Home Sharing Not Working Between iTunes and Apple TV

[Sylon]

This hasn't worked with Yosemite for several months now. It keeps saying it cannot connect to my library. I know my Apple TV acknowledges that my iTunes is there because when I have my iTunes open I get the Apple TV logo on my TV. However, when I quit out of iTunes, it changes and shows the Home Sharing message on my tv.

I just want to play videos from my Mac to my TV without the need for a USB or using my gaming consoles. That was the whole point of getting this thing and now it doesn't work. Is there any way I can fix this issue?

 

[sonicrobby]

I may not be understanding correctly, but you're saying Tthe error comes up when you quit itunes? I belive iTunes needs to be open for home sharing to work, but you still get the error that it won't connecteven then?

 

[Sylon]

This is what happens when I turn on, or wake up, my Apple TV with my iTunes open on my Mac.




This is what happens when I select the Home Sharing Icon, it says it cannot connect to my library.





So, to test to see if it's even acknowledging that my iTunes even exists, if I close out of iTunes, this screen appears.




So I know it 'sees' my iTunes, it just won't connect to it. They are both on the same Apple Airport Extreme via wifi (all my LAN ports on my APX are filled). I tried deleting the library profile on my Apple TV and entering it back in, no luck.

 

[beachmusic]

I know this ain't the answer you want but I get this same error when I haven't used the Apple TV in awhile. The only "fix" I could find was to shutdown iTunes and restart it. I will watch this thread to see if someone has a more elegant solution

 

[Sylon]

I know this ain't the answer you want but I get this same error when I haven't used the Apple TV in awhile. The only "fix" I could find was to shutdown iTunes and restart it. I will watch this thread to see if someone has a more elegant solution

I don't think I'll get a solution to this problem though, but feel free to keep an eye on this thread just in case.

 

[Schabulke]

Perhaps THIS will work

I had the same Problems for 6 Months. I find the solution and now it works for me: You must klick in the system panel and than "Sharing" (Deutsch: Freigaben).
Then you must opt in the sharing option.
I think Yosemite automatically desable this Function

 

[Sylon]

I had the same Problems for 6 Months. I find the solution and now it works for me: You must klick in the system panel and than "Sharing" (Deutsch: Freigaben).
Then you must opt in the sharing option.
I think Yosemite automatically desable this Function

Which System Panel? The Mac System Preferences or iTunes? iTunes already has Sharing turned on.

 

[rasputin666]

this fixed my issue

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203970

If your Apple TV can't play content from Home Sharing or you see a “Could not connect to [Library]” message, follow these steps. You might need to update the name of your Mac.
On your Mac, open System Preferences from the Apple () menu.
Open the Sharing pane.
Double-click the name of your Mac in the Computer Name field.
Press Delete.
Type a new name in the now blank Computer Name field.
Close the Sharing pane. System Preferences automatically saves the new name.
Go to iTunes.
Quit iTunes and then launch it again.

 

[Schabulke]

System preferences

Hey,

I mean the General System Preference and then "Sharing".
I wanted to share something else and "paff" - Apple TV works - after 6 Months.

 

[Sylon]

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203970

If your Apple TV can't play content from Home Sharing or you see a “Could not connect to [Library]” message, follow these steps. You might need to update the name of your Mac.
On your Mac, open System Preferences from the Apple () menu.
Open the Sharing pane.
Double-click the name of your Mac in the Computer Name field.
Press Delete.
Type a new name in the now blank Computer Name field.
Close the Sharing pane. System Preferences automatically saves the new name.
Go to iTunes.
Quit iTunes and then launch it again.

Thank you! After a couple of attempts it's finally working again.

 

[rasputin666]

Thank you! After a couple of attempts it's finally working again.

you're welcome

 

[MJG196]

this fixed my issue

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203970

If your Apple TV can't play content from Home Sharing or you see a “Could not connect to [Library]” message, follow these steps. You might need to update the name of your Mac.
On your Mac, open System Preferences from the Apple () menu.
Open the Sharing pane.
Double-click the name of your Mac in the Computer Name field.
Press Delete.
Type a new name in the now blank Computer Name field.
Close the Sharing pane. System Preferences automatically saves the new name.
Go to iTunes.
Quit iTunes and then launch it again.

