Why does my apple tv keep saying to turn on home sharing on my computer when it is already on?

Same issue here. Home Sharing in iTunes on my iMac is on. Netflix, Hulu, PBS, etc. on the ATV work fine. In the middle of watching a movie or TV show streaming from iTunes I get the message to turn on Home Sharing on all devices. It is on and works on my iPhone and iPad but not the ATV. Why???? I've rebooted my router and Airport many times as well as the ATV and the iMac. After messing around for a half hour I get it to work and it will last for another 15 minutes or so before I get the message to turn on Home Sharing.

Any suggestions before I throw the ATV in the garbage?

I have exactly the same problem, it has nothing to do with the PC going into sleep mode or anything else (at least not in my case) as my PC is on 24/7 and isn't able to sleep or power down.

One minute the library is showing (either via the 'remote' app or on the Apple TV) and then the next its gone.

Both devices are hardwired to the same network, there is no firewall installed and still the same problem.

Has anyone come up with a proper reason as to why this happens and more importantly - How to fix it!

Both my Xbox and Firestick can both see the library fine (via Plex) so i'm lost as to what could be causing this, used to have the same problem when I was on Windows 7 but seems to be worse now I've upgraded to 10.

Hi. You may be able to analyze this using the free Fing app. After scanning the network, you can review the Bonjour services offered by the computer. They should include home-sharing(tcp). If you repeat the scan after Home Sharing has disappeared, has it disappeared from the computer services? This could establish whether the computer service is dropping off, or if ATV is just losing sight of it.

Hi,

So at first i thought that it could be due to my Powerline Adaptors (which supply my iTunes library PC with network connection) not passing through the correct multicast broadcasts but after moving equipment around that doesn't seem to be the case.

The bonjour service is running on the windows 10 PC but any app or programme i use to see which services are running in my network show mixed responses. One minute its there, the next its gone.

See if your router has any settings that might affect Bonjour. IGMP and RIP are two I know of. By design, the multicast packets don't propagate very far, so if the network is a litltle complicated, they may not reach all the nodes. I assume you are not running Microsoft Active Directory on the Windows system.

I've had a quick look at the router but its a basic Sky hub. There's no obvious section which mentions internal routing etc.

The network is quite basic, the only complication being these power-line adapters feeding an area that doesn't have wireless access but as i've temporarily moved the PC to connect directly to the router (which also has a direct connection to the AppleTV - all wired) i'm prone to thinking the issue lies with Windows 10 (or the router blocking these broadcasts).

Ironically my Amazon Firestick which runs Plex can see the iTunes library no problem and works perfectly.

No, i'm not running AD on the windows machine.

Right. Sounds straightforward. You're sure there's no Windows firewall getting in the way? It's troubling that the computer home_sharing service disappears from a network scan. That's fundamental to getting this working. Try restarting computer and router?

Ok so I've used the blunderbuss approach of wiping the Windows 10 machine and reinstalling everything from scratch.

This appears to have resolved the dropping 'Home Sharing' issue although i have yet to try putting the Power-line adapters back in to see if they're blocking the multicast broadcasts.

I'll give this a go over the weekend and see what happens.

In the meantime i need to now resolve the problem (which i had before too) of iTunes becoming very slow and unresponsive when browsing between sections (and taking 5 mins plus to launch a film via the Apple TV). I'm guessing this is due to my library sitting on an external HD connected to the PC via USB but annoyingly it doesn't slow down at all when using a 3rd party software such as Plex. I'll post a new post though for that rather than hijack this one.

wonder if your ATV is hard wired, like mine is. I have the problem. You said your iPhone and iPad dont lose sharing but ATV does. wonder if we are hard wired on ATV when our iPhone and iPad are wifi??? just guessing at this point. since nobody has an answer. I will say like someone else said, my other apps like Plex has zero problem playing anything in my music library. If i went to use music app on ATV4 it tells me to turn on sharing.

I run an all-Apple ecosystem, with my media library on a mid-2010 iMac connected to a wired network driven by an Airport Extreme BaseStation. I have 3 ATV3s that maintain a rock-solid connection to HomeSharing - even the one connected via WiFi. But my main living room ATV4 has never been able to hold it's connection for more than a few hours and will, on occasion, drop out halfway through watching a movie.

All devices are set up and checked out per the troubleshooting recommendations; they are all running the latest software/firmware. Both the iMac and ATV4 are set to never sleep. Yet still this happens all the time. Makes me wonder if this is intentional on the part of Apple to make us use their media services instead of keeping our own libraries; this is the #1 issue I see in every ATV chat room and forum, yet Apple still fail to resolve this incredibly frustrating issue that makes the ATV4 all-but worthless.

I only started having this problem after updating iTunes to version 12.7.

Now Apple TV gives me that same message randomly, even though home sharing is already turned on and iTunes is running.

I turn off and on home sharing. Sometimes that works.

I restart Apple TV. Sometimes that works.

I thought it's just supposed to work??

The following article(s) may help you.

Troubleshooting Home Sharing

Security Software Issues

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections

Recommended Wi-Fi settings

Wifi Diagnostic Software (for Mac users)

You may also find some help on this page, where I’ve collected some of the more unusual solutions to network issues.

When making adjustments to your network for better optimisation, you may find some of the points mentioned on this page helpful.

Hi

Make sure home sharing& iCloud is turned on

All apple devices in sharing send music to

Your Apple I'd on Apple TV then you will get

All your music on Atv4.

Cheers

Brian

I've just started having the same problem too -- I've reset and restored my Apple TV, it's software is up to date and it IS connected to the WiFi network that my Mac is using, logged in with the same Apple User ID acct. I've also just updated my iTunes in case that was the problem and it still hasn't solved it.

My Mac is running El Capitan v10.11.3 and my Apple TV is running 6.2.1

Please advise -- I'm losing my mind 😕

Just to make sure, you do know you have to have iTunes launched and running for Home Sharing to work.