If you added the network share, then other computers will see the share directly off the base IP address and you would only need
smb://[enter the PC ip-address without brackets]/RoonBackups
Assuming you set the folder name to be RoonBackups.
ok, in “Add network share” i have:
smb://[ip address without square backets]/RoonBackups
in username and password my username and password
the error is: could not connect to share: Unauthorized.
??
i still do not understand how simply swapping in a new client machine – a second mac – can require that i do this. just to be clear, this folder is NOT intended to store music files, just metadata. i have over 6tb of music files. i don’t want to use roon’s backup mechanism to copy those!
Right - so that message means a) you have reached the correct folder by using the correct network address and b) you are unable to access it because there is a permissions issue. Possibly the username you have used does not have the correct permissions to access that shared folder?
Are you using the correct steps to add your backup folder? You are NOT adding a Watched Folder (used for accessing music files), but adding a Backup folder, so you should be at a screen that says “Choose folder to backup to” and clicking the “Add network share” button should bring up the Add network share screen. It should look something like this:
yes, i’m exactly where your image suggests i should be: choose folder to backup to → add network share. then
smb://[ip address]/RoonBackups
username = sa
password = ***
error = could not connect to share: Unauthorized.
as noted, all permissions are set correctly (so why “Unathorized?”). obviously something’s not right on the mac, but i’ll be damned if i can see what that might be.
it wasn’t (still isn’t) clear to me how roon can find RoonBackups if it’s located in /Volumes/s4/ rather than directly in Users/sa/. but i’ll take your word that i shouldn’t be spelling out the full path to the backup folder.
It’s because you are using a network address, which just needs the hostname of the computer with the shared folder, and the sharename of that folder.
Perhaps you can show a screenshot of the Sharing screen of your Mac? It should look something like this, I think (I’m not a Mac user):
Aha! File sharing is turned on, and the RoonBackups folder in /Volumes/s4 is shared with read/write permissions for everyone.
However, the only shared folder I see in the filesharing screen is stevan apter’s Public Folder, which gives read&write permissions only for stevan apter (i.e. me).
I added RoonBackups and gave read/write permissions to everyone, but i’m still unable to add that as the backup folder. Grrrrrr.
If MacOS is similar to Windows, then you need to give read/write permission on the folder to a specific user - not to “everyone”.
What many of us do is create a local account called roon (or something similar) with a unique password and use that for shared folders (Watched and/or Backup folders).
yes, permissions are to me, staff, and everyone. i made sure to add those permissions to s4 as well as RoonBackups. still being rejected.
Do you mean that you added sa with read/write permission to the folder RoonBackups? (a screenshot would be useful to see)
i have to get a screenshot utility - haven’t had time to fully set up the mac
You don’t need a utility - it’s in MacOS
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Sorry, so I thought sa was the username you had used for the folder.
I think your problem is that stevan apter may not be a local user account. Try creating a specific local user account (roon) for the folder…
Right, so why haven’t you added it to the list of users who can read/write to the RoonBackups folder?
And if you look at my screenshot earlier please read the warning about needing a local account - I see a ghosted stevan apter in your screenshot.
i don’t believe the ghosting is significant. this is exactly the same as the display on my other mac. stevan apter = sa. stevan apter is the account name and sa is the short name. both are specified when the mac is first set up. sa is a local account. (it happens to be the only user account.) If you forgot your user or account name on Mac - Apple Support
So try adding it explicitly to the list of users able to have read/write permission to the folder.
It sounds like a similar situation to Windows where we are told not to use our Microsoft Account (which has the form of an email address), but use the equivalent internal local account that is matched to it.
And if that doesn’t work, then just create a local account for Roon…