Finally! This is what fixed it for me!! Thank you, thank you.

All of my searching and all of the workarounds posted elsewhere didn't work at all. I reset my iTunes, deleted libraries, reset my Apple TV, and your answer did the trick! May God bless you!

Also, is it just me or are the official Apple forums the unfriendliest and least helpful Apple forums on the Interwebs?!

 

[MJG196]

Finally! This is what fixed it for me!! Thank you, thank you.

All of my searching and all of the workarounds posted elsewhere didn't work at all. I reset my iTunes, deleted libraries, reset my Apple TV, and your answer did the trick! May God bless you!

Also, is it just me or are the official Apple forums the unfriendliest and least helpful Apple forums on the Interwebs?!

I spoke too soon. I need to perform this "fix" constantly - this must be an Apple issue and not anything wrong with my network.

 

[t0ny76]

So, none of the above solutions worked for me. I did everything apple recommended as well as everything above with no success. The only thing that worked was to Ethernet the ATV's. I have 5 throughout the house. the only ones I was able to to "hard" connect via Ethernet are now working and can see the home sharing library. The other 3 wireless ones still produce the same error as before. Naturally it has something to do with the network layer just not sure what. perhaps how the service is broadcasted on the wire vs the wireless.

 

[Lightstorm66]

So here I am, almost a year and a half later looking for the same solution.

Sylon and t0ny76, I hope you got your solution. I found what was wrong with mine.

I had done a "fresh" build of Sierra on my iMac, which I like to do once a year to clear all the junk. iTunes showed that sharing was on, but I didn't know you had to TURN IT ON in the iTunes menu.

I went to File -> Home Sharing -> Turn On Home Sharing

BAM. All was fine. I certainly hope the two of you got squared away, 'cuz MAN, this was frustrating.

 

[jfiggy77]

I have been searching for a solution to this problem for a year now and it wasn't until I read Lightstorm66's post below that I was able to get home sharing to work. The simple step of going to File -> Home Sharing -> and turning home sharing on, fixed my issue. It's a two-step process. You have to enable home sharing in the iTunes preferences then you also have to enable it from the File tab. I wish Apple would explain this before people go crazy trying to figure out why home sharing isn't working.

So here I am, almost a year and a half later looking for the same solution.

Sylon and t0ny76, I hope you got your solution. I found what was wrong with mine.

I had done a "fresh" build of Sierra on my iMac, which I like to do once a year to clear all the junk. iTunes showed that sharing was on, but I didn't know you had to TURN IT ON in the iTunes menu.

I went to File -> Home Sharing -> Turn On Home Sharing

BAM. All was fine. I certainly hope the two of you got squared away, 'cuz MAN, this was frustrating.

 

[rglassey]

I found my Apple TV (3rd generation) wouldn't recognise Home Sharing after rebuilding my server laptop (old laptop running OS X Server to complicate things). The clue was the Apple TV wouldn't see the libraries for either my server laptop, or my working laptop, even though both were set up with home sharing. This meant it wasn't either of the laptops at fault, but the Apple TV connection to Home Sharing.

I fixed this by going into Settings > Computers > Turn Off Home Sharing on the Apple TV, and then turning Home Sharing back on again. Then it worked.

 

[tavaren11]

So here I am, almost a year and a half later looking for the same solution.

Sylon and t0ny76, I hope you got your solution. I found what was wrong with mine.

I had done a "fresh" build of Sierra on my iMac, which I like to do once a year to clear all the junk. iTunes showed that sharing was on, but I didn't know you had to TURN IT ON in the iTunes menu.

I went to File -> Home Sharing -> Turn On Home Sharing

BAM. All was fine. I certainly hope the two of you got squared away, 'cuz MAN, this was frustrating.

Same here. So simple and so stupid. Thanks amigo!