· Music won’t play or issues with my library
· Local files won't import or appear
· Roon will not import files on my NAS like it has done for years. Roon cannot locate the NAS even though it is plugged into my desktop. Paul McGowan's Maestro imports my files but Roon won't.
· Hunter Communications provides my internet service
Hi @doug_ward,
Welcome to the Roon Community! I am sorry to hear you are having trouble importing files from your NAS.
Based on your system diagnostics and the configuration shown, it appears that your NAS has not been added as a network share in Roon. Currently, Roon is only watching a locally attached USB drive (New Volume - WD My Book 1230 USB Device - \Music Copy\Main Music Rips 44.1K).
Even if your NAS is physically plugged directly into your desktop, Roon requires it to be specifically configured as a network share via SMB in order to access and import the files.
To resolve this, you will need to add the network path of your NAS into Roon’s Storage settings. You can find our complete, step-by-step guide on exactly how to configure this right here:
FAQ: How do I set up Roon to import from my NAS?
Please follow the instructions in the guide to add your NAS path, and your Roon server should immediately begin importing your library.
Nothing I type in for a path works. The “locally attached USB drive” is where my music files live. The path, that has always been there on my computer is: E:\Music Copy\Main Music Rips 44.1K. Any variation of this path that I tried does not work. I don’t know what an SMB is, I did not have this problem until the last Roon Update, that is when it started. Again, I had no problem loading my music files into Maestro . I am about ready to bail on Roon and rely soley on Maestro.
Hello @doug_ward
Let us slow down and sort out the terminology first, because we think we have been talking about two different things, and that is our fault for not catching it sooner.
A NAS and a USB drive are not the same thing. A NAS, which stands for Network Attached Storage, is a small standalone box with its own power supply and its own network cable that plugs into your router. It is a computer in its own right, and other devices reach it over the network. It never plugs into your PC.
What you have described, E:\Music Copy\Main Music Rips 44.1K on a WD My Book connected to your desktop, is a USB external drive. That is not a NAS, and it does not need any network setup at all. So the guide we sent you about adding a network share was the wrong advice for your situation, and none of those paths were ever going to work. Please ignore it.
SMB, since you asked, is simply the language Windows computers use to share folders with each other over a network. It only matters when the music is on a different machine. Yours is not, so it does not apply to you.
One more thing worth saying plainly: Roon never changes, moves or deletes anything on your drive. It only reads the files. Nothing Roon does could have altered your music folder.
Now, what is actually happening. Our diagnostics show Roon already knows about your USB drive, listed as New Volume - WD My Book 1230 USB Device - \Music Copy\Main Music Rips 44.1K. So the folder was set up correctly and has been working. Something has broken the link to it rather than it never having been configured.
The most likely cause is straightforward. Windows sometimes assigns a different letter to a USB drive after an update or a restart. If your My Book now appears as F: or G: instead of E:, Roon will still be looking at E: and will report that it cannot find the folder.
Please could you do two things.
First, open File Explorer, click This PC, and tell us which letter the WD My Book is showing as now. If it is no longer E:, that is almost certainly the whole problem.
Second, please send us a screenshot of the whole Roon Storage window. In Roon, click the gear icon, choose Settings, then Storage. Take a picture of that entire screen, including any entries that appear greyed out or marked with an error, and post it here.
One thing to avoid in the meantime: please do not delete the existing storage entry, even if it shows an error. Your play history and any edits are tied to that entry, and removing it and adding a new one would break those links. It can be repaired in place once we can see it.
With that screenshot we should be able to tell you exactly what to click, in one step.
It still shows as E:. Yesterday I switched from Edge to Firefox to see if I could get Roon reinstalled. It worked but the E: did not show in Roon. I disconnected the WD and plugged it into the Nucleus instead of my computer and it showed and began loading the files. It got about halfway through the process and froze. I don’t want the E: connected to the Nucleus as that does not work for Maestro. It only sees my files when connected to my computer which is what Roon should be doing. This all went off the rails due to the latest “upgrade” to Windows 11, in my opinion
Roon is no longer working properly using Windows 11 / Microsoft Edge. I cannot delete the Roon App normally, I must resort to extreme measures to delete it. It will not download properly using Edge, I need to use Firefox to get it done correctly. I connected my WD USB drive into my Nucleus and it was recognized by Roon and imported all of my files. I then disconnected it from the Nucleus and plugged it back into my PC and Roon could not locate it (see pictures). I have done all the troubleshooting on the WD, there is nothing wrong with it. The new music app, Maestro,that I am using has no problem finding the E drive but Roon can’t.
