Q: Home sharing not working after update to iTunes 12.1

Also got this problem.  Running iTunes on Windows Server 2012 R2 datacenter, had been working completely fine, serving my library of music tv and films to my main pc, my appleTV, and my idevices.  Now it won't connect, even after the usual pulling and prodding to cajole it into working.  Not so bothered with the films as my ATV can just stream them, but my music library is vast and a lot is before I started using iTunes, so I can't just stream my playlists.

Hope Apple unbreaks homesharing soon...

Here's the deal...12.1 stinks.  I've had this issue since I upgraded (a few days ago) and tried all manner of fiddling with things.  What FINALLY fixed it was downgrading to 12.0.1 - which you can find online in various places.  Steps were very simple, and when I was done my library was still present intact.

1. Uninstall itunes completely - that includes mobile device and application support pieces

2. Rename your library file by adding .bak to the end of it

3. Reboot

4. Download and install the older version of itunes that you want to use

5. Login to the store and turn on home sharing - it should show up on the apple tv

Once this was done I was good to go, using windows 8.1

"run as administrator" just fixed my problem too!!! thanks!

I'm having a **** of a time getting home sharing to work.  I've got iTunes 12.1 on Windows 8.1.  I've got an Apple TV 3, iPad and iPhone.  I'm able to use home sharing on my Apple TV 3.  Most nights I need to restart iTunes on the PC and last night, had to reboot my home gateway.  I'm not able to get home sharing to work on any other devices.  On my PC, it has a hard wired network connection into the gateway.  My Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone all use the same wireless network.  I also have a MacBook Pro for work.  I can't get home sharing to work on that either.  On my iPad, I goto Music and do not see a More button.  On the iPhone I have the more button, but no shared playlists.  On the MacBook I open iTunes and see no shared library.  I've tried turning home sharing off and back on again on all devices.  I've restarted all devices and restarted gateway.  Nothing seems to work.  At least I can watch videos on my Apple TV for now.

**Edit:  After posting this reply, I was not sure if I had tried the run as administrator suggestion.  I tried it, and it worked.  This is confusing because User Access Control is disabled on this PC.  So is the firewall.  Odd, but I'll take it!

Run as administrator has NOT fixed my lack of connectivity with this iTunes build. 

Run as administrator worked for me.  Initially it did not.  After a reboot I tried 'Run As Administrator' and all my home sharing devices showed up immediately.  BTW, you can set iTunes to Run As Administrator by default by editing the Properties>Advanced>Compatibility settings.   Just find the application in file explorer (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes), right click, and drill down to the above location.

Windows 8.1, 4 Apple TVs.

Thanks for whoever found this fix.

So Run as Administrator initially worked for the first night... following day, nothing. I tried again, I tried setting the shortcut to always do it, rebooting pc, software, changing computer name... lots of different combinations. I ended up just using airplay to stream content to apple tv after I would sync it.

Today, I saw suggestion about rebooting router. I rebooted router, opened and closed itunes and it instantly showed up on my iDevices. I am not using the run as administrator option anymore... so I think it is just random luck. Gotta try everything to figure out what makes it work. Maybe my router was causing the issue, but it's interesting that run as administrator would work the first night, then not at all the next 2 days.

I've tried Run as Administrator and that hasn't worked.  I not in a position to reboot the router because the only time I ever really use home sharing is when I'm on the road for work so I'm always in a hotel.  I've never had an issue with Home Sharing until now and since I'm always at the mercy of other networks (and when I'm at my hotel I'm on the same network each time) I have to believe that whatever changed to break Home Sharing is something out of my control

Use Microsoft Fix it 50409 to disable IPv6 and it fixed my problem.  Who uses IPv6 anyway?

So I have replied several times with what I thought would fix my problem, only to find that home sharing no longer functions the next day and the previous fixes never work but what seems like the first time. So yet again, 2 days ago my home sharing did not work. I read about downgrading to a previous version of iTunes so decided to try that since nothing else worked this past time.

I am here to say that downgrading to older itunes worked! And it has worked for 2 days now!!

I found details on how to switch back to and older version of itunes here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/2u7ukg/tutorial_downgrading_itunes_12 1_to_1201_to/

Run as admin worked for a day...disabling IP6 worked last night (and still does). I also woke up to a 12.1.1 download notification for a new version. Maybe that will do the trick for good!

Well the new version didn't work for me right off the bat, and I don't have time to mess with it today.  Hopes dashed.  Look forward to the community input. 

The new version did not work for me either and the 'Run As Administrator' trick no longer works either so I removed that in properties.  Disabling IPv6 worked in restoring Home Sharing.

I have Windows 8.1 64 bit and don't see any change so far in Homegroup performance which as far as I know is the only reason to enable IPv6 at this time in the U.S.. In Windows 7 enabling IPv6 was required for creating and joining a Homegroup. Is this still the case?...just curious. I did not find any recent discussions on the matter.

I disabled IPv6 on my Windows 8.1 machine.  No difference.  Still buggy.  Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not.

Same issue with me.  All worked well until I updated to iTunes 12.1.0.71, then Home Sharing stopped working - no other changes to my PC (no Windows or Firewall changes etc.) After some research I found my issue to be port  blocking - check that you have TCP 3689 and UDP 5353 open.

All is now working. Why this issue should have suddenly materialised I have no idea.

I do not open iTunes as an Administrator either.

Hope this helps someone out there...

Windows 8.1

Virginmedia Router

iPv6 Enabled

Static IP Address for PC running iTunes