How to host a DLNA server on Windows Server
Need to set up a DLNA server on your Windows Server system? Check out Universal Media Server. It’s a solid, easy-to-use DLNA server that is compatible with DLNA clients and has a web interface too. Here’s how to set it up on your system.
How to download Universal Media Server to Windows Server
The best DLNA server to use on Windows Server is Universal Media Server. It’s simple and powerful. It’ll meet all of your DLNA needs. To get your hands on UMS, head to the official website.
Once on the official UMS website, find the “Download Now” button, and click on it with the mouse. Assuming you’re using the “Desktop Experience” version of Windows Server, selecting “Download” will show a Windows download button. Select it to download UMS.
After selecting the download button, you’ll be redirected to the UMS EXE hosted on FossHub (an open-source download host). Click the download button to get your hands on the latest UMS exe file.
When the UMS EXE file is done downloading, open up the Windows Explorer app, and select the “Downloads” folder. Then, move to the next section of the guide.
How to install Universal Media Server on Windows Server
To install Universal Media Server (UMS) on your Windows Server, do the following. First, double-click on the UMS EXE installation file you previously downloaded. After double-clicking on it, the installation wizard will appear.
For the best experience, we recommend keeping UMS at its default settings. However, if you’d like to customize it, choose the other available option. Once you’ve chosen your option, your default web browser will open up to “localhost:9001.” Move to the next section of the guide to configure your server.
How to configure Universal Media Server on Windows Server
Configuring your Universal Media Server (UMS) is done through the web UI after the initial installation process is complete. To access the web UI, open up a web browser to the following URL.
localhost:9001
Alternatively, if you wish to access the web UI on another computer, enter the following URL.
ip-address-of-windows-server:9001
Once you’ve loaded up the URL in a browser, UMS will ask you to create your first admin user. In the “Username” box, enter your username of choice. Then, enter a secure password.
Note: it is possible to use UMS without an Admin account, but we do not recommend it for security. When you’ve logged in, you can configure the shared folder settings.
Shared Folders
There are three shared folders set up by default in Universal Media Server. These folders are:
C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\Music
C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\Pictures
C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\Videos
If you do not wish to add additional shared folders, you can add your music to the “Music” folder in Windows Server, “Pictures” in the “Pictures” folder, and TV/Movies in the “Videos” folder.
Alternatively, if you wish to add additional shared folders to your Universal Media Server, do the following. First, load up the UMS web interface inside of your web browser (either on the server or remotely via the IP address of the server.)
Once you’ve loaded up the web interface, click the menu button on the top right. After selecting the menu, choose the “Shared Content” option. Then, inside of the “Shared Content” area, find the “Add new shared content” button.
After clicking on the “Add new shared content” button, use the integrated file browser application to browse for a folder to share content in Universal Media Server. Click the “Add” button, to add the content to UMS. Repeat this process to add more shared folders.
How to access your Universal Media Server for playback
To access your Universal Media Server, point any DLNA-compatible TV media player app, game console media player app, or DLNA computer app (VLC), and watch your shared content.
Alternatively, you can load up a web browser at the following URL.
http://windows-server-ip:9001
After entering the URL, enter your admin username to log in. Once you’ve logged into the Universal Media Server web interface, find the menu in the top-right-hand corner of the web interface, and click on it. Then, locate the “Player” option.
When you’ve selected the “Player” button, the Universal Media Server web interface will load up the player. From here, you can look through your shared music, pictures, and videos.
Once you’ve looked through your shared videos, select something to play the content in the web interface.
