it's not possible.
Strangely all my google search results so far have been blind alleys.

I am using a cheap Samsung phone as a local hot spot (WiFi router) but Windows doesn't show my phones as part of the "network neighborhood," nor does Android's My Files show the PC. I am able to use VLC to play music from the Windows shared directory—except, strangely, not on the phone serving as the hot spot! Hope this has some relevance for you.

When most instructions found in web were outdated I finally found Cx File Explorer for my Android.
Under Remote tab picked SMB and entered IP address of desktop computer sharing MM folder.
Now VLC is capable to access Windows network shared resources.
After tablet wake up from sleep it may take some time to re connect to network.

Just took 5 minutes after several hours of struggle.