[SOLVED] I want to use my router as a NAS using media server

[Parroty69]

I want to plug a usb drive into my router and use it as a media server. When I plug it in, there is no media server in file explorer so I decided to go to the router settings and check. The settings say that the router has detected the usb drive, I also noticed that there is a setting called DMS that was off so I turned it on and set the library scan method to auto and I set the media source as my usb drive. After doing this, the media server now shows up in file explorer but when I click on it, it opens my browser and brings me to a blank white screen html file.

Can you help me with this? I really want to use the nas as a media server

 

[Ralston18]

Make and model router?

DMS ?

Are you able to capture a screen shot of that router admin screen and post that screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com).

FYI: Just be aware that the using the router's USB port for storage/media server can slow network performance.

 

[Ralston18]

[Moderator Note.}

From duplicate post by OP:

"I have a ZTE F600W modem router which has a usb port. When I plug the usb flash drive into the usb port, the modem recognizes it in the USB storage menu. I want to use my modem as a nas, I have already turned on DMS in the settings and the Library scan method is auto and the Media source 1 is my usb drive and all the other Media sources ae left blank. My computer sees the modem in the network tab and the name is F600W: Media Server: . But when I click on it, I goes into my browser and I go to a blank white page and the url is http://192.168.1.1:52868/web/index.html and the screen is just a blank white screen.
Can you please help me? I really want to use it as a nas "

Duplicate post deleted.

 

[gggplaya]

Keep in mind that the router's processor will determine how fast the USB read speed will be. So for high bitrate and high resolution videos, the USB port of the router might only be able to serve up say 5MB/s or slower. Higher end routers are typically capable of about 25-30MB/s and very high end routers can hit upwards of 80+MB/s. So depending on you video, your router may not be adequate.

It seems that ZTE is using their own DLNA server software. Typically you'll need to get their software to read and catalog the files. It needs to build a library of files it can serve up with DLNA. That router is too slow to transcode, so likely some videos may not play on your client device.

I would recommend only using your router as an FTP or SMB(samba) file server. Then use it like a network NAS drive to map on your laptop. Or for your tv, use a KODI box or similar to decode the video. You can even go an extra step and install PLEX on your laptop and use your laptop's processor for transcoding. The laptop will act as the media server.

 

[Parroty69]

Make and model router?

DMS ?

Are you able to capture a screen shot of that router admin screen and post that screenshot here via imgur (www.imgur.com).

FYI: Just be aware that the using the router's USB port for storage/media server can slow network performance.

It is an F600W router from ZTE.
I think DMS stands for digital media server.
Here are the screenshots:

https://imgur.com/FVh8Dga

View: https://imgur.com/FVh8Dga

https://imgur.com/TRwWck9

View: https://imgur.com/TRwWck9

https://imgur.com/DLD1pck

View: https://imgur.com/DLD1pck

 

[Parroty69]

Keep in mind that the router's processor will determine how fast the USB read speed will be. So for high bitrate and high resolution videos, the USB port of the router might only be able to serve up say 5MB/s or slower. Higher end routers are typically capable of about 25-30MB/s and very high end routers can hit upwards of 80+MB/s. So depending on you video, your router may not be adequate.

It seems that ZTE is using their own DLNA server software. Typically you'll need to get their software to read and catalog the files. It needs to build a library of files it can serve up with DLNA. That router is too slow to transcode, so likely some videos may not play on your client device.

I would recommend only using your router as an FTP or SMB(samba) file server. Then use it like a network NAS drive to map on your laptop. Or for your tv, use a KODI box or similar to decode the video. You can even go an extra step and install PLEX on your laptop and use your laptop's processor for transcoding. The laptop will act as the media server.

Speaking of samba servers, do you think I should change any samba settings?
Here is the screenshot:

https://imgur.com/yZ1Qq9B

View: https://imgur.com/yZ1Qq9B
There are also settings for FTP should I change any of them?
Here is the screenshot:

https://imgur.com/7rTwmE9

View: https://imgur.com/7rTwmE9

 

[gggplaya]

Since you have both, I would do FTP instead of samba. FTP has less handshaking overhead so you'll get faster speeds with FTP. If it's only video movies on your usb stick, and not any personal files. You can disable security on the FTP if you like. This will make it easier to connect your client devices. You'll also obviously need to enable the FTP server as well.

Have you tried to view the DLNA server(DMS) on your tv yet? I don't think it works like that on windows. You'll need to install KODI on your pc to pick up the DLNA server.

 

[Parroty69]

Since you have both, I would do FTP instead of samba. FTP has less handshaking overhead so you'll get faster speeds with FTP. If it's only video movies on your usb stick, and not any personal files. You can disable security on the FTP if you like. This will make it easier to connect your client devices. You'll also obviously need to enable the FTP server as well.

