Q4OS Forum

Totone

Member

Registered: 2026-01-20

Posts: 41

VLC and SMB ...

Hello everyone,

I'm having trouble with VLC and SMB; I can't play a video.
Is this happening to anyone else?
How can I fix it?
I haven't found anything online about this except to reinstall VLC.

Note: The video works fine on the PC without using SMB.
The problem is when I try to play a video on the NAS.

Here's the message:
Your input media cannot be opened:
VLC cannot open “smb://freebox-server.local/Hard Drive/Videos/80s.mp4.

best regards

bin

Member

From: U.K.

Registered: 2016-01-28

Posts: 1,559

Re: VLC and SMB ...

A quick search with "VLC smb shares linux" reveals a whole host of identical issues with possible causes and solutions. A lot of these are quite old so may or may not be relevant in 2025 but they point to a general issue with VLC and smb shares in linux. Windows - works fine.

I suggest you install mpv which is just as capable as VLC and is reported to play smb shares quite happily.

The alternative is to mount the smb share into your file system so that it is seen as a local drive and VLC will go with that.

Totone

Member

Registered: 2026-01-20

Posts: 41

Re: VLC and SMB ...

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I tested mpv and smplayer, and they work
well.
I was unable to install smb.
Best regards,

Totone

Member

Registered: 2026-01-20

Posts: 41

Re: VLC and SMB ...

Hello everyone,
I solved my problem with VLC by installing version 3.023 of Flatpak
instead of the Debian version, which wouldn't play the movie.

Regards,