Accessing database on remote PC

[Ed Howarth]

Firstly. A brilliant bit of software. It puts everything else to shame. I have played with it extensively for a couple of weeks and keep finding extra things which are nice little surprises - like the "Playing Now" screen. I thought the Playing Now link and the thumbnail of the album cover just below it were one and the same link; I couldn't understand why there was no progress bar as I had it ticked in Options. Then one day it appeared on a screen I hadn't seen before!

Anyway. Lifetime licence bought.

Can I ask a question?

Muso is installed on a laptop and accesses the music on my main PC. Plays on a Touch. Everything is wireless. I originally let Muso scan the music folders, but I find that as I add files rescanning takes too long, so I have set it up so that it scans the LMS database. That seems a nicer solution. The trouble is the db is in c:\docs and settings\ all users\application data\squeezebox\cache on an XP machine and Muso on my Win 7 laptop doesn't have permissions to see it and I can't turn them on. I've tried to see if I can re-install LMS in a folder that can be shared but it doesn't give you a choice. So, as a cludge, I have now set up a scheduled task to regularly copy the contents of the cache folder to somewhere where it can be seen, but it's hardly an elegant solution.

So, short of upgrading my server to Win 7, is there a better way? And which files does Muso actually need to access? I know it's more than just library.db as it threw a wobbly when only that was there!

Thanks in advance.

[musoware]

Welcome to the Muso club!

I'm afraid Muso does need access to the remote LMS database folder in order to do an Import from LMS (though a copy should work, it's only library.db and persist.db that it needs access to). I'm no windows networking expert but I'm sure there must be a way to make a folder on an XP machine visible on a W7 laptop. Doesn't creating a share on the cache folder in XP help? Then it should (hopefully) be visible via something like \\xpmachine\cache-share

[Ed Howarth]

Thanks for the speedy reply. So impressed with your commitment.

You would think they would talk wouldn't you? But although the folder is marked as shared, it doesn't play ball.

I must say though that doing a folder scan seems to be more productive with covers and images coming in consistently. I assume it's a case of deciding one or the other and sticking to it?

[musoware]

No you can mix & match imports as needed, provided your mappings/equivalences are set correctly (on the Options/Music Sources/LMS tab) muso will be able to work out the path as muso needs to reference it (eg. \\xpmachine\music\...), and will know what the corresponding path is to push to LMS as it needs to refer to it (C:\music\...).

What I tend to do is to import from folders for speed (I create a monthly folder to keep new albums in so only need to quick-scan that folder), but still import from LMS weekly (in case I have rated any tracks via the squeezebox remote while Muso wasn't running, this pulls them in).

About a year ago I migrated my main PC from XP to Windows 7. I'm sure before then I managed to get the import working from the XP desktop to my muso on my Windows 7 laptop. I'll see if I can boot back into XP to try it again (created a dual-boot at the time).

[MDE]

I have my LMS database on a networked PC running XP, with Muso on the laptop (Vista) and it works fine.

[Ed Howarth]

Thanks, but don't spend too much time on it. I can easily work round it.

@MDE. I just assumed it was a permanent restriction to stop people messing with non data stuff over the network - there seems to be lots of people asking the same "How do I access my Application Data folder" that I have been googling. And with no real answer.

But it is a very old XP installation and goodness knows the software that's been and gone on there over the years, so its head may have been messed up. It used to be THE work machine and as long as it was working, it was never played around with.

Thanks for the help.

[MDE]

My database is on \\UPSTAIRS\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Squeezebox\Cache
EDIT I should have added that "documents and settings" is set up as a shared folder with changes allowed.

[Ed Howarth]

Thanks MDE but that's bloody annoying then!

My tree is exactly the same as yours. As I share each of the 5 folder in the tree, they appear on my laptop as a network place. If I go into each I can get as far down as All Users but clicking on Application Data or below results in a message Windows Cannot access \\HP LAPTOP\etc. You do not have permission to access..... The folders above App Data or elsewhere - I have no problems, been sharing things over the network for years

Obviously, a permissions thing but it's beaten me!