Setup Airport Extreme to simultaneously share external hard with Boxee

[Parker Sherman of Funk]

I had the hardest time finding this information, as it was collected across many forums from all over the place, so I've put them together for future reference, and hopefully assist anyone struggling with a similar issue.

Assuming your regular Airport Extreme setup went off without a hitch, here is how to get maximum use out of your Boxee, and Airport Extreme when drawing from the same source external hard drive, simultaneously.

What I'm working with: Iomega 2TB HD, Boxee Box, Airport Extreme, Mac Air

Mac Instructions:
- Open Airport Utility.
- Double-click your Airport Extreme icon @ top left of window.
- Click on Disks.
- Click on File Sharing Column.
- In Airport Disks Guest Access pull down menuSelect READ ONLY.

Boxee Instructions:
- Go to Settings.
- Select 'File Sources'.
- Highlight & select 'Add Sources'.
- Scroll down and select 'Windows Network (SMB)'.
- Select your hard drive from the list.
- Select 'Add this directory' for the folder(s) you wish to use via the Boxee.
- Check applicable Media Type, & type of scanning you prefer.
- Click ADD

Return to the HOME menu on Boxee and source the files/folders you wish to play, as you normally would have with a wired connection.

The final success test for me is playing music in iTunes without wires AND watching a video via Boxee on my TV pulling the music & tunes from the same hard drive. Again, not having to pull out this USB cord and switch it with that one is incredible. No frustration with this & getting what you pay for = wicked! Have to say, works great, no slag in the video or music playing.

[kevin808]

Thanks for this, it helped. I would like to add that you do not check off or fill in anything after the "Read Only" drop down... I had it checked thinking WAN (Windows Area Network?) had to do with SMB, but it worked against me. The Boxee would ask for a user name and password - I don't think the Airport has a username, so It didn't work and just kept bumping me back to the network. As soon as I unchecked it, and applied the changes to my router the drive showed up without asking for a password.

Also, it has nothing to do with "Sharing" on your Mac under settings, just the settings on the airport.

[MacRadge]

Boxee does AFP so I also get aces to my MacMinis internal harddrive through that for example. However, I can not get access to the harddrive connected to the airport extreme. Boxee just refuses. I checked identify with account on the airport extreme. There is also no option to have no password.

[thegeneral]

So the best protocol to use is Windows Network (SMB)?

Got my boxee fetching media from my external USB-drive that is connected to my Airport extreme. I shall not use Apple Filing Protocol (AFP)?