[AJCrowley]

I've been running Kodi on my Android smart TV for a while, and at some point in the v17 release cycle, I became unable to connect to any SMB shares on my Windows server. When I try to connect to a share, it gives me an error "Connection timed out" instantly.

I initially thought that it must be a problem with the Android version, or maybe even a problem with the Android OS on my TV. However, last night I loaded up the Apple build on my Macbook, and encountered the exact same issue. I am able to connect to any of the shares without issue with Finder on the Mac, so it's not an issue with the networking or configuration, it's an issue with Kodi.

I've researched the issue, and it's not isolated, a lot of people seem to be suffering from the same problem. I've tried everything suggested - a complete reinstall, connecting via IP rather than hostname, appending :445 to the end of the server name to specify port, prefixing the server name with \\. Nothing at all works. It seems that anyone who's actually found a solution to the problem has done so in form of a workaround - installing NFS, FTP, or the solution I'm using for now - using Plex. While this at least allows me to stream content to my TV, it's a workaround and not a fix. I've switched to the nightly builds, and the problem persists. I'd think a problem of this magnitude would be fairly high priority to fix, as it seriously impacts functionality for anyone streaming content from a Windows machine.

Is there any news regarding this issue? Are the developers working on it? I'd really love to get this very basic functionality back.

Thanks for reading!

[dandnsmith]

My reading suggests the changes to implementation of smb services, generally, is responsible. There is some mileage in restricting the smb protocol versions acceptable - using less well protected procedures.

[AJCrowley]

Well, after months of fighting with this, trying every weird hack about going by IP, appending the port, weird registry hacks, you name it, I found the solution, and I feel ridiculous.

On the Windows 10 box, run appwiz.cpl, Turn Windows Features On or Off, install SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support.

That's it, that's all, it works now.

Too bad I've grown kind of fond of Plex on the Android TV, but at least now I have the option of using Kodi as well.

[atomico]

it is not a solution...microsoft disabled smb1 for a reason.. you are vulnerable now

[aussie43]

Well, after months of fighting with this, trying every weird hack about going by IP, appending the port, weird registry hacks, you name it, I found the solution, and I feel ridiculous.

On the Windows 10 box, run appwiz.cpl, Turn Windows Features On or Off, install SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support.

That's it, that's all, it works now.

Too bad I've grown kind of fond of Plex on the Android TV, but at least now I have the option of using Kodi as well.

Its interesting to hear that only that one trick (reinstalling SMB1) worked.
I have Kodi 17.6 and Windows 10 v.1803 - April 2018 update.   I my case that one trick was not enough. I had to "add network location", enter the PC with the media source by address, not name, and then the actual "share" by name. Then I had to play with it a while before it started to work.
The Kodi team does not consider it a bug, and don't seem to be at all concerned. Their answer was that they don't care if some people can't make it work - others can.

[DarrenHill]

It's not a bug - it's by (Microsoft's) design of removing SMB1, coupled with how SMB2/3 operate and their lack of support for browsing.

If you look on the wider net there's all sorts of parallel topics, articles and complaints on various forums about getting Win10 machines to talk to and share stuff generally with other machines at all, not just with Kodi.