VLC Error: Your input can't be opened

[moto...@riseup.net]

VLC is unable to open the MRL
'smb://<ip_address_of_server>/share/path/to/movie.m4v'. Check the log
for details.

I am using a debian-8 cloned appvm to access the share via
Files->Connect to Server->(type in smb://ip_address)-> Connect

I then manually input my credentials to access the share and trying to
play the video using VLC.

It's gotta be a networking issue with the way the appvm accesses it but
I'm not sure how to make it work.

I've tried in VLC going to Tools->Preferences->Input/Codecs->Access
Modules->SMB and putting in my credentials there but no dice.

I went to Media-> Open File and there is no mounted folder that I
connected to earlier with Nautilus...?


Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Axon]

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Hash: SHA512

moto...@riseup.net:

> VLC is unable to open the MRL
> 'smb://<ip_address_of_server>/share/path/to/movie.m4v'. Check the
> log for details.
>

Does that log have any useful information?

> I am using a debian-8 cloned appvm to access the share via
> Files->Connect to Server->(type in smb://ip_address)-> Connect
>
> I then manually input my credentials to access the share and trying
> to play the video using VLC.
>

So, the server accepts your credentials and allows you to log in
successfully, right?

Can you download the m4v to the AppVM and try opening it locally with
VLC there? (In other words, is it just a streaming issue, or does it
not even play locally? Do *any* m4v files play locally?)

> It's gotta be a networking issue with the way the appvm accesses it
> but I'm not sure how to make it work.
>

Check your AppVM's firewall rules, and make sure they're permissive
enough.

> I've tried in VLC going to
> Tools->Preferences->Input/Codecs->Access Modules->SMB and putting
> in my credentials there but no dice.
>
> I went to Media-> Open File and there is no mounted folder that I
> connected to earlier with Nautilus...?
>

Not sure I understand this part. Did you mount it manually?

>
> Any help and/or advice is greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>

If none of the above helps you solve the issue, can you try accessing
the m4v the same way using VLC on baremetal Debian? That would help us
determine whether Qubes is interfering somehow, or whether it's a VLC
or Debian issue.

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[Motorious]

Q: Does that log have any useful information?
A: I'm not sure which log it is referring to...I looked in /var/log/messages and didn't see anything. Is there a VLC log located somewhere you know of I can look at?

Q: So, the server accepts your credentials and allows you to log in successfully, right?
A: Correct, from Nautilus it does, no problem at all. From VLC, there's no option in the file browser to "connect to server" my Samba server is not "discoverable" on the network so I have to input the IP address manually to connect.

Q: Can you download the m4v to the AppVM and try opening it locally with VLC there? (In other words, is it just a streaming issue, or does it not even play locally? Do *any* m4v files play locally?)
A: VLC plays everything fine locally, it's just not able to access the Samba share.

Q: Check your AppVM's firewall rules, and make sure they're permissive enough.
A: I don't have any firewall rules setup for the AppVM, not even sure how to yet...

Q: Not sure I understand this part. Did you mount it manually?
A: It mounted in Nautilus (not manually), but after I closed the error message, I went to the VLC menu Media-> Open File to browse to the smb share and it wasn't listed. However, it was in Nautilus window in the left pane.

Q: If none of the above helps you solve the issue, can you try accessing the m4v the same way using VLC on baremetal Debian? That would help us determine whether Qubes is interfering somehow, or whether it's a VLC or Debian issue.
A: Sadly, I don't have another computer to try on but before I installed Qubes, I can confirm it did work previously on Ubuntu 14.04, and Debian 8 Jessie bare metal.

[Axon]

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Hash: SHA512

Motorious:

> Q: Does that log have any useful information? A: I'm not sure which
> log it is referring to...I looked in /var/log/messages and didn't
> see anything. Is there a VLC log located somewhere you know of I
> can look at?
>
> Q: So, the server accepts your credentials and allows you to log
> in successfully, right? A: Correct, from Nautilus it does, no
> problem at all. From VLC, there's no option in the file browser to
> "connect to server" my Samba server is not "discoverable" on the
> network so I have to input the IP address manually to connect.
>
> Q: Can you download the m4v to the AppVM and try opening it locally
> with VLC there? (In other words, is it just a streaming issue, or
> does it not even play locally? Do *any* m4v files play locally?) A:
> VLC plays everything fine locally, it's just not able to access the
> Samba share.
>

Ok, so Nautilus can connect, but VLC can't? That sounds like a VLC
problem (unless you have specific firewall rules; see below).

> Q: Check your AppVM's firewall rules, and make sure they're
> permissive enough. A: I don't have any firewall rules setup for the
> AppVM, not even sure how to yet...
>

Qubes Manager -> right click VM -> Edit VM firewall rules

Check whether it's "Allow network access except..." or "Deny network
access except..."

Then check whether there are any entries in the box below. Also make
sure "Allow ICMP traffic" and "Allow DNS queries" are checked, as
needed.

> Q: Not sure I understand this part. Did you mount it manually? A:
> It mounted in Nautilus (not manually), but after I closed the
> error message, I went to the VLC menu Media-> Open File to browse
> to the smb share and it wasn't listed. However, it was in Nautilus
> window in the left pane.
>

This also makes it sound like a VLC problem. You may have more luck
with this on the VLC forums/support/docs.