Hello @doug_ward
We need to correct something, and it explains the whole week.
Plugging the WD into the Nucleus did not put your music on the Nucleus.
When you saw it “loading the files”, Roon was reading the drive and building a catalogue of what was on it. It was not copying anything. Your music files never left the WD, not for a moment. Roon never moves, copies or changes your files, it only reads them. That is what Roon means by importing: cataloguing, not taking a copy.
So when you unplugged the drive and put it back in the PC, the music went with it, because it had always been on the drive. The Nucleus was left with a catalogue pointing at a drive that was no longer there, which is why it showed nothing.
Where you actually stand right now.
Roon Server is installed on your Windows PC, DESKTOP-30258PR, and that is the setup that has worked for years. Your library of 26,058 tracks is still there, intact, and it reads the WD as an ordinary local drive. Nothing has been lost.
You also have the Nucleus, which is a second Roon server with its own empty library. When your Roon app connects to the Nucleus instead of the PC, it cannot see E:, because the Nucleus is a different computer and knows nothing about what is plugged into your PC. That is why none of the paths you typed worked.
One correction we owe you there. We told you to set up a network share, and that was the wrong answer to the question you were asking. Network sharing is a perfectly good technique and it appears in the options below. It just was not the reason your drive had gone missing, and we should have spotted the two servers first. We are sorry for the detour.
If you want music playing tonight, plug the WD back into the PC, then in Roon click the gear icon, Settings, General, and check the server name at the top. If it is not DESKTOP-30258PR, click Disconnect and choose that one. Your library comes straight back.
All the ways to arrange this so both Roon and Maestro see your music.
Worth saying first: the point of a Nucleus is that it stays on quietly all the time and does not depend on your PC being awake. So the sensible destination is the Nucleus running Roon, your PC running the Roon app purely as a remote, and Maestro reading the files across the network.
| Music sits on | Roon Server runs on | How Roon sees it | How Maestro sees it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WD in your PC | your PC | as E:, directly |
as E:, directly |
| 2 | a drive fitted inside the Nucleus | Nucleus | directly | over the network |
| 3 | WD plugged into the Nucleus | Nucleus | directly | over the network |
| 4 | WD in your PC | Nucleus | over the network | as E:, directly |
| 5 | two copies: a second USB drive on the Nucleus, plus your WD in the PC | Nucleus | directly | as E:, directly |
1. Put things back the way they were, just for now. Not where you want to end up, and it does not use the Nucleus at all, but it is the shortest way to have music tonight while we set the Nucleus up properly.
Finding Your Music Folder in Roon’s Storage Settings
2. A drive fitted inside the Nucleus. We have checked yours and there is no music drive in it, only the system drive, so this is not available as things stand. It would mean buying and fitting an internal SSD, and before we suggest you spend anything we want to confirm that is supported on your particular model. Say the word and we will check.
Nucleus Internal Storage
3. WD plugged into the Nucleus permanently. Given the above, this is the practical way to have the music living on the Nucleus without buying anything. The Nucleus reads the drive directly, and your PC reaches the same files across the network as its own drive letter, which Maestro then uses instead of E:. The one rule is that the drive stays plugged into the Nucleus and does not travel back to the PC.
Nucleus Media Storage and Audio Devices · Enabling SMB Guest Access for Roon Nucleus / ROCK on Windows · Roon OS Data Directory
4. WD stays in your PC, shared over the network. Maestro carries on exactly as today and the Nucleus reads the same folder across your network. One copy of the music. The drawback is that your PC has to be switched on and awake every time you want Roon to play anything.
FAQ: How do I create a shared folder on Windows and add it as a watched folder in Roon · Adding folders using a path
5. Two copies, no network sharing at all. A second USB drive attached to the Nucleus holding a copy, and your WD staying in the PC for Maestro. Neither program depends on the other machine and there is nothing to configure. The cost is another drive, storing the music twice, and keeping the two in step when you add albums.
One rule for options 3 and 4. Whichever machine holds the drive has to be switched on for the other program to reach it. Your Nucleus is on all the time; your PC is not. That is why 3 is steadier than 4.
