How to Connect Phone Tablet to DLNA Media Server
Introduction
What is DLNA?
DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. Usually, it's used to refer to a suite of services that can run on a computer and allow access to a media library by other devices on your home network.
This means it's a quick, easy method to share your whole media library from your computer to the rest of your devices on your home network.
DLNA Server
In this case, you'll be creating a DLNA server on your Windows 10 computer, then connecting your media devices — smart TVs, streaming media players, tablets, and smartphones — to it.
Recommendations
There are a few things to keep in mind when using your computer as a DLNA server.
Your computer is acting as a server. Your computer must remain turned on while you are watching something on your other device.
If your computer is a laptop, it is recommend to keep it plugged into power. Also, it's best to make sure your computer is not set to 'go to sleep' after a set amount of time.
It is highly recommended that your computer is connected to a wired Ethernet connection. This provides a more stable, faster connection, as well as lets you use the WiFi bandwidth for the device receiving the video, instead.1 Enable Media Streaming
First, we need to turn on the media streaming server.
- Open the Start Menu and select Settings.
- Select Network & Internet.
- Select Ethernet (if your computer has a wired connection), or Wi-Fi (if your computer uses a wireless connection) on the left.
- Select Network and Sharing Center on the right.
- Select Media streaming options on the left.
- Select Turn on media streaming.
- Name your media library, then select OK.
Shared Files
Next, we need to make sure we're sharing the files you want to share.
- Open File Explorer, then select This PC on the left, and Videos on the right.
- Make sure you see your movies listed here, and that they have sensible names. Move any other movies you want to be able to play into this folder. This is the folder your other devices will see when they browse for videos to play.
2 VLC or other DLNA Client
We now need a program setup on your phone or tablet to view the various video you're sharing.
VLC
This document will focus on a program called VLC Media Player. It is free, open-source, and available for iOS and Android. It has a built-in DLNA media browser.
3 DLNA Streaming
- Open the VLC app.
- Select Menu in the top-left corner.
On an Android phone or tablet 
The menu will appear as three lines.On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch 
The menu will appear as a small traffic cone. - Select Local Network.
On an Android phone or tablet 
The icon will appear as a folder with network symbol on it.On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch 
The icon will appear as a small house. - After a few moments, your computer will appear in the list near the bottom as a UPnP or DLNA item.
- You may then choose the various categories to select the movie or video you want to watch.
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What is DLNA?
DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. Usually, it's used to refer to a suite of services that can run on a computer and allow access to a media library by other devices on your home network.
This means it's a quick, easy method to share your whole media library from your computer to the rest of your devices on your home network.
DLNA Server
In this case, you'll be creating a DLNA server on your Windows 10 computer, then connecting your media devices — smart TVs, streaming media players, tablets, and smartphones — to it.
Recommendations
There are a few things to keep in mind when using your computer as a DLNA server.
Your computer is acting as a server. Your computer must remain turned on while you are watching something on your other device.If your computer is a laptop, it is recommend to keep it plugged into power. Also, it's best to make sure your computer is not set to 'go to sleep' after a set amount of time.
It is highly recommended that your computer is connected to a wired Ethernet connection. This provides a more stable, faster connection, as well as lets you use the WiFi bandwidth for the device receiving the video, instead.First, we need to turn on the media streaming server.
- Open the Start Menu and select Settings.
- Select Network & Internet.
- Select Ethernet (if your computer has a wired connection), or Wi-Fi (if your computer uses a wireless connection) on the left.
- Select Network and Sharing Center on the right.
- Select Media streaming options on the left.
- Select Turn on media streaming.
- Name your media library, then select OK.
Shared Files
Next, we need to make sure we're sharing the files you want to share.
- Open File Explorer, then select This PC on the left, and Videos on the right.
- Make sure you see your movies listed here, and that they have sensible names. Move any other movies you want to be able to play into this folder. This is the folder your other devices will see when they browse for videos to play.
We now need a program setup on your phone or tablet to view the various video you're sharing.
VLC
This document will focus on a program called VLC Media Player. It is free, open-source, and available for iOS and Android. It has a built-in DLNA media browser.
- Open the VLC app.
- Select Menu in the top-left corner.
On an Android phone or tablet The menu will appear as three lines.On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch The menu will appear as a small traffic cone. - Select Local Network.
On an Android phone or tablet The icon will appear as a folder with network symbol on it.On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch The icon will appear as a small house. - After a few moments, your computer will appear in the list near the bottom as a UPnP or DLNA item.
- You may then choose the various categories to select the movie or video you want to watch.