> Q: If none of the above helps you solve the issue, can you try
> accessing the m4v the same way using VLC on baremetal Debian? That
> would help us determine whether Qubes is interfering somehow, or
> whether it's a VLC or Debian issue. A: Sadly, I don't have another
> computer to try on but before I installed Qubes, I can confirm it
> did work previously on Ubuntu 14.04, and Debian 8 Jessie bare
> metal.
>

If you're willing, you could try on a Debian live CD so that you don't
have to reinstall anything.


(P.S. - Please try to avoid top posting.)

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[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

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Hash: SHA256

On Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 12:56:35AM +0000, Axon wrote:
> Motorious:
> > Q: Does that log have any useful information? A: I'm not sure which
> > log it is referring to...I looked in /var/log/messages and didn't
> > see anything. Is there a VLC log located somewhere you know of I
> > can look at?
> >
> > Q: So, the server accepts your credentials and allows you to log
> > in successfully, right? A: Correct, from Nautilus it does, no
> > problem at all. From VLC, there's no option in the file browser to
> > "connect to server" my Samba server is not "discoverable" on the
> > network so I have to input the IP address manually to connect.
> >
> > Q: Can you download the m4v to the AppVM and try opening it locally
> > with VLC there? (In other words, is it just a streaming issue, or
> > does it not even play locally? Do *any* m4v files play locally?) A:
> > VLC plays everything fine locally, it's just not able to access the
> > Samba share.
> >
>
> Ok, so Nautilus can connect, but VLC can't? That sounds like a VLC
> problem (unless you have specific firewall rules; see below).

Or maybe Nautilus doesn't really mount that SMB share, and use gvfs or
sth instead? I remember similar problem with opening photos through
nautilus not long ago.

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[moto...@riseup.net]

Thanks Marek and Axon for your assistance.

Sorry for top-posting earlier, I had to search what that was as I'd
never heard that term before. I guess I need to brush up on my
netiquette.

So I think it's a problem with the way Nautilus is mounting (or not
actually as Marek mentioned) the share as I could not find it when
browsing for the file using VLC's Media-> Open File menu option.

I did a recursive grep from '/' as root for the share folder name and
did not find any folder containing the mount point. I did find a few
files in /home/user/.local (can't remember the sub directories) that
contained the server IP address and mount paths. From what I recall it
had gvs (or something similar) somewhere in the file name. I'll confirm
after work when i can go home and verify.

I'll try from a live usb (no cd-rom drive on laptop) of Debian 8 as time
allows but if it works from a live cd and bare metal the only thing left
would be qubes and how it handles networking and application access,
etc. right?

Could it be a missing package I need to install? I'm assuming of course
that the template-vm does not have all the default packages installed to
conserve space. To be noted, I had to install cifs-utils to be able to
access the share from Nautilus if that has any relevance at all.

I guess if I "really" needed it to work I could manually mount them at
boot using fstab but would prefer to enter my credentials manually so as
not to store them on the file system (i.e. .smb_credentials) as this
machine has full Internet access. Yeah, I might be overly paranoid but
hey, that's why I'm using Qubes and not M$. I checked the firewall rules
for the AppVM and it's wide open, nothing being blocked.

Thanks!
Motorious

[Axon]

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Hash: SHA512

moto...@riseup.net:

> Thanks Marek and Axon for your assistance.
>
> Sorry for top-posting earlier, I had to search what that was as I'd
> never heard that term before. I guess I need to brush up on my
> netiquette.
>
> So I think it's a problem with the way Nautilus is mounting (or not
> actually as Marek mentioned) the share as I could not find it when
> browsing for the file using VLC's Media-> Open File menu option.
>
> I did a recursive grep from '/' as root for the share folder name
> and did not find any folder containing the mount point. I did find
> a few files in /home/user/.local (can't remember the sub
> directories) that contained the server IP address and mount paths.
> From what I recall it had gvs (or something similar) somewhere in
> the file name. I'll confirm after work when i can go home and
> verify.
>
> I'll try from a live usb (no cd-rom drive on laptop) of Debian 8
> as time allows but if it works from a live cd and bare metal the
> only thing left would be qubes and how it handles networking and
> application access, etc. right?
>

I think that would be right. (Or maybe some changes to the Debian
template specifically.)

> Could it be a missing package I need to install? I'm assuming of
> course that the template-vm does not have all the default packages
> installed to conserve space. To be noted, I had to install
> cifs-utils to be able to access the share from Nautilus if that
> has any relevance at all.
>

Possibly, but you should also need the same packages on baremetal
Debian.

> I guess if I "really" needed it to work I could manually mount
> them at boot using fstab but would prefer to enter my credentials
> manually so as not to store them on the file system (i.e.
> .smb_credentials) as this machine has full Internet access. Yeah,
> I might be overly paranoid but hey, that's why I'm using Qubes and
> not M$. I checked the firewall rules for the AppVM and it's wide
> open, nothing being blocked.
>
> Thanks! Motorious
>

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[izhara...@gmail.com]