Mac Mini shared on network - buggy?

[dmk1974]

I have been having problems with my Mac Mini that is shared on my home network. I have all the settings set properly to share it and it usually shows up under the shared devices in Finder, but often times it just intermittently disappears (from Finder as well as iTunes Home Sharing). Anyone else have this problem?

I currently have it also set so it does not go to sleep so theoretically should always be accessible.

 

[Edge100]

I have been having problems with my Mac Mini that is shared on my home network. I have all the settings set properly to share it and it usually shows up under the shared devices in Finder, but often times it just intermittently disappears (from Finder as well as iTunes Home Sharing). Anyone else have this problem?

I currently have it also set so it does not go to sleep so theoretically should always be accessible.

Yes, I have the same issue. It's frustrating.

One thing that usually works is to have the Mini set to automatically restart at, say, 2AM, and then to automatically open necessary applications (for me, that's iTunes and Plex Media Server).

 

[dmk1974]

Does it also matter if connected wireless vs wired? I can connect it both ways to my Time Capsule/Router (while still disabling sleep mode).

 

[Edge100]

Does it also matter if connected wireless vs wired? I can connect it both ways to my Time Capsule/Router (while still disabling sleep mode).

Wired is always best, of course. Mine is wireless.

 

[dmk1974]

Just frustrating. I had a Windows PC that was my network "server" machine for 5 years and never had a problem accessing it immediately from any of my other Macs or PCs in the house. Just made this switch in the past month to the Mac Mini and it's been a pain.

Maybe I'll try wired gigabit ethernet to see if there's any difference.

 

[dmk1974]

Well, I connected it via ethernet about 4 hours ago and so far with various tests, no issues at all. Maybe WiFi connections for the Mini just aren't all that reliable on a network? I'll continue to test it and report back.

One thing of interest, I even set it to sleep after 10 minutes (and wake on network). No issues with that either from a separate MacBook on the network, but really, I don't think it went to sleep at all.

 

[mr.steevo]

I had Homesharing issues with iTunes on my network (worked wirelessly but not over ethernet) which turned out to be a problem with the model of router I was using. I switched to a different router (borrowed a neighbours router) and the problem was gone.