MMA Sync Help Wiki

[MattTown]

Got a beta version of MMA (I think), sync process is now much more comprehensive, good work there.
I was stymied though for a while because MMA couldn't find the sync server.
Got to the sync help text at https://www.mediamonkey.com/support/kno ... ccessible/ which was fairly clear, but one suggestion:
Having checked through the guidance I found that I was missing the "rule allowing incoming SSDP connections over UDP Port 1900". I've never seen that interface and so I stumbled my way through it via guesswork and lucked into having MMA then work. My suggestion is that you provide a bunch of specific information about creating the new rule settings in the native Win10 (my case) firewall widget, because that interface will be too much for many trying to fix that problem.
Thanks, and I'm looking forward to using the new sync interface some more.

[Peke]

Hi,
Yeah, Windows Firewall is fairly powerful, but lack GUI. Therefor I use https://www.binisoft.org/wfc to provide me exact function.

[MattTown]

Hi Peke,
Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately that link took me to an electronics equipment site which didn't appear to have anything relevant to configuring windows firewalls, or any software at all for that matter.
Cheers
Matt

[Peke]

Oops, wrong clipboard paste. Correct one is https://www.binisoft.org/wfc

[MattTown]

Hi,

I found this old entry in my drafts and thought that I should put it in, because it does touch on some of my struggles getting MM5 syncing with MMA, with suggestions how you might help users get through a particularly esoteric problem. Trying to parse the terminology in the help text wasted a lot of my time.

Thanks for the suggestion to use a different Windows Firewall program, but no. If I were a network engineer and was comfortable with all of the esoteric settings in there then I would, but I'm not and I don't want to have to learn all that stuff just to get sync working. And most of all I really don't want to go replace the default windows firewall with something else that will probably have its own idiosyncrasies and which Microsoft themselvers won't be testing against for their future updates.

So, here's some specific areas in which the help text requires update for those who are not network engineers:

• For the line "Ensure that there’s a rule allowing incoming UPnP connections over the TCP Port configured in MMW", there is no means of checking for a UPnP connection in the Protocols and Ports tab of the Properties of a Private MM5 Inbound rule. The rule that is configured there basically allows any connection from any protocol, so I'm having to assume that this will include UPnP.

• For the line "Ensure that there’s a rule allowing incoming SSDP connections over UDP Port 1900", there is no means of checking for a SSDP connection in the Protocols and Ports tab of the Properties of a Private MM5 Inbound rule. The rule that is configured there also allows any connection from any protocol, so I'm having to assume that this will include SSDP.

The crucial point here is that while it might be useful for the tiny proportion of MM users who are network experts to describe the specific networking requirements of MM, if the native windows interface that the vast majority of users will be dealing with does not offer the means of satisfying those specific requirements then the help text must describe the settings for the native windows interface which enable those specific requirements to be covered.

Further to that point, the point 5.3 "Ensure that Network discovery is enabled on your Windows PC" uses an old Control Panel widget that is unavailable from the Windows 10 Settings function chain, and can only be readily accessed via searching for "Advanced sharing settings" in one of the Settings search boxes. Users should be pointed to that necessity.