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Q: Apple TV doesn't connect to iTunes Library when starting up

I have Apple TV 4, iTunes 12.3.3.xx, Windows 10.  Home Sharing works fine to stream music and movies from my iTunes Library...sometimes. Almost every time I turn on my Apple TV and go to the Computers App, it tells me to turn on Home Sharing in iTunes.  It's already turned on and my PC is set to Never Sleep and hard drive to Never turn off.  If I turn off Home Sharing in iTunes and then turn it back on, the Apple TV immediately recognizes the Library and I can stream just fine.  The next time I turn on my Apple TV, I have to do the whole routine over again.  It didn't used to do this when I was using my old XP machine, but I also couldn't upgrade to iTunes 12 on XP.  Once I got a Windows 10 machine and put iTunes 12 on it, the problem started.  So, I don't know if it's Windows 10 or iTunes 12 or what.  It's getting really annoying.  Please help me figure out why my Apple TV can't see my Library when I first turn it on.

Apple TV, Windows 10

Posted on Apr 6, 2016 7:59 AM

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Q: Apple TV doesn't connect to iTunes Library when starting up

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  • by aeroku,

    aeroku aeroku Apr 7, 2016 9:46 AM in response to aeroku
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 7, 2016 9:46 AM in response to aeroku

    I read some other posts about people not being able to get Home Sharing to work at all (where mine would work after turning Home Sharing off and back on again).  They said that disabling IPv6 on the Network Adapter on the PC solved their issue.  I did this, and so far my problem has disappeared.  I'll report back in a couple of days once I have a chance to see if it happens again.

  • by aeroku,

    aeroku aeroku Apr 9, 2016 7:53 AM in response to aeroku
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 9, 2016 7:53 AM in response to aeroku

    Well, it's still happening.  I've exhausted all my options that I can think of. Does anyone have any ideas??

  • by aeroku,

    aeroku aeroku Apr 11, 2016 8:25 AM in response to aeroku
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 11, 2016 8:25 AM in response to aeroku

    BTT

  • by johngiesbrecht,

    johngiesbrecht johngiesbrecht Apr 17, 2016 2:07 PM in response to aeroku
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 17, 2016 2:07 PM in response to aeroku

    This exact same issue is happening with me. I have to turn off/on the Home Sharing in iTunes in order for it to appear again on the AppleTV 4. Closing and re-opening iTunes also solves the problem.

     

    The difference with my experience is that it will also stop streaming at certain points, if we're listening to music via Home Sharing, watching TV, a movie, etc. Sometimes it will just cut out, and I have to restart iTunes again to get it to come back. Then it will stream fine again, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes just a few minutes. Whenever we try to watch a movie we never know if we'll be able to get through the whole thing without having to restart iTunes. It's driving me crazy!

     

    I've turned off the ipv6, made sure certain ports are open on our router, done network tests, etc. Both my Windows 10 computer and the Apple TV are plugged in to the router, no wi-fi, so this really should be rock solid.

     

    Are there any solutions out there?

  • by aeroku,

    aeroku aeroku Apr 26, 2016 2:49 PM in response to johngiesbrecht
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 26, 2016 2:49 PM in response to johngiesbrecht

    Bump.

  • by johngiesbrecht,

    johngiesbrecht johngiesbrecht Apr 26, 2016 2:53 PM in response to aeroku
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 26, 2016 2:53 PM in response to aeroku

    So, fingers crossed, but I think I may have found the solution: in the Windows Sharing menu, there's an option at the very bottom that has "Windows Sharing with a Password", or something along those lines. You have to turn that off. Once I did that, everything started miraculously working with my AppleTV 4 Home Sharing. Here's hoping that's the fix!

  • by aeroku,

    aeroku aeroku Apr 26, 2016 3:20 PM in response to johngiesbrecht
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 26, 2016 3:20 PM in response to johngiesbrecht

    "Turn off password protected sharing" is already selected on my computer.  Not sure what else I can do.

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Apr 26, 2016 4:09 PM in response to aeroku
    Level 4 (2,942 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 26, 2016 4:09 PM in response to aeroku

    Make sure the bonjour service is running on your PC. It remembers the services iTunes is offering.

     

    Some routers, mostly those from ISPs, don't route the bonjour discovery packets between wired and WiFi networks. If ATV and PC are not both on the same wired or WiFi network, you could try changing that and see if it helps. When ATV wakes up, it sends a multicast message to find all bonjour services. If your PC doesn't hear this poll, it won't respond. Turning iTunes off/on sends the packets that ATV needs to see.

     

    What tvOS version is on your ATV? This might just be a software foul-up that needs to be fixed. Remember, ATV 4 is pretty new, so we're all just feeling our way here. If you cannot find a viable fix, you should report it at http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html so at least Apple knows there are problems.

  • by aeroku,

    aeroku aeroku Apr 26, 2016 6:40 PM in response to Diana.McCall
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 26, 2016 6:40 PM in response to Diana.McCall

    The bonjour service is running on the PC.  I have an Asus RT-N66R router (not from ISP) and multicast routing is enabled.  ATV and PC are on the same network, but PC is wired and ATV is wireless.  I have ATV 3, software version 7.2.1 (8011). This setup had been working just fine for a long time, until I replaced my XP desktop with a new Windows 10 desktop.  I've done everything I can think of to resolve this and I can't figure it out for the life of me.

  • by Diana.McCall,

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Apr 27, 2016 3:42 AM in response to aeroku
    Level 4 (2,942 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 27, 2016 3:42 AM in response to aeroku

    Could you try wired connection for ATV, just to rule out the possibility?

    You might search for iTunes problems with Win 10. You may need to change some system settings to make things work smoothly.

  • by Diana.McCall,Apple recommended

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Apr 27, 2016 5:13 AM in response to aeroku
    Level 4 (2,942 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 27, 2016 5:13 AM in response to aeroku

    One further thought. You might check that the required ports TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products - Apple Support are open in your firewall. That's a terrible list, but you certainly need 5353 Bonjour, 5000, 6010-6012, and 7000 AirPlay. It may be that iTunes can send OK, but queries from ATV are being blocked

  • by aeroku,

    aeroku aeroku Apr 28, 2016 5:32 PM in response to Diana.McCall
    Level 1 (16 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 28, 2016 5:32 PM in response to Diana.McCall

    I opened all those ports on my router and that did not fix the problem.

  • by Diana.McCall,Solvedanswer

    Diana.McCall Diana.McCall Apr 29, 2016 2:55 AM in response to aeroku
    Level 4 (2,942 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 29, 2016 2:55 AM in response to aeroku

    Hi. I think you misunderstood. You should not open those ports in your router since that opens you up to the world. I said you should open them in your firewall, meaning the firewall in your Windows system. I don't have Win 10, but I assume Windows still provides a robust built-in firewall. Or you may be running a third party firewall that came pre-installed. You see, I think Windows is blocking ATV when it asks what services are being offered.