Have you tried to view the DLNA server(DMS) on your tv yet? I don't think it works like that on windows. You'll need to install KODI on your pc to pick up the DLNA server.

I don't want to use it on my tv, I just want to plug in a usb stick and transfer files between the computers on my network. How can I do that?

 

[gggplaya]

I don't want to use it on my tv, I just want to plug in a usb stick and transfer files between the computers on my network. How can I do that?

Samba will be easier then. Windows computers will pick it right up when they do a network search.

 

[Parroty69]

Samba will be easier then. Windows computers will pick it right up when they do a network search.

I have turned the samba option on in my router, how do I use it on my Windows pc?

 

[gggplaya]

I have turned the samba option on in my router, how do I use it on my Windows pc?

Google, "MAP NETWORK DRIVE" and you can make it so it's like another drive on your computer.

To find it, probably the easiest is to go to my computer on the left tree, click on network. Make sure you enable network discovery, then it'll start searching for everything on your local network. You should see your router there and when you click on it, you should see a folder with the USB drive contents. You want to map that folder as a drive. https://tunecomp.net/all-methods-to-turn-on-network-discovery-in-windows-10/

 

[Parroty69]

Google, "MAP NETWORK DRIVE" and you can make it so it's like another drive on your computer.

To find it, probably the easiest is to go to my computer on the left tree, click on network. Make sure you enable network discovery, then it'll start searching for everything on your local network. You should see your router there and when you click on it, you should see a folder with the USB drive contents. You want to map that folder as a drive. https://tunecomp.net/all-methods-to-turn-on-network-discovery-in-windows-10/

It worked! Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate your support and the effort you put into this!

 

[Parroty69]

I have run into an issue with this, with I go into the run prompt and type \\ip-adress it throws me an error that says SMBv1 is insecure and that my computer requires SMBv2

 

[gggplaya]

Nothing you can do about that, your router is using an old version of SMB protocol.

Did you try mapping the network drive? You can probably try using the drive letter like F:\ or whatever you mapped.

 

[Parroty69]

Nothing you can do about that, your router is using an old version of SMB protocol.

Did you try mapping the network drive? You can probably try using the drive letter like F:\ or whatever you mapped.

Is it safe to use SMBv1 if only I connect to the network?
How do I map the drive? When I click on browse it only shows Network folder and when I click on the network folder it doesn't change anything.
Is there a firmware update for my router that adds support for SMBv2?

 

[gggplaya]

If it's inside your house it's fine. If you were in a coffee shop, someone else could view the network traffic and decipher the data fairly easily.

Even in your house though, I wouldn't put any personal information on the drive. No financial documents or things you wouldn't want anyone to steal.

Here's how you map a network drive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10-29ce55d1-34e3-a7e2-4801-131475f9557d

 

[Parroty69]

If it's inside your house it's fine. If you were in a coffee shop, someone else could view the network traffic and decipher the data fairly easily.

Even in your house though, I wouldn't put any personal information on the drive. No financial documents or things you wouldn't want anyone to steal.

Here's how you map a network drive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10-29ce55d1-34e3-a7e2-4801-131475f9557d

I have turned off samba and it still shows in network locations in This PC in file explorer. I can access the files and everything, turns out there wasn't anything wrong in the first place. How secure is this if I turned off SMB?

How can I use crystaldiskmark to test the speed?
EDIT: I have ran into a problem with the storage, I can read files from the usb but I can't write to it, I also can't paste things to it because the paste option in the context menu is grayed out.

 

[Parroty69]

If it's inside your house it's fine. If you were in a coffee shop, someone else could view the network traffic and decipher the data fairly easily.

Even in your house though, I wouldn't put any personal information on the drive. No financial documents or things you wouldn't want anyone to steal.

Here's how you map a network drive: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...ndows-10-29ce55d1-34e3-a7e2-4801-131475f9557d

Is FTP more secure tham SMB? I don't want to have a security risk and I don't mind having to set a few things up

EDIT: I am now able to edit files and do stuff on the usb drive with FTP by turning on FTP on my router and typing ftp://192.168.1.1 in file explorer

 

[gggplaya]

I think FTP is probably going to be less secure. But not by much. FTP is a little faster than SMB.

The easiest way to test the speed is to just write 1 single large file to the drive and see what the average speed is. Then copy from the drive to see what the read speed is to your computer. A bunch of small files will be slower due to protocol overhead/handshaking.

Or use AJA disk speed test to check NAS speed: https://www.aja.com/products/aja-system-test