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Rob de Jonge
Level 3 (515 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Home Sharing could not be activated (error 5506)

I've created a fresh new Apple ID. When I go into iTunes and using this Apple ID try to create a home share, iTunes returns the following error ...

 

"Home Sharing could not be activated because an error occurred (5506)."

 

Using my original Apple ID, I *am* able to create a home share so I don't think it is anything about the account, network, iTunes install, etc.

 

Any thoughts?

Macbook Pro 2010 and Mac mini 2007, dreaming of an iPhone with a keyboard, Mac OS X (10.6.5), Airport Extreme, Apple TV, iPad and Blackberry phone

Posted on Jun 11, 2011 8:33 PM

by Losf,Solvedanswer
Losf Losf
Level 1 (15 points)
A:

I ran into the same problem as well. Resolved by authorizing the newly created Apple ID account to the iTunes library you're trying to "Home Share". Enjoy!

Posted on Jun 16, 2011 1:50 AM

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Rob de Jonge

Q: Home Sharing could not be activated (error 5506)

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  • by 109,

    109 109 Jun 11, 2011 11:09 PM in response to Rob de Jonge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 11, 2011 11:09 PM in response to Rob de Jonge

    Having the same problem now, did you find a solution?

  • by Losf,Solvedanswer

    Losf Losf Jun 16, 2011 1:50 AM in response to Rob de Jonge
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Jun 16, 2011 1:50 AM in response to Rob de Jonge

    I ran into the same problem as well. Resolved by authorizing the newly created Apple ID account to the iTunes library you're trying to "Home Share". Enjoy!

  • by Rob de Jonge,

    Rob de Jonge Rob de Jonge Jun 16, 2011 5:47 AM in response to Losf
    Level 3 (515 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 16, 2011 5:47 AM in response to Losf

    Indeed! Go into iTunes, log on to the iTunes Store using your new account. After that, the account will be working!

     

    Thanks @Losf!

  • by dpick,

    dpick dpick Jun 16, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Rob de Jonge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 16, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Rob de Jonge

    I just bought a new laptop.I already had home sharing setup between 3 computers.I tried to add my new computer using the same appleid I used for sharing before but I receive this 5506 error saying home sharing culd not be setup. Any ideas for this circumstance?

  • by dpick,

    dpick dpick Jun 16, 2011 7:08 PM in response to dpick
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 16, 2011 7:08 PM in response to dpick

    Never mind - I activated the appleid on this new computer inthe applestore and then home sharing worked correctly. Sure would help if theerror message was a little more helpful.

  • by Mike Bender,

    Mike Bender Mike Bender Jun 25, 2011 11:53 PM in response to Rob de Jonge
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Jun 25, 2011 11:53 PM in response to Rob de Jonge

    Except that doesn't work if you want to activate your new Apple ID and use it for Home Sharing but do not want to provide any credit card information to the iTunes store. It seems that Apple has decided to remove the "None" as a payment option in the iTunes store if you try to use your new Apple ID to sign in to the iTunes store so that you can use this Apple ID just for Home Sharing.

     

    I have to say that parenthetically, this whole notion of requiring an Apple ID for "Home Sharing" is really a bad design decision on Apple's part - it is conflating tow unrelated things - sharing media from computers on your home network with each other and with devices like Apple TV and the business of buying/renting content from the iTunes store. Me feeling is that this tie-in is intentional on Apple's part since they want to make it easy for anyone on your home network to buy iTunes content so they require a payment method be setup for the Apple ID used for Home Sharing.

  • by Mike Bender,

    Mike Bender Mike Bender Jun 26, 2011 12:09 AM in response to Mike Bender
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Jun 26, 2011 12:09 AM in response to Mike Bender

    It is a big PITA to do this without tying your Home Sharing Apple ID to your real iTunes account that has a real source of funding attached to it. Basically you follow this article:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2534

     

    Having this be an official Apple support article makes me wonder if Apple got a whole lot of complaints from people that don't want to connect a credit card to an iTunes account so Apple created this back door as a way to do that. Not sure why they can't just allow an Apple ID to be created and used with iTunes for Home Sharing without requiring the user to supply payment information. Seems like maybe the Apple ID and iTunes Store and Home Sharing teams don't talk to each other. Oh right, it's Apple - they don't talk to each other.

     

    I love Apple stuff - been using it as both a consumer and a developer for many years, but this whole recent mess with abandoning the Apple TV Gen 1 and then coming up with Apple TV Gen 2 and then only supporting Home Sharing with all the crap you have to go through to just do basic sharing and the inability of the Apple TV to do more than one Home Sharing account is really starting to wear on me.

  • by nycues,

    nycues nycues Jun 27, 2011 6:27 AM in response to Mike Bender
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 27, 2011 6:27 AM in response to Mike Bender

    thanks... i was about to grimace and type in the credit card details but this saved me. agree that making you go through the apple ID rigamarole (let alone giving up a credit card number) to share your own music with yourself is BS.

  • by supporthelp,

    supporthelp supporthelp Jun 27, 2011 2:26 PM in response to Rob de Jonge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 27, 2011 2:26 PM in response to Rob de Jonge

    my problem is that i log into home sharing on my mac and my windows pc and then when i log into home sharing and i click done the home sharing symbol goes away and i cannot share my library from my mac to my pc and i just got 77 new songs on my mac and i really want them on my pc so i can put them on my ipod and this problem is making me really mad cus it is not working so if anyone has the answer please help me