Can't home share AppleTV gen3 w/ iMac

[TurboBoost910]

Hey all. Having a very frustrating problem. I recently had the problem with my Apple TV 3rd Gen not being able to connect with my iMac. I know it's the iMac because I have 2 Apple TVs, one in my bedroom and one in the living room, and a Macbook Air that works just fine on both Apple TVs. Both Macs and TVs are updated to the latest releases, the Mac's being upgraded to the latest Yosemite 10.10.1.

My home network is linked through my Airport Extreme (1 year old). Everything works as it should ont he network. I can't honestly say that I remember when exactly the problem started because I just sluffed it off until I got so frustrated I need to deal with it. I believe it did happen a little after the Yosemite upgrade but I think I have used the Apple TV with Yosemite on the iMac,, so not certain that the OS upgrade is the problem.

I have reset my Wi-Fi preferences
Reset the router
Reset the router and iMac together
Reset the Apple TV (but the Macbook has always worked on both of them so I doubt the ATV is the issue)

I'm at a complete loss, and have not been successful finding any fixes online. I hope someone has a good fix for this, otherwise I think I'm going to try to roll back to Mavericks, which has been the better OS of the two.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rod]

OK well I'm running Yosemite with an Apple TV 2 so I doubt it's your operating system at fault. I don't believe I changed any settings or preferences from the default settings in Mavericks.
It is possible that your problem lies with iTunes. What version are you running on your iMac? Are you talking about Screen Sharing or just playing content in your iTunes Library?
One difference I have found is that screen sharing does not work as well with Yosemite as it did with Mavericks whereas playing iTunes content is perfectly fine.
Note: You do not have to turn on screen sharing to play iTunes content. Just go to your Computer then shared library (which must be switched on in iTunes) on the Apple TV display and scroll to the content you want using the remote control.

 

[TurboBoost910]

Screen sharing works fine, airplay works as it should. The problem is with Home Sharing, using the "Computers" icon on the Apple TV menu. It shows my computers name but when I click it, it says "cannot open homesharing...ensure that home sharing is turned on in itunes and itunes is up to date..."

iTunes is up to date with the latest release, and I am logged in to the same account on all apple tvs and macs

 

[Rod]

So are you sure Home Sharing is on on your version of iTunes? And logged in using the same account and password as the other devices.
For example I have home sharing switched on on my laptop version of iTunes for my wife's laptop to be available she needs to login to home sharing using my Apple ID and Password.

 

[TurboBoost910]

Absolutely. both Macs are always logged in to my account and open, home sharing is on. I have tried turning it off and back on on the iMac, no luck.

 

[Rod]

Sure sounds as if you have covered all the bases. I assume the Apple TV is also logged in to the same accounts as the computers and using the same account and password?
If all else fails you might try doing a software update on the Apple TV and or a reset.
If that fails to fix your problem then we might have to consider your WiFi router settings but thats a long shot as you have one device that works and Apple TV is asking for access to your account so it is seeing your computer.

 

[TurboBoost910]

Ok! problem solved! I narrowed the problem down to itunes release 12. Did some more searching and found that the fix for this is to rename my iMac in system preferences, restart the apple tv and voila!!

Thanks for the time, and I hope anyone else with this problem can get it resolved quicker!

 

[Slydude]

Care to share why you had to rename the iMac? Not saying you're wrong. Just wondering because I haven't had to do that, Did both Macs have the same name?

 

[TurboBoost910]

Not sure to the reason "why" i had to, i found the solution on an Apple.com forum.

When I went in to the preferences, my Mac's name was changed from what it originally was to a generic "iMac" name. Oddly enough, it did NOT do that on my macbook air. But simply changing the name and restarting itunes and the apple tv fixed it!

 

[Rod]

That's great, do you have the link to the page where you found that answer on Apple.com?
I know I would love to have it and probably many others would too.
As usual it's always the simple things that throw us.
Congratulations on sorting it out yourself.
Merry Christmas.
Rod

 

[Rod]

I have given you a Reputation point for helping me, you deserve it.
Cheers,
Rod

 

[TurboBoost910]

Sure! it's here:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/26847638#26847638

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for the link. I've gone through the entire thread (9 pages currently) and can't find a reason renaming the computer should work. Lots of speculation but nothing solid to go on.

One thing occurred to me after reading that thread? Are you guys connected to your networks wirelessly or by ethernet. I know some Yosemite users have reported issues with wireless connections. That might cause this behavior.

 

[TurboBoost910]

Not sure of a reason why it would have happened, but my speculation is that during the Yosemite install it defaulted the name back to factory settings possibly.

I have my iMac set up wirelessly, and did the reset to factory wifi settings to help speed up my internet speed (slightly)