One thing that applies to options 2 through 5, and it matters. Moving to the Nucleus means moving your library too, not just your music. Your 26,058 tracks come with playlists, edits, favourites and years of play history, and all of that lives in the Roon Server database on your PC, not on the drive. It has to be backed up on the PC and restored onto the Nucleus, otherwise the Nucleus starts from nothing. We will take you through that in order when you have chosen.
Setting Up a Backup In Roon · Migrating to Nucleus · Restoring from a Backup
What we need from you.
Tell us which numbered option suits how you actually use things. There is no wrong answer, and if you would rather just get back to listening first, say so and we will do option 1 today and pick this up afterwards.
And one thing for later, whichever you choose. Once the Nucleus is your server, it is worth retiring Roon Server on the PC so there is only one server on your network. Two is what made this week so confusing and it will keep catching you out. The Roon app stays on the PC as a remote, which is all you need it for.
Please do not unplug anything else or delete any storage entries in the meantime.
I will go with number 3. I have no faith I will ever see the E drive showing in Roon on my desktop again. My desktop is to be just a remote as is my I-pad. Roon server or whatever it is called is the Nucleus as that machine rarely has, if any, problems unlike a regular computer. I am discovering that Maestro continues to have issues that don’t seem to get corrected so I don’t know how much longer I will be with that service but I would like that app to see the WD. Hence, #3. Thank you.
Hey @doug_ward,
Option 3 is a good choice, the Nucleus is purpose-built to be the always-on Roon Server, and this gets you out of the drive-letter game entirely. Here’s the whole path from where you are now to where you want to be. Take it one step at a time and don’t skip step 1.
Step 1: Back up your current library (on the PC, before anything else)
Everything you’ve built up, playlists, favorites, edits, play history, lives in the Roon Server database on your desktop, not on the WD drive. We want that on the Nucleus, so we back it up and restore it there.
Step 2, Move the WD to the Nucleus
Your My Book has its own power supply, so there’s no power concern here. It’s almost certainly NTFS-formatted, which the Nucleus reads fine.
Step 3, Restore your backup onto the Nucleus
This replaces whatever half-built library the Nucleus had from when you plugged the drive in before. That’s what we want, your real library is the one from the PC.
Step 4, Point Roon at the drive’s new home
After the restore, go to Settings → Storage. You’ll see your old E:\Music Copy\Main Music Rips 44.1K entry, and it’ll be flagged as unavailable, expected, since there’s no E: drive on the Nucleus.
/storage/My Book/Music Copy/Main Music Rips 44.1K.Editing the existing entry rather than deleting it and adding a fresh one is what keeps your edits and playlists attached to your files. If for some reason Edit won’t let you browse to the drive, remove the old entry first, then add the new location, your files will still come back in, it just does more re-identification work.
Then let it work. 26,000-plus tracks takes a while to scan and analyze; the spinner in the top right tells you when it’s finished. Don’t judge anything until that stops.
Step 5, Let Maestro see the WD over the network
The Nucleus shares its attached storage over the network, so Maestro on the desktop can read the same files. Windows 11 blocks this kind of share by default, so there’s one setting to flip first.
On the PC (Windows 11 Pro): open gpedit.msc, go to Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Network → Lanman Workstation, and set Enable insecure guest logons to Enabled. Then under Computer Configuration → Windows Settings → Security Settings → Local Policies → Security Options, set Microsoft network client: Digitally sign communications (always) to Disabled.
On Windows 11 Home (no gpedit), open PowerShell as Administrator and run:
Set-SmbClientConfiguration -RequireSecuritySignature $false
Set-SmbClientConfiguration -EnableInsecureGuestLogons $trueThen in File Explorer, type \NUCLEUS\Data\Storage in the address bar (use the Nucleus’s IP address instead of the name if that doesn’t resolve). Log in as Guest / Guest if prompted. You’ll see a folder for the WD in there. Right-click it → Map network drive, give it a letter, tick “Reconnect at sign-in”, and point Maestro at that letter. As far as Maestro is concerned it’s just a drive again.
Two things worth knowing up front
C:\Users<yourname>\AppData\Local\Roon\Database to Database_old on the PC. That stops the old PC server from ever showing up and confusing things again. Roon on the PC keeps working as a remote to the Nucleus, and so does the iPad.Post back when you get to step 4 and tell us what Settings → Storage shows, that’s the step where it’s most useful to have a second pair of eyes.