I had a really hard time with this... everything that could go wrong went wrong. I've got everything running now and thought it would be a good idea to make a guide with problems and solutions in appreciation to all the help VGChartz members have given me.
My System: Windows XP Pro SP3.
Once the 360 is connected to your network, make sure you have Windows Media Player 11 installed. The first step is to configure WMP11 to allow the 360 access to your media. Make sure the 360 is turned on.
1) Open Windows Media Player
2) Go to Tools -> Options
3) Click on the Library Tab
3) Click the Configure Sharing button
4) Check Share my media and click Continue.
5) Check Share my media to: and select XBox360
6) Select XBox360 and click Allow button
PROBLEM (Step 5): XBox360 doesn't show up in the "Share my media to" list.
SOLUTION: You must have the following four services running
1) Go to Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services
2) Check if these services are running
Universal Plug and Play Device Host
HTTP SSL
SSDP Discovery Service
Windows Media Sharing Network Sharing Service
NOTE: I had WMP11 installed but "Windows Media Sharing Network Sharing Service" for some reason wasn't even listed in the Services list.
Don't try to manually install the service, instead uninstall Windows Media Player 11 (NOT THE RUNTIMES). Go to Microsoft.com and download the latest WMP and install. The service should now be there. The 360 is now listed in the "Share my media to:" list.
The default share folders are "My Videos", "My Music" and "My Pictures". You can't share media by modifying the share properties, you have to add the folder via WMP11. To add new shares folders on your local system or network drive follow these steps.
1) Open Windows Media Player
2) Go to Tools -> Options
3) Click on the Library Tab
3) Click the Monitor Folder button
4) Click the Add button and add folders.
5) Click Ok, Ok
6) Go to your 360 and browse the new content
PROBLEM (Step 6): If a network folder is added then the 360 does not display any media in that folder.
SOLUTION: It's necessary to make a registry change in order to stream media from a network drive
1) Start -> Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\Preferences\HME.
3) Under HME, create a New DWORD entry
4) Name the DWORD "EnableRemoteContentSharing".
5) Modify the DWORD and enter 00000001 as its value
6) Reboot your computer.
After rebooting your 360 should now list all of the media in a folder on your network drive.
PROBLEM: Once the 360 generates a list of media under your network drive, it has no problem fetching the name, duration and screen shot (video only) of your content but when you try to play it, you get an "Unplayable Content - 19-04-80004005" error.
SOLUTION: This is a permission or unsupported codec problem. If you get this error with all of your media then its permission problem. You can do two things, reconfigure your sharing service or reconfigure your file server (Samba in my case).
To reconfigure your Sharing Service (This will work with other network media sharing software)
1) Go to Start -> All Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services
2) Select the service you are using for streaming
Zune Network Sharing Service
Windows Media Sharing Network Sharing Service
Tversity Network Sharing Service
3) Right click and select Properties
4) Select Log On Tab.
5) Select This Account Radio Button, and fill in account name and password you use to log into your file server (e.g. SAMBA)
6) Click Apply then Ok
7) Restart your network sharing service
I reconfigured my Samba server and created a share which has unlimited guest access (in my case it's for home so I don't have a need for added security which may not be the case for you). I choose to do this because I had problems logging into both local and network shares.
The next step is to stream AVI files.
I did a bit of research before starting. I looked into Tvercity and other sharing programs. To make a long story short, just add a folder containing AVI videos to WMP11 and the 360 streams them fine. In fact, out of 30 videos, only 4 didn't play (weird part is the 360 had no problems reading the properties and even displaying a screen shot of those files).
I thought the 360 can't stream anything but WMV format or at least that's what I've read... I did a system update before starting, perhaps that did it.
360 Media Extender for standard Windows XP Pro
As far as I know "Windows XP Pro" cannot use this feature, you have to have a Media Center Edition of Windows XP. I tried to install the "Media Center Update" and "Media Center Extender software" but it complained about me not having Media Edition of XP Pro.
Anyhow, hope this helps someone who's trying to do what I did. If anyone wants to add other problems and solutions then please do so. Hopefully this topic will become sticky so others don't have to waist time.
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