Does anybody know how to Connect a PC running Windows 10 PRO to a Motif XF via an Ethernet Crossover Cable for file sharing?

I have been trying to do this for a week using a “cheat sheet” I had when I successfully did it in Windows 8. I have been reading countless posts like I did back then, but most of them are for XP, 7, and 8.  They don’t seem to work any longer.

I have been trying to do this for a week using a “cheat sheet” I had when I successfully did it in Windows 8. I have been reading countless posts like I did back then, but most of them are for XP, 7, and 8.  They don’t seem to work any longer.

I was hoping that a member who uses Win 10 would reply. Since that hasn’t happened…

The problem is basically that Microsoft apparently has no interest in the concerns of those of us who use a computer for things music related. Even if you succeed at getting your XF working well via Ethernet with the current MS OS, there’s no guarantee that the next revision won’t break things again. It’s also unlikely that Yamaha will continue to support the XF’s ability to be compatible for much longer.

The life cycle of a computer nowadays is typically about three to five years. I don’t consider synths to be nearly that disposable, and I don’t intend to buy a new synth that frequently. Some of mine are over 30 years old, although admittedly they aren’t currently being used.

My personal approach to this is to keep a legacy system for running Motif applications. A 3 GHz Pentium 4 running XP Pro may not seem very glamorous, but such a computer works quite well with my XS and XF, and I intend to keep it for as long as possible.

I suggest that those of you who want to continue to take full advantage of your Motif’s functionality do something similar. Even if you get a new computer OS to cooperate, newer computers are becoming less and less likely to have ports that will fully interface with your Motif. Sometimes newer isn’t better.

Thank you!
I just figured it out:
Here’s how…

I plugged my Motif XF to My Dell XPS 8920 via a Crossover CAT 5 Cable (No Router)

On My Windows 10 PRO PC I created a new folder on my C Drive and right clicked on it...under PROPERTIES I clicked on the SHARING tab and clicked on SHARE and then APPLY and then OK to exit.

In the Cortana Space I typed CONTROL PANEL clicked on the NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER icon. On the left of the screen, pressed on CHANGE ADAPTER SETTINGS right click on the WI-FI icon and clicked DISABLE.  I then turned off my Norton Firewall (this is important) on the same left side, clicked on CHANGE ADVANCED SHARING SETTINGS.  I made sure I turned on FILE SHARING in all networks.

On the NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER page, I right clicked on the ETHERNET icon and then PROPERTIES.  Scrolled down to INTERNET PROTOCOL VERSION 4 (TCP/IPv4) and then clicked on PROPERTIES.  Checked the USE THE FOLLOWING IP ADDRESS circle and modified only the following…

IP ADDRESS:  192.168.1.1
SUBNET MASK:  255.255.255.0
DEFAULT GATEWAY 192.168.1.1

Checked the USE THE FOLLOWING DNS SERVER ADDRESSES circle and…
PREFERRED DNS SERVER: 192.168.1.1

I left the ALTERNATE DNS SERVER blank.

Clicked on CLOSE

On my Motif XF:
I pressed the UTILITY Button and then [F1] and then [SF3] for the Network Configuration Page and then modified only the following:

DEVICE:  ethernet
DHCP CLIENT:  off
FILE SERVER:  off
IP ADDRESS: 192.168.1.101
SUBNET MASK: 255.255.255.0
GATEWAY: 192.168.1.1
DNS1: 192.168.1.1
SECURITY: workgroup
DOMAIN: “MY COMPUTER’S NAME” (to find your computer’s name go to the Windows Start button then SETTINGS then SYSTEM and then ABOUT.)

Then, I pressed the ENTER button, and then the STORE Button.

I then pressed the FILE button and then [F2] for mounting the computer’s drive.  I placed the cursor on the HOST field and after pressing [SF5] I entered the name of my computer and pressed enter. After login-in with my computer’s credentials; the shared folder I created in my computer’s C drive appeared here and was ready to be mounted.

I hope that helps anyone trying to do the same!

yomero - 24 December 2018 11:06 PM

[...]After login-in with my computer’s credentials; the shared folder I created in my computer’s C drive appeared here and was ready to be mounted.

I hope that helps anyone trying to do the same!

Congrats, and thanks for posting the procedure you used.

Besides the XF having access to the computer’s shared folder, is your computer able to see the XF? ("File Server” on the XF has to be “on”.) If I look at the network from my computer, I have access to the following…
1) “media on YAMAHA_Synthesizer (Motif_xf-6de300)”
“YAMAHA_Synthesizer” is the default for Description, and what’s in parentheses is the Host Name, both from the XF’s Network display screen. Since I have a USB hub connected to the XF, I can see/access the content of two drives plugged into it. Without a hub, a single drive connected to the XF’s TO DEVICE port would be shown.

2) “theme on YAMAHA_Synthesizer (Motif_xf-6de300)”
This includes a “Skin” folder with eight sub-folders, for use with setting up custom XF UI (User Interface) screen displays. I don’t have information on this topic for the XF. If anyone else does, please chime in.

Besides the XF having access to the computer’s shared folder, is your computer able to see the XF? ("File Server” on the XF has to be “on”.) If I look at the network from my computer, I have access to the following…

Thank you!

No.  Every time I turn on the FILE SERVER, then I am not able to mount any file, although I am able to log in and see the shared files, it doesn’t allow me to mount them.  I get a “disk or hard drive error” message.

I forgot to mention that every time I want to re-connect and mount my shares files again (with the FILE SERVER off) I have to disable the WI-FI adapter and shut down the Norton Firewall.  Once the files are mounted, then I can enable the WI-FI adapter again as well as the firewall and re-connect to my wi-fi LAN.  They both seem to be working well together (The wi-fi and the wired ethernet).

Win 10 “protects” the user in so many ways that using it can apparently be quite frustrating.

If the computer can’t see the XF on the network…
1) Make sure the XF is fully booted before starting Win 10
2) Verify the windows Network Discovery is turned on. If not, turn it on and reboot the computer.
These might help:
https://windowsreport.com/network-discovery-disabled/
https://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-enable-network-discovery-and-configure-sharing-options-in-windows-10/

If the above doesn’t resolve things, then I’d suggest finding a Win 10 forum and asking what to do if the computer doesn’t see other “computers” (the XF runs Linux) on the network.