Apple TV won't recognize Homesharing

[imamacguy17]

My 4th gen Apple TV will not recognize my computer's home sharing (it give's me the error splash screen telling me to turn it on). However on my mac mini it says i have home sharing turned on, and my library shows up on my wife's macbook pro (just streamed a song as a test). I've tried resetting the apple tv, however it still doesn't see my computer or my wife's. Any other suggestions?

 

[rolsskk]

How is your ATV connected to the home network? Is it WiFi? If so, are you sure it's on your home network?

 

[niteflyr]

Trouble shooting help:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203311

 

[Richard8655]

I've found that if your Mac Mini is asleep, you'll get that message from ATV. I would try again, but first make sure your Mac Mini is not in sleep mode. Also make sure that "wake for network access" is checked in Energy Saver in the Mini's system preferences.

 

[Gjwilly]

I get this every time I wake my Apple TV and my Mini runs 24/7.
A restart of the Apple TV (via the settings menu) usually fixes it.

 

[batlogic]

In my set up, I have to set the Apple TV to never sleep. It will lose the network connection to home share every time it sleeps. The other thing that works is to quit iTunes and relaunch iTunes while the Apple TV is powered up.

 

[Beerstalker]

I've been having this issue on both of my Apple TV4. Usually signing out of home sharing, and signing back in will get it going. Sometimes I have to sign off and sign back in on my desktop PC running iTunes as well, but usually just doing so on the Apple TV4 works.

 

[Richard8655]

One more thought on this as it just happened to me. Sometimes I'll reboot my Mini for other reasons and forget to start iTunes. That'll also cause this as iTunes has to be running, obviously.

 

[5684697]

42

 

[Richard8655]

I can't get it to work either.

Complex as it is, the network continues to limit all of these wonderful features. Stuff simply doesn't work, or is such a headache that it isn't worth fixing with. I end up airplaying media from an iPad to the ATV. That works most of the time.

I agree, it is way more complicated than it should be, but it will work with required settings. The most important ones include ATV connected to wifi network with good signal, computer awake and running, iTunes up and running, wake for network access checked (if Mac based), Homesharing turned on in both iTunes and ATV.

 

[5684697]

I agree, it is way more complicated than it should be, but it will work with required settings. The most important ones include ATV connected to wifi network with good signal, computer awake and running, iTunes up and running, wake for network access checked (if Mac based), Homesharing turned on in both iTunes and ATV.

Thank you for the tips. I will try again, just out of principle!

 

[Richard8655]

Thank you for the tips. I will try again, just out of principle!

Yes, give it a try. But you're right, there are situations where even these won't fix it. Good luck!

 

[CaseyGV]

If it makes you feel better, I experience this very frequently as well. I'm running iTunes on Windows (migrated from a Mac) and while it feels like it happens much more often now that I'm on Windows, it happened from time to time on my Mac also. Closing and reopening iTunes usually fixes it as does turning off home sharing and turning it back on, but it is very frustrating. My Apple TV 3 occasionally experiences this as well, but not nearly as much as the 4 does.

 

[rugmankc]

I get this every time I wake my Apple TV and my Mini runs 24/7.
A restart of the Apple TV (via the settings menu) usually fixes it.

Same here, maybe an OS issue

 

[cynics]

This doesn't help you buy I can say for certain mine works 99% of the time (I can't remember it not working but I don't want to deal in absolutes). So it is possible to get working correctly. Home Sharing is about the only thing I don't have a problem with.

2013 iMac (always on), Airport Extreme 6th gen and ATV4. All on latest OS's and firmwares.