F.A.Q.

Generic

 

Installation

 

Configuration

 

Console

 

  • My device doesn't see Serviio

    This could be caused by you having multiple IP addresses on the machine and Serviio binding to a wrong one. Insert IP address of the machine running Serviio into 'Bound IP address' field in Network Settings section in the console or pass system variable serviio.boundAddr including the IP address when starting the server.

    Also make sure that TCP port 8895 and UDP 1900 are open in your firewall.

    If you are on a Linux based OS, make sure you set up multicast routes properly.

    If on Windows, you can push Serviio service down in starting order.

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  • How to start/stop/restart Serviio service on Windows

    Serviio (by default) runs as a Windows service on Windows machines and is started automatically when the machine boots up. Locate service Serviio and perform the operation you require (need help?)

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  • My Windows Serviio service doesn't start for user with no password

    To run the Windows service under a user with no password you have to change the default security setting in Windows:

    1. 1. Open Local Security Policy under Control panel / Administrative tools
    2. 2. Select Security Settings / Local Policies / Security Options
    3. 3. Find policy Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only
    4. 4. Change it's value to Disabled
    If you have a Home edition of Windows, the above settings will not be available. You will have to edit your registry instead (using regedit.exe), although it is recommended for experienced users only. Find key
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\LimitBlankPasswordUse
    and change it's value from 1 to 0.

     

    Alternatively you can run the service under another user or Local System Account (it might cause problems with files sharing and FFmpeg execution) or change your current user to have a password.

     

  • How to automatically start Serviio on Mac ?

    To start Serviio server after your Mac starts (as a service) you will have to use launchd command. Details are on the forum (thanks go to 'ken')

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  • My files (on remote drive) are not scanned

    Make sure the user that runs Serviio server/service has got access to the shared folders. If you are on Windows, check that the user running the Windows service has got access. To run the service as a different user go to Services (from the Windows Control Panel → Administrative Tools or typing "Services.msc" in the Run command on Start menu), select Serviio, right-click -> Properties, Log On tab, enter user's details and restart the service.

    To access a NAS device the exact same set of credentials must be created on the NAS device. The Windows credentials must be a local user and not a domain user. The user must have "Run As Service" rights. The remote path must be entered as a UNC path in the Serviio Console (e.g. \\server\folder)), mapped drive letters will not work since user running the Serviio service is not aware of your mapped drives.

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  • My files with accents in file names are not scanned

    If you are on a Linux based OS, make sure your system locale / default character set is set to UTF-8. Examples on how to make this work for Synology NAS and are provided in the forum.

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  • What to do when playback stutters

    The quality of media streaming may depend on few main variables

    • the quality of your home network - wired network is always preferable, especially for streaming HD videos. If you are on a wireless network, make sure the signal is strong, the device is in a reasonable distance from the router and the WiFi channel you are using is used by as little of your neighbours as possible. It is also always a good idea to invest into a quality router, designed for high bitrate operation.
    • the power of the computer running Serviio - this only relates to transcoded videos, which might require considerable resources from your PC to be able to play smoothly, especially CPU. If your computer has multi-core CPU, you can assign additional CPU cores to the transcoder in the console.
    • the way the file has been encoded - some high quality video files might be 'too much' for your device with its limited processing power and memory and you might experience stuttering in fast moving scenes

     

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  • Are there other UI available?

    Apart from the Serviio Console, you can now use a PHP UI, standalone Ajax-based and mobile friendly WebUI (managed by kairoh) or Paul York's ServiioWHS (among others) to control the server. There is also an Android app ServiiDroid.

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  • How to upgrade Serviio to the latest version?

    If you are upgrading to the latest version and want to keep all your settings and media library entries, do not uninstall your current Serviio version - a simple installation over the current one will do.

    • Windows

      • Simply run the installer and use the same installation location of your current version

    • Linux

      • Stop Serviio server and console
      • Overwrite all files in the current Serviio location with the new ones but keep folder library intact

    • OSX

      • Stop Serviio server and console
      • Make a backup copy of your current library folder inside Serviio.app/Contents/Resources/Java
      • uninstall Serviio and install the latest version
      • copy backed up library folder into its location in the newly installed Serviio.app

    Note: This only works for upgrading, not downgrading.

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  • How to run console on different machine than the server

    You have to set system variable serviio.remoteHost for the console to IP address of the machine running Serviio server. Also make sure TCP port 23423 is open on both server and console machines. If server doesn't bind to the expected IP address, you can force it by passing the same property to the server as well.

    If you are having difficulties to connecting to Serviio on Linux, this article on forum might help. 

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  • How to pass system properties to Serviio

    System properties are provided to the server or console in the form of -D<property_name>=<property_value> (Windows and Linux) or XML tags (OSX).

    • Windows - Serviio server

      • If you use Windows service to run the server edit file ServiioService.exe.vmoptions and add the property there
      • If you use serviio.bat to run the server edit the file and add the variable to JAVA_OPTS property.

    • Windows - Serviio console

      • If you use ServioConsole.exe to run the console edit file ServiioConsole.exe.vmoptions and add the property there
      • If you use serviio-console.bat to run the console edit the file and add the variable to JAVA_OPTS property.

    • Linux

      Edit file serviio.sh or serviio-console.sh and add the variable to JAVA_OPTS property.

    • OSX

      Browse contents of Serviio.app or Serviio-Console.app and edit file Contents/Info.plist. To add the property insert these XML tags under <dict> tree:

      <key>property_name</key>
      <string>property_value</string>

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  • What do the colored dots in renderers list mean?

    These represent status of devices on your network. Green means the device is currently on. Red means the device is currently off. Amber means the device doesn't provide means to figure out whether it's on or not.