☛ UPDATE: uShare is still the best (in my opinion) way to quickly get a UPnP server running, with low overhead. If you’re interested in a more comprehensive solution, though, I recommend that you check out Plex Media Server. It’s a bit more work to set up, and also more taxing on your host machine, but very feature-rich. (It has a Roku client channel too, which uShare does not.) I also have a newer article discussing MiniDLNA, another lightweight media server.
The UPnP media server standard employed by Windows Media Center can be emulated using a utility called uShare.
sudo apt-get install ushare
Then, edit /etc/ushare.conf and make the following changes:
USHARE_NAME=uShareMedia # The name you want to be visible on your network. # Interface to listen to (default is eth0). USHARE_IFACE=eth1 # Change this to your active interface # Port to listen to (default is random from IANA Dynamic Ports range) # Ex : USHARE_PORT=49200 USHARE_PORT= # You probably won't need to change this. # Port to listen for Telnet connections # Ex : USHARE_TELNET_PORT=1337 USHARE_TELNET_PORT= # Same here. # Directories to be shared (space or CSV list). USHARE_DIR=/dir1,/dir2 # Point this to the directory/ies containing the media files you want to share. # Use XboX 360 compatibility mode (yes/no) USHARE_ENABLE_XBOX=yes # This one's important. Allows your XBox console to access the media share # Use DLNA profile (yes/no) # This is needed for PlayStation3 to work (among other devices) USHARE_ENABLE_DLNA=
Use this command to start up the service:
ushare -xD
If you need to “cycle” the service (eg, to pick up new media files), use this:
killall -q ushare ushare -xD