Users of Apple iTunes for Microsoft Windows may experience a problem where the Home Sharing feature doesn’t work. When you attempt to connect to the music library of another computer, the connection fails and items never appears in the left pane. Assuming you have both computers connected to the same network, here are some things you can try to fix this problem.
Fix 1 – Bonjour Service
First, make sure that the Bonjour service is running on your computer. You can check this by going to “Edit” > “Preferences” within iTunes and selecting the “Sharing” tab. This tab should display sharing options if the Bonjour service is running. Otherwise it will tell you that the Bonjour service is not running.
To enable the Bonjour service, follow these steps:
- Select the “Start” button, type “services.msc“, then press “Enter“.
- Double-click the “Bonjour” service, set the “Startup type” to “Automatic“.
- Select “Apply“.
- Select the “Start” button.
- Open iTunes on both computers and see if Home Sharing works.
Fix 2 – Disable IP6
If the Bonjour service isn’t your problem, you may have a problem with iTunes trying to route sharing traffic using IP6 instead of IP4. Try these steps in Windows:
- Close iTunes.
- In Windows, open the Control Panel.
- Select “Network and Internet“.
- Select “Network and Sharing Center“.
- Choose your active network listed for “Connections“. It’s usually named “Wireless Network Connection 1“, “Wi-Fi 1” or something similar.
- Select the “Properties” button.
- If Internet “Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)” is checked, uncheck it, then select “OK“.
- Select “Close“.
- Open iTunes on both computers and see if Home Sharing works.
Restart iTunes and try to use the Home Sharing feature again.
I hope one of these tips fixed your problem with iTunes Home Sharing in Windows. Please leave a comment and let others know about your experience with this issue.
Gib Veconi says
I have found that iTunes running under Windows 10 will drop the home sharing connection after a while.
– It drops to all other devices on the network, so it’s not another device problem.
– iTunes running on my MacBook does not have this problem, so it’s not the network.
– I am running iTunes in Windows 8 compatibility mode.
– IPv6 is turned off.
– Home sharing is turned on in iTunes in both places (preferences and File menu).
– Media sharing is turned on in the Windows control panel.
The first time I switched to Windows 8 compatibility mode, iTunes worked reliably for a couple of days. Then, I had to reboot the PC, and since then, the home sharing drop out is back. I have run out of ideas. Any thoughts?
John Nebocat says
P.S. to missive from the other day–it worked for 2 days, now zilch! Tried all the various reboot methods, standing on my head with a piece of tinfoil, but nothing works. Netflix, YouTube and all the other features on the Apple TV seem to work, but not HomeSharing with my computer.
Methinks that Apple software is grossly over-rated.
John Nebocat says
P.S. to DRs comments, above. I’ve had this issue between my iTunes (on PC) and my Apple TV 3 for sometime now. I may have stumbled onto a couple of things today.
1. iTunes has this redundancy where “home sharing” is configured both in the EDIT\PREFERENCES section and in the FILES\HOMESHARING\ menu. Make sure you have the same Apple Id showing up here and in the ACCOUNT\AUTHORIZATIONS\ menus. If your Apple TV is not communicating, turn off HOMESHARING in the FILES\HOMESHARING\ section and then turn it on again. Make sure the correct Apple ID appears when you do this. This solves the problem for me.
2. While watching videos from my Computer on the Apple TV, the signal would drop out and I’d get the obligatory error messages, etc., and I am not able to reconnect. When I go to the computer in my office, I see that either the screen saver has engaged or the screen has gone to “sleep”; this seems to disrupt the signal and I have to go through the logging off and on ritual described above.
Larry says
Thanks. Drove me nuts for awhile. Two calls to Apple and lots of research until I found the disable IP-6. Solution.
William Wharton says
None of this worked for me. But I did find the problem. Go here:
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings
Under Media Streaming, click “Choose Media Streaming Options” and enable Media Streaming on this PC and remote connections.
Bingo – Home Sharing turned right on. Evidently a Windows update flipped this feature off.
DR says
Yes! Unchecking IP6 allowed home sharing to work between pc computer and iPhone 6. But, Apple TV (gen 3) still doesn’t have my shared library even after turning off/on Home Sharing on AppleTV and restarting it. Thoughts?
Thanks for the fix so far!
Richard Jackson says
THANK YOU…THANK YOU…THANK YOU! I did nothing but trouble shoot with iTunes and Geek Squad. I even had Geek Squad come out to try and fix it to no avail. Three weeks worth of work. I finally googled and found your article and fixed it in 5 minutes. This was after getting a new router, a new Apple TV box (which I didn’t need either but I have them now) and countless hours of re-configuring everything. I really appreciate this and would love to have access to your information. I’m not a tech person but your instructions were easy to follow and I didn’t feel so inadequate with the issue after reading it.
Thanks again! :-)