VLC Plays Local Files, Does not Play Files on SMB Share

Question

VLC Media player is not playing files on my SMB Network Share, although it plays local media fine. I get this error when I try to play from the share:

Your input can't be opened: VLC is unable to open the MRL 'smb://pi@192.168.1.2/Files/Caden/Music/FINALE.mp3'. Check the log for details.

But, when I download the file, it plays it fine. Help?

EDIT: This is VLC's output when opened in the terminal:

VLC media player 2.2.2 Weatherwax (revision 2.2.2-0-g6259d80)
[0000000001c21148] core libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
KSambaShare: Could not find smb.conf!
libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 5.0.3
libdvdread: Couldn't find device name.
libdvdread:DVDOpenFilePath:findDVDFile /VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.IFO failed
libdvdread:DVDOpenFilePath:findDVDFile /VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.BUP failed
libdvdread: Can't open file VIDEO_TS.IFO.
libdvdnav: vm: failed to read VIDEO_TS.IFO
[0000000001cefd68] core playlist: stopping playba

Seems to be a file path issue, just mount your filesystem without using ubuntu's native gui. see https://gist.github.com/ipbastola/eaa107b4640262a108fcc3ef57d24836 — Mr. Demetrius Michael, Jun 26 '21 at 05:19

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 15 '16 at 03:04

4

That's a known VLC issue. It never did. When you mount your network share, its files are also shown in the /run/user/your_user_id/gvfs folder. Locate the file you want to play in that folder and play it from there.

answered Aug 15 '16 at 03:04

Stormlord

6,807

1
I cannot find the files there. 2. VLC for Windows plays the files just fine.

CadenGamez

Aug 15 '16 at 04:44

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

2

i set in smb.conf

min protocol = SMB1

max protocol = SMB1

and works fine

edited Jun 12 '20 at 14:37

Community

1

answered Dec 16 '19 at 00:28

user249654

141

Worked at first on my Feren OS (Ubuntu 20 based) then stopped working... so weird – Ssh-uunen Jan 31 '21 at 21:20
probably a bad idea, see https://www.google.com/search?channel=fs&client=ubuntu&q=smb1+security+issues – Mr. Demetrius Michael Jun 26 '21 at 05:17

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 31 '21 at 21:27

0

I had issues with VLC installed via snap on Ubuntu 20, I switch to regular apt install and now it works as expected :

sudo snap remove vlc
sudo apt install vlc

answered Jan 31 '21 at 21:27

Ssh-uunen

151

This made no difference to me on u22.04 – James Gardiner Oct 11 '22 at 04:23

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 23 '25 at 03:15

As 2025 I run into this problem using Ubuntu 24.04LTS. I mounted my smb share following:

How to mount smb share on ubuntu 18.04

sudo mount -t cifs -o username=<your_username> //<your_server>/<samba_share_folder> /mnt/<mount_folder>

and opened my files from /mnt/<mount_folder>

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 15 '18 at 12:06

I had issues with VLC not playing from my NAS. It gave 'Bad file descriptor' error. The solution was to switch off some advanced SMB parameters on the NAS file sharing setting.

By the way, regardless of the settings, the Windows Media Player could play those videos.

VLC Plays Local Files, Does not Play Files on SMB Share

5 Answers5

Linked