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.
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! :-)