Fusion & XBox 360 Streaming

jfit4 · ‎03-27-2008

Hi there.

I'm trying out Fusion and what I want to do is have my Vista x64 Boot Camp drive booted up while I'm in OSX so I can stream video files to my xbox 360. I have successfully done this from within my boot camp installation, however, I am unable to via Fusion. I followed the other thread for solutions but to no avail. My computer is able to see the Xbox and I have set up Media Center and am able to connect to it. I am trying to stream files using WMP 11's sharing but the xbox cannot detect it (doesn't even say there is not a computer connected, just doesn't do anything when I click it from the xbox's dashboard). I tried changing the network to bridged but to no avail. Any help is appreciated.

asatoran · ‎03-28-2008

You definitely want bridged networking. Other than that, I have no experience with Vista64 or xBox 360 so I can't help you much there. If you're changing to bridged while the virtual machine is running, it probably hasn't gotten a new IP address yet. Renew your IP address or reboot the Vista virtual machine.

jfit4 · ‎03-28-2008

Have done that a couple of times but hasn't worked yet.

jfit4 · ‎03-29-2008

Just a new development on this. Since trying to set up the extender from Fusion, I can no longer even use Boot Camp to watch my shows. I just get an error message on the 360 saying it cannot play this type of file. Incredibly annoying. I think I'm going to end up having to reformat my Boot Camp partition.

asatoran · ‎03-29-2008

Yea, that would seem to be a Vista problem. I have the older Media Center Extenders attached to my XP-MCE machine that I use as a dedicated DVR. A while back, one of the extenders couldn't communicate with XP and I ended up reloading XP.

jfit4 · ‎03-29-2008

I reinstalled everything and still have the same problem. One thing I've noticed though is that when I have VMWare open with a bridged network it reports that I'm on "Local Area Connection 3", while when I'm booted into Boot Camp it shows "Local Area Connection 2". What I'm wondering is if this might be a router problem. The router I have has 4 ports, and there are 3 computers and my xbox all on the network. Since all four are active and online at the same time I open my virtual boot camp, maybe it is getting "bumped off" the LAN somehow. I'm not sure if that's possible, but just a thought. Any ideas?

asatoran · ‎03-30-2008

The different LANs are because the virtual machine has a different NIC than Boot Camp. So Vista thinks you're on a different network and creates the new LAN. I don't know if this will work with extenders, but one workaround I've used for file sharing is to set a static IP address for both LANs. Use the same IP adddress. Windows will give a warning that the IP address has already been configured on the other LAN. But since you know that neither will be used at the same time, this is ok. Then hopefully, the extenders will still recognize the host Vista that they were configured for, (assuming the extenders just use IP address and not something else like NIC MAC address.)

What you're doing by booting into Fusion and Boot camp is "installing a new NIC." My XP-MCE is a dedicated DVR on it's own physical PC and I've never tried seeing if the extenders will still connect after changing the NIC. Vista activation used to be triggered by a NIC change. The latest Fusion has fixed the reactivation of a Boot Camp parition, which I assume may have addressed the NIC. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) You'll want to download the latest version of Fusion if this is the case..

jfit4 · ‎04-02-2008

Well I think I have the latest version of Fusion... (1.1). I don't really understand the whole IP thing, but could you tell me how to make a static IP?

asatoran · ‎04-02-2008

Actually, the latest version is 1.1.1. Once you upgrade to that, you'll want to confirm that you don't have to reactivate your Vista when you switch between Boot Camp and Fusion. Then you'll need to determine your existing network subnet and DNS. If you do not know how to do this, on your Mac, in System Preferences, Network, select Ethernet if you're wired. (If Airport, then select Airport, Advanced, TCP/IP tab.) Write down all the numbers you see (IP address, subnet, gateway and DNS.) You will use all these numbers exactly the way you see them except for the IP address. Assuming the subnet is 255.255.255.0, then in Vista, you'll use the same first 3 numbers and use a different fourth number. All machines need different numbers. Which you choose depends on your router. You can probably start off with something in the .20-.30 range. (Example, Mac is IP: 192.168.1.109, subnet: 255.255.255.0. Therefore, I'll set Vista to 192.168.1.20. Subnet is same: 255.255.255.0.)

Stat Vista in Boot Camp. Control Panel, Network, Manage Network Connections. (Hopefully only one network is showing. If more than one, select the one that's active.) Click "Change settings of this connection", select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), click Properties, change to "Use the following IP address." Use the numbers you got above, remembering to use a different fourth number for the IP address. Make sure your Extenders connect properly.

Now restart Vista in Fusion. Repeat setting the IP address. Ignore the warning that the IP address has been used on the other network, if it appears. Hopefully now the extenders still work because you have the same IP address.

jfit4 · ‎04-03-2008

Cool, thanks for the in depth guide. I'll give it a shot when I get home!

jfit4 · ‎04-03-2008

Unfortunately that did not work.

asatoran · ‎04-04-2008

Unfortunately that did not work.

Meaning that the extender works, but only if you Boot Camp or only if you run in Fusion, but not both? In that case, it looks like MS uses more than IP address. In which case, I don't know whare more you can try. I don't use my XP-MCE virtualized. I use it as dedicated DVR, which is kinda the way MS expected people to use MCE and extenders. By switching between Boot Camp and Fusion, in effect, you have two MCE machines as far as the extenders are concerned and MS appears to have been shortsighted in that regard. You may want to search if there's a hack to fix the extender to allow for multiple sources. Don't hold your breath, but I don't have any other ideas, other than not switching back and foruth (or moving Vista to it's own dedicated hardware, which again would prevent switching and the changing hardware.)

Sorry I can't help more.

Dryvlyne · ‎07-25-2008

@jfit4 - Not sure if you're still trying to get this to work, but I found that installing TVersity on the WinXP VM allowed me to stream media to my 360. I also tried WMP11 and the Zune software, but I could not get either to work.