VLC on ATV access to USB external drive on Mac Mini

[cappyd]

I have my movie files on a USB external drive connected to a Mac Mini running Catalina. I cannot seem to get the VLC app on the Apple TV to access it. It will connect to my user account on the Mac Mini just fine, but only shows folders in my user home directory. How can I get it to see a folder on the external drive?

[ericeiralife]

You most likely need to explicitly share the external drive.

Go into System Preferences, make sure "File Sharing" is turned on, and hit the "+" icon to add the external drive.

You may need to hit "Options" and enable "Share files and folders using SMB".

[cappyd]

Thanks, I tried that but no luck. My Public folder, on my Mini's internal drive, is set up as a shared folder using SMB and it shows up. Seems like a shared folder on an external drive should be treated the same, wouldn't you think? I even tried connecting with the "Generic" method and had no luck, though it isn't clear what, if any, port or workgroup should be specified.