tomfrombothell

Q: iTunes Airplay Icon Missing (iTunes 12, Windows 8.1)

Hi, all.

 

I'm new to the forum and did search for this topic, but most items I found were for 2013 and 2014.

 

I just updated to iTunes 12.1.1.4 and run Windows 8.1. I have an Apple TV in the media room, Apple Airport Express hooked up to a speaker in the living room, and an iHome iW1 speaker in the kitchen on my network.

 

On my iPad Air 2, I can see:

- Apple TV

- Airport Express

- iHome iW1

 

On my iPhone 6, I can see:

- Apple TV

- Airport Express

 

On my Windows machine, I can see:

- Nothing. There is no Airplay icon.

 

I'm willing to write off the iPhone issue. The iHome product has always been a bit buggy requiring way more restarts/resets than I thought was reasonable. But the Windows missing Airplay icon is maddening. It's the only way to broadcast music to more than one speaker in my pseudo-Sonos setup.

 

I've tried various fixes (restarts, modem restarts, IPv6/IPv4 switch on & off) with no luck. Anyone else experiencing this problem and/or have a suggested fix? Thanks!

iPad Air, Windows 8, iTunes 12

Posted on Feb 26, 2015 5:16 PM

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Q: iTunes Airplay Icon Missing (iTunes 12, Windows 8.1)

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  • by braden85,

    braden85 braden85 Feb 28, 2015 8:12 AM in response to tomfrombothell
    Community Specialists
    Feb 28, 2015 8:12 AM in response to tomfrombothell

    Hey tomfrombothell,

     

    I understand that you are experiencing some issues with your ability to AirPlay from iTunes on your PC. I do have some suggestions for you regarding this issue that can be found in the following article:

     

    iTunes: Troubleshooting AirPlay and AirPlay Mirroring - Apple Support

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203822

     

    Thanks for coming to the Apple Support Communities!

     

    Regards,

     

    Braden

  • by utsavb_kol,

    utsavb_kol utsavb_kol Mar 6, 2015 10:47 AM in response to tomfrombothell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 6, 2015 10:47 AM in response to tomfrombothell

    I'm using iTunes 12.1.1.4 on my Windows 8.1 Pro on my desktop, since the desktop is an old model so it has no built-in Wi-Fi. So what I did was, I've this Htc Explorer 2012 model which I connected to the Home network and then tethered the connection to my desktop through the USB data cable. I've Internet connection on my desktop now, thanks to the tethering, but I can't see the Airplay icon in iTunes of my desktop and another thing I noticed, might be related to this, I've a Samsung Smart TV too, for which I use Samsung AllShare to stream media to my TV from the laptop, but when I'm trying to stream from the desktop, AllShare wouldn't list my Smart TV. And I've tried the disabling/enabling the IPv6 option, but doesn't help me. If anyone has any solution please help. 

  • by urbanslaughter,

    urbanslaughter urbanslaughter Mar 15, 2015 10:20 AM in response to braden85
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2015 10:20 AM in response to braden85

    I'm so frustrated with you people. You post the link to these articles every time someone asks about the missing airplay icon. But neither article addresses that issue. You act like it's a panacea for this problem and it offers no support whatsoever.

  • by s20theforce,

    s20theforce s20theforce Mar 28, 2015 10:57 AM in response to urbanslaughter
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 28, 2015 10:57 AM in response to urbanslaughter

    I agree. I'm having the exact same problem. What do we do

  • by snostarr,

    snostarr snostarr Apr 3, 2015 6:30 PM in response to braden85
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2015 6:30 PM in response to braden85

    Your links don't help.  Home sharing is working on all of my devices (2 phones, 1 ipad, 1 ipod touch, 1 mac book pro) except iTunes on my desktop computer.  My desktop iTunes showed the icon at one point but it has since disappeared. Any better suggestions??

  • by randy6434,

    randy6434 randy6434 Apr 11, 2015 1:38 PM in response to tomfrombothell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 11, 2015 1:38 PM in response to tomfrombothell

    I agree, I'm having the same problem as well.  Everything works fine, except connecting to iTunes on a PC.  I've configured the router per the article, I've tried switching everything on and off and back on again.  I've spent over 9 hours working on this issue and nothing seems to work.  For months it was sync issues between iTunes and iPhone.  That got fixed but this got broken.

