How to use SMB to connect VLC on Apple TvOs to Macs at home (macbook air/macbook pro/imac)

[orangeranger]

Hi Everyone,

Since I couldn't find a topic that covered this newbie topic and this took me a while, but i finally found the solution. So for others' reference, I thought I'd make a post that is searchable for the future. I haven't checked, but if this is covering old ground, please feel free to edit or delete.

Instructions on how to use your Mac at home as an SMB server to watch media on Apple TV VLC.

You need to do 3 things:

1) Find your admin's real system user name
(your real admin name shouldn't be "shirley johnson" more like "sjohnson1" it shouldn't have spaces; i'm sure you understand.)
- go to "system preferences" --> "users & groups"
- on the left column, find the administrator of the mac/computer. right click on that user, a drop down with "advanced options..." should appear. click on it.
- find the "account name" (this is the real system user name) and don't change it. just remember and write it down, you'll need this. (also, you'll need the password for this administrator; but it's the same pw as their login, so should be simple.) after, simply cancel and close the dialogue box

2) Enable Sharing
- go to "system preferences" --> "sharing"
- on the left column, you should see many different selections and each should have a "on" column and a checkbox you can click to enable. enable "file sharing"
- under shared folders, using the "+" button, choose the folders you want to add.
- under users, make sure your admin's account is there and has read & write (not sure how much this matters, but still)
- find the "option" button in this window (it should be just above "shared folders" and "users"), click on it.
- in the options window, make sure "share files and folders using SMB" is checked and enabled. also, under "windows file sharing", check and enable the admin users account.
- remember your mac's computer name on the server; it should be listed in the shared window with a sentence saying "Other users can access shared folders on this computer, and administrators all volumes, at smb://<your computers name is here>"

-= the correct settings on your mac should be enabled at this point =-

3) Go to apple tvos VLC
- under "local network" find your mac listed under its name (see above) under the list of connected devices. your mac should appear here (make sure the mac is connected to the same network/workgroup as the apple tv.) if it doesn't you haven't enabled sharing, or your mac isn't on the same network. this should work.
- highlight and select your mac, it should have "SMB" listed below it.
- under "user" enter the admin's real account name from part 1.
- under "password" enter the admin's account password from part 1.
- leave port empty
- workgroup is listed as "workgroup" (i'm not certain if this is important, so i left it as is.)
- highlight the "save" button and select it.

(this should be the point where you know if you're successful.)

Voila~! access to the mac "file server"

Best of luck!

[mgw2]

@orangeranger - brilliant! Thanks for posting this. I've often had problems connecting to the iMac and get confused with what to enter.

Could I just add - for what its worth - that despite saving your credentials, next time you log in it looks like you need to type in your username and pw again. Turns out you don't - just hit login with both field left blank. And as you say, voila!

[nicolasd]

Some other things to try on the Mac side.

On Mojave 10.14 (my setup)
give smbd full disk access.
System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Full Disk Access
click the "+" icon
add smbd located in /usr/sbin/smbd
(or, in the Finder menu, select Go > Go to Folder... and put in /usr/sbin/ and then look for smbd. Drag and drop it into the list of apps with access.)

System Preferences > Sharing (try toggling File Sharing off/on or... turn File Sharing off, make changes, turn back on)
Add your folder to the list of Shared Folders.
Select it, and make sure the User account has read/write permissions.

Now, here's the other trick.
Control-Click on the Shared Folder and select Advanced Options..

I set mine to:
Share over SMB (only)
Allow guest users (checked)
Only allow SMB encrypted connections (checked)