Media Server Settings

Mezzmo is a fully-featured media server that can stream movies, TV shows, home movies, music and photos to web browsers and devices inside your home and outside your home.

Mezzmo supports the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) and the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) standards for streaming to all popular UPnP and DLNA devices - such as TVs, games consoles, Blu-ray players, AV receivers, set top boxes and media players.

Mezzmo supports streaming to all popular web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer and Safari.

Mezzmo can stream to web browsers and devices inside your home using your home network.

Mezzmo can stream outside your home to web browsers and devices using your home internet connection.

Mezzmo server is a separate application that is installed on your computer. You use Mezzmo (Windows) application to control Mezzmo server.

There are two ways to run Mezzmo server on your computer:

• Console application
• Windows service

When Mezzmo server runs as a Console application, Mezzmo server runs as an invisible application under the same Windows user account as you are logged into on your Windows computer.

When Mezzmo server runs as a Windows service, Mezzmo server runs as a Windows service under (by default) the Windows Local System account.

Tip: The easiest way to run your Mezzmo server is as a console application. Running as a console application will eliminate a common issue for users where (when Mezzmo server is running as a Windows service) files from NAS drives are not accessible from Mezzmo server and cannot be streamed. However, running Mezzmo server as a Windows service does have important benefits - namely being able to run Mezzmo server on a dedicated server box without having to log into Windows, and being able to secure the Windows service when using Mezzmo to stream outside your home.

Tip: When running Mezzmo server as a Windows service, if you are having the issue where Mezzmo server is not listing your files on your devices or not being able to access your files on a NAS or external computer, then the reason will most likely be due to the Windows Local System account not having access rights to your files. To fix this, you should change the Windows account that the Mezzmo server Windows service is running under. Go to Windows Services window in Control Panel. Right-click on the Mezzmo service and click Properties. On the Properties dialog, adjust the Log On settings to use the same Windows user account that Mezzmo (Windows) app is running under.

Tip: You may need to add the Logon as a service permission to your account. To add “Log on as a service” permissions:

1. Run Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Local Security Policy
2. Select Local Policies > User Rights Assignment > Log on as a service
3. Click Add User or Group, and then add the appropriate account to the list of accounts that possess the Log on as a service right.

By clicking this button, you can start or stop your Mezzmo media server. The status of the Mezzmo media server is always displayed in the status bar of Mezzmo.

When started, the Mezzmo media server will be visible to all devices on your home network, and devices on your home network will be able to access media files in your Mezzmo library. When stopped, no devices on your home network will be able to connect to the Mezzmo media server or access media files on your Mezzmo library.

• Start the media server at Windows startup - By clicking this option, the Mezzmo media server will be automatically started when you start your computer. This will let other devices connect to and view your Mezzmo library without the need to run Mezzmo itself. This is the recommended startup setting.
• Run the media server only when Mezzmo runs - By clicking this option, the Mezzmo media server will be automatically started when you start Mezzmo and will terminate when you exit Mezzmo.
• Don't start the media server automatically - By clicking this option, the Mezzmo media server will not be automatically started. You will have to manually click the Start / Stop Media Server button on this dialog or toolbar.

Enter a name for your Mezzmo media server. This name will be displayed on devices when they search for media servers on your home network.

Tip: If you want your computer's name to be included in the name of the service, the special identifier <COMPUTER_NAME> can be used. For example if your computer is named 'Upstairs Computer' and the Media server name is Mezzmo (<COMPUTER_NAME>), then other devices will see 'Mezzmo (Upstairs Computer)'. This can help identify your Mezzmo media server if you have several computers on you home network and several copies of Mezzmo installed.

Tip: If you want your user name to be included in the name of the service, the special identifier <USER_NAME> can be used. For example if your user name on your computer is 'John' and the Media server name is Mezzmo (<USER_NAME>), then other devices will see 'Mezzmo (John)'. This can help identify your Mezzmo media server if you have several computers on you home network and several copies of Mezzmo installed.

The Mezzmo media server requires an open port on your computer in order to communicate with devices on your home network.

You should not change the default value for the port that Mezzmo uses unless there is a conflict with another software application or media server.

The default port value is 53168.

Important: If you change the port value, you will need to ensure that any firewall application you are running on your computer has the new port value unblocked for communication.

The Mezzmo media server re-advertises itself on your home network from time-to-time so your devices know that Mezzmo server is running. This is standard DLNA and UPnP practice.

By default, Mezzmo server re-advertises itself every 30 minutes, which is 1800 seconds. The minimum allowed value is 60 seconds.

Example: To re-advertise every 24 hours, set the value to 86400.

If you wish to stream outside your home, then you will need to enter the port value that you have forwarded in your router. This value will be used to build URLs that you can share with friends and family so that they can access your media server via the Web Access. It will also be used to allow the Mezzmo Android app to connect remotely to the server from outside your home network. See Streaming Outside Your Home for more information.

If your computer has multiple network adaptors, then you can select which network adaptors that you want Mezzmo server to broadcast and communicate on. By default, Mezzmo server will broadcast and communicate on all network adaptors.

Example: You may have a network adaptor for your home LAN and a network adaptor for your internet access. In this case, you would deselect the network adaptor for your internet access.

By clicking the this button, the Windows firewall will be configured so that the Mezzmo media server will have access through it.

This button will be enabled when the Windows Firewall is running and there are no rules for the Mezzmo server application or the ports that are used to access Mezzmo server.

For other firewall software, you will need to consult its documentation in order to permit the required applications and ports in the firewall. See this topic for a list of applications and ports that must be set in your firewall's rules.

After clicking the Configure Windows Firewall button, the button should become disabled. This tells you that all firewall rules have been successfully added into your Windows firewall. If the Configure Windows Firewall button is not disabled after clicking it, then you may have existing rules in your Windows firewall that are conflicting with the rules that Mezzmo needs to add. Follow these steps to fix this problem:

1. Go to your Windows Firewall window via Windows Control Panel.
2. In the Windows Firewall window, click on Inbound Rules to view the list of rules for your firewall.
3. Click on the Name header column to sort the inbound rules by name.
4. Scroll down the list to view the Mezzmo and Mezzmo Server inbound rules.
5. Delete all rules for Mezzmo and Mezzmo Server.
6. Display the Media Server Settings dialog in Mezzmo (Windows) application.
7. Click the Configure Windows Firewall button. It should become disabled now.