     

    With Apple, it's always something.  Help  I want to watch my movies on my Apple TV instead of my laptop.

  • by fachartzt,

    fachartzt fachartzt Apr 23, 2015 9:53 PM in response to tomfrombothell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 23, 2015 9:53 PM in response to tomfrombothell

    Seemingly each new update from Apple brings with it a series of problems.  All is well, then Apple nags you until you download the newest version and voila: something is irretrievably amiss. It would seem best to wait at least a year till all the bugs are worked out before downloading.

     

    Alas too late for me, I am also suffering from the loss of the icon.  This is not due to a network connection issue as Airplay functions well from all my other Apple devices.

     

    Life goes on and perhaps someday soon there will be an update and a fix.

  • by randy6434,

    randy6434 randy6434 Apr 24, 2015 7:49 AM in response to tomfrombothell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 24, 2015 7:49 AM in response to tomfrombothell


    It took me a while but I turned off the Ipv6 support on the computer that is running iTunes, restarted and there was my airplay icon and all is well with the world again.

  • by jwe612,Helpful

    jwe612 jwe612 Apr 26, 2015 5:56 PM in response to randy6434
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 26, 2015 5:56 PM in response to randy6434

    Worked for me!  Here are the steps for Windows 7:

     

    Start menu

    Control Panel

    Network and Sharing Center

    Change adapter settings

    Right-click on active network connection, then select ‘Properties’

    Uncheck ‘Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)’

    Press ‘OK’

    Restart computer

  • by fachartzt,

    fachartzt fachartzt Apr 27, 2015 8:37 PM in response to randy6434
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 27, 2015 8:37 PM in response to randy6434

    Thanks for posting.

    I turned off Internet protocol 6 and rebooted with no effect. I then uninstall iTunes and got my iPhone sync back. However, the elusive AirPlay icon is still a no show.  I've also tried plugging computer directly into my AirPort Extrem without effect. I'll keep at it  And I thought comcast was hard to work with...

  • by fachartzt,

    fachartzt fachartzt Apr 28, 2015 9:07 PM in response to randy6434
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 28, 2015 9:07 PM in response to randy6434

    Ok, I finally have it and you were right all along: The key is that all devices have to use Ipv4. Otherwise, devices are using Ipv4 and 6 intermittently and therefore won't communicate.  I say this given my vast IT knowledge, which is really woefully inadequate.

     

    In other words, first click off Ipv6 on whatever your computer network is using.

    Then make sure your router (in my case Airport Extreme) has Ipv6 clicked off and then press update.

    Then you have to restart your airport express.

    Restart your computer and there she is: the Airplay Icon!

     

    Here is the link that describes the process:

    Itunes x64 Windows 8.1 Itunes 11.1.3, Itunes doesn't display airplay icon for multi speakers, it does appear when my iphone connects via airplay to my airport express being used for wireless audio. How to fix ?

     

    In my case, I had just added the Airport Extreme which had the Ipv6 clicked on and messed up the lines of communication since my computer runs over LAN.

  • by TheSquiresFamilySix,

    TheSquiresFamilySix TheSquiresFamilySix Jul 9, 2015 9:13 AM in response to jwe612
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 9, 2015 9:13 AM in response to jwe612

    You are totally wonderful!  Thank you so much and HOW IN THE WORLD did you figure that out?  I NEVER would've gotten it to work.  THANK YOU!

  • by Tracedoggy,

    Tracedoggy Tracedoggy Aug 22, 2015 8:51 AM in response to fachartzt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 22, 2015 8:51 AM in response to fachartzt

    Thanks @fachartzt !!!! That pointed me in the right direction. I have multiple network adapters configured on my PC, so I went into each one and turned off Ipv6 protocols and that did the trick! All I did was close iTunes and reopen it and BAM! Hello Airplay icon!!  This will work in the short term, but since we ran out of Ipv4 addresses Apple needs to fix this issue. http://www.wsj.com/articles/coming-this-summer-u-s-will-run-out-of-internet-addr esses-1431479401

  • by Goddessodiscord,

    Goddessodiscord Goddessodiscord Aug 29, 2015 8:46 PM in response to jwe612
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 29, 2015 8:46 PM in response to jwe612

    Thank you! This worked perfectly.

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