[SOLVED] Does Dlna need UPnP enabled?

ackoman

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Hello

I've got a Nighthawk 4XS router, with a harddrive connected to one of the USB 3.0 ports. The harddrive acts as a media server, and I can access it from other devices on my network, such as my PC and my TV.

I recently disabled UPnP on the router, as I was advised to do so for security reasons. However, I now find that despite my PC still apparently seeing the media server, it won't read from it.

Does UPnP need to be enabled for a Windows 10 PC to see a Dlna media server?

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
Hello

I've got a Nighthawk 4XS router, with a harddrive connected to one of the USB 3.0 ports. The harddrive acts as a media server, and I can access it from other devices on my network, such as my PC and my TV.

I recently disabled UPnP on the router, as I was advised to do so for security reasons. However, I now find that despite my PC still apparently seeing the media server, it won't read from it.

Does UPnP need to be enabled for a Windows 10 PC to see a Dlna media server?

Thanks in advance.
On the LAN, no. All traffic will traverse from one LAN device to another. UPnP will help automatically update your router for WAN connectivity.
I recommend disabling it. That way no ports are opened on your router that you...

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Hello

I've got a Nighthawk 4XS router, with a harddrive connected to one of the USB 3.0 ports. The harddrive acts as a media server, and I can access it from other devices on my network, such as my PC and my TV.

I recently disabled UPnP on the router, as I was advised to do so for security reasons. However, I now find that despite my PC still apparently seeing the media server, it won't read from it.

Does UPnP need to be enabled for a Windows 10 PC to see a Dlna media server?

Thanks in advance.
On the LAN, no. All traffic will traverse from one LAN device to another. UPnP will help automatically update your router for WAN connectivity.
I recommend disabling it. That way no ports are opened on your router that you didn't explicitly open.
 
Solution

ackoman

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On the LAN, no. All traffic will traverse from one LAN device to another. UPnP will help automatically update your router for WAN connectivity.
I recommend disabling it. That way no ports are opened on your router that you didn't explicitly open.


So, it's your guess that it's something else which is stopping the PC from reading the media server correctly?
 

ackoman

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Update:

Re enabling UPnP made no difference. Trying a different PC made no difference.
Trying it with a different router (an Archer C9 running dd wrt) made a huge difference as it works fine with that!

I've only had my 4XS for a couple of months, and I swear the DLNA worked when I first got it. Maybe a recent firmware update has broken DLNA?
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Update:

Re enabling UPnP made no difference. Trying a different PC made no difference.
Trying it with a different router (an Archer C9 running dd wrt) made a huge difference as it works fine with that!

I've only had my 4XS for a couple of months, and I swear the DLNA worked when I first got it. Maybe a recent firmware update has broken DLNA?
Since that Netgear router has a DLNA server built-in it may be confusing your clients. Try disabling the server built-into the router.
 
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ackoman

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Since that Netgear router has a DLNA server built-in it may be confusing your clients. Try disabling the server built-into the router.

Sorry if I'm being dense, but if I turn the inbuilt DLNA server off then how will Windows Media Player detect the library? Will I have to use a 3rd party server and point WMP to that?
 

ackoman

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Sorry, I confused this thread with others. I thought you had a stand-alone plex server rather than trying to use the router as a media player.


Ah, OK no worries!

As it happens, a short while ago I loaded the router with the previous version of the firmware and it all seems to be working again now.

So, it all rather points to Netgear's most recent firmware having some bug in it which breaks the DLNA functionality.

Thanks,
jra505
 
As it happens, a short while ago I loaded the router with the previous version of the firmware and it all seems to be working again now.

So, it all rather points to Netgear's most recent firmware having some bug in it which breaks the DLNA functionality.

Thanks,
jra505
Thank you for posting this! Many router manufacturers do this and never note these bugs in their release notes (if they even have release notes!). Your post will most certain help another poor soul that runs across this issue. To complete the information here, what was the version that works and what is the version that didn't?
 

ackoman

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Thank you for posting this! Many router manufacturers do this and never note these bugs in their release notes (if they even have release notes!). Your post will most certain help another poor soul that runs across this issue. To complete the information here, what was the version that works and what is the version that didn't?


No problem!

The version which works is 1.02.62 and the version which doesn't is 1.02.68

Later today I shall put 1.02.68 back on and see if the problem is reproducible.
 
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ackoman

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I wonder if there are any versions prior to .68 (like .67 or .63) that might also work.

It jumped from .62 to .68 for some reason.

I had also posted a similar question on the snb forum, and apparently the DNLA issue is known about and I've had it confirmed that currently the only solution is to use the .62 firmware.
 

marcolopes

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You guys are lucky... I'm having the same problem with my ISP Router (recent firmware update broke DLNA that was working just fine for years...).

Problem is, i can't control anything on this router... It's a HITRON CABLE router, quite nice, but with proprietary firmware from my ISP (with remote access to the few configuration pages that are available to the users)