How to Create a Windows Home Media Server – No Software Required
You might want to make a media server for your home network to stream music or videos. If you have a spare Windows PC, you can do this without any software.
Steps
- Open the Control Panel and enter the Network and Sharing Center through the Network and Internet menu.
- On the left side of the menu, click “Media streaming options”.
- In the menu that opens, you can change the name of the media library and customize the devices that can access it. You can safely allow everything.
- Open Windows Media Player (named Windows Media Player Legacy on newer versions of Windows) and select Stream.
- Enable “Automatically allow devices to play my media” and “Allow remote control of my Player”.
- Install suitable media player software to connect to the server.
- Windows: Windows Media Player automatically detects the server on the network.
- Android: VLC Media Player (This is also available for Windows)
- Mac: Elmedia Player
