TechGremlin
Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.
Update 2nd November 2009: All users having issues with SharePort, check out this post for the latest information.
Update: Make sure you read the comments below to find out anything new about this feature, many bugs has been fixed since the original release, as of August 2009 Firmware 1.32NA FINAL is the latest firmware, read about it and download it here.
I have owned a D-Link DIR-655 router for the past year and it is by far the best router that I have ever used, although I did pay $150 more than what I have paid for a router before, so I’ve gotten what I have paid for.
Starting with the version 1.21 Beta 04 of the DIR-655 firmware there is now SharePoint functionality available. SharePoint as the media and other sites partially call it or SharePort as it is called everywhere else including the software itself is a way for D-Link products to share a USB device over the LAN, i’m going to try to not confuse you any further so I will refer to it only as SharePort from now on.
SharePort is an interesting feature that I actually wanted to be able to do a few years ago, by sharing USB devices from a computer so they can be used on another PC as if the device was actually plugged into your PC. D-Link have finally brought this technology to life in a limited fashion with SharePort.
This is how SharePort works, I will use my DIR-655 and Brother DCP-150C MFC as an example.
The DIR-655 has a USB port on the back, tests seem to indicate it is a USB 1.1 port, up until now the port was used for wireless settings that could be stored on a USB key.
After installing the new firmware however the USB port has found more use, we’re greeted with a new menu under Setup that controls the use of the port.
As you can see there is not much to the setup of this USB port, WCN Configuration is the default, this is used for the wireless configuration key, choose the dropdown box:
Choosing Network USB puts the router in SharePort mode, choosing 3G USB Adapter is a bit of a mystery to me, I’m not sure what devices are compatible with this yet, however as most people do, I have a 3G service and using it as a backup by only connecting the device up to the USB port and choosing 3G USB Adapter would be very handy.
Once you have chosen Network USB the device is automatically shared, however in order to connect you must install the SharePort software from D-Link, this is still in Beta it appears so use with caution etc etc, I haven’t had a problem with it yet and it seems fairly polished. once it is installed make sure you allow it to run at startup and run it straight away, otherwise you won’t be able to use the device without manually running the SharePort software each time, it only uses 2MB of ram so it’s not a resource hog.
If your USB device is on and connected then the SharePort utility should display like this once you double click on the icon in the system tray. It will then allow you to run through a wizard for installing the device, you will need your device’s driver cd or the latest driver for their website, at the end you will be asked if you want to automatically connect to the device when you print if it is a printer, this is a good idea otherwise you must manually choose to connect.
Once that is all set up on each computer that uses the device, you will notice that each device states that the printer is paused and offline, print to the printer anyway, the SharePort software detects that a print has been sent to the printer and it automatically assigns the printer to your computer and while the printer is communicating with your PC it will show as connected, once the print job has been finished it will then return back to offline, paused.
The limitation of this feature is that it will only work on one PC at a time, USB devices simply aren’t designed to be connected to 2 PCs at once so it makes sense why this is the case.
I have not tried such things as webcams however they have been known to work, however at a slower rate than normal, the scanner feature of my printer works fine, however you must manually connect using the SharePort software to use it, make sure you disconnect after you are done.
As I stated at the start of this article the SharePort software is something I have been waiting a long time for, it’s a great feature considering my router is not the latest out there now and it almost seemed like D-Link had given up adding new features to it, it also shows how well the device can work if it can handle a USB device while it is performing all it’s other duties.
You must install printer drivers on all computers, if there aren’t any for your operating system then you’re out of luck.
I am operating on windows xp PRO with a D-Link DIR-655 router (Firmware Version: 1.21) and I have installed the the latest SharePort utitity (version 3.0.0 R1).
I am trying to connect my iosafe solo 1.5 TB external HD to my router via USB either through my computer or the USB port on the back of the router. The problem I am having is that the SharePort Utility simply cannot detect my hard drive. I have added it and SXUPTP to my list of exception for Windows firewall. I have configured my external hard drive for file sharing by right clicking on the drive icon and manually selecting the settings through sharing and security.I have tried using a different USB cord. I have also tried uninstalling/reinstalling the SharePort Utility
I am not sure if the problem lies with the SharePort Utility or with the iosafe freeware. I read quite a few blogs and support forums and i seem to be the only one having this problem that i know of. I do not have another external hard drive to test unfortunately.
i have a new dr 628 router with a usb port on it ,but cant find a shareport utility to use it,do you know how? i want to put my seagate 1.5 tb external drive on it,and also,my camera chip photos,and my usb printer.i have a laptop ustairs,and 2 tabletops down stairs with, the epson stylus cx6000,printer,downstairs,and do video editing/photos.is this a good idea to use all this on the usb port,downstairs,router?thanks for your help! mk.
Either this or this should work for you, depending on which version of firmware your router is running.
your second file for 114 WORKED!!!!! I thank you ever so much for your help. I’ve looked everywhere and tried everything.
What did you do to make this work? where did you find this? how did you figure this out?
D-Link has changed the SharePort software and the firmware for their routers a few times, generally a certain firmware version needs to match up with a certain version of the SharePort software.
D-Link’s website has the software in their support/downloads section for each router.
I have a DIR-655 router and now I cannot send emails from Outlook on my computer. Very frustrating that it doesn’t work like it did before I installed the router. Any suggestions to make it work again?
Wish I could read what you wrote darrinmurremn – might be helpful to me.
That was just Russian spam, it gets through on occasion.
I assume any other Internet activity is working correctly for you though?
There may be something specific with the configuration from your Internet provider that they may be able to help you out with, or there might be something that D-Link support can help you out with over the phone.
I personally don’t know of any reason that the email would stop working as the router is really only redirecting and doesn’t normally interfere with email protocols. I’ll comment in here if I find anything out though.
Yes, the other activity is working fine. I’ve been on the phone with dlink & qwest. Since the email worked when we bypassed the router qwest says it’s the router. Thanks for commenting.
Hi TG,
I have a Dir-655 and I have plugged a USB hub into the back. Into the hub, I have a printer and a 2 TB hard drive. Both are detected, but when I print, the system kicks out the HD and it has to auto scan as if everything was turning back on. Also, sometimes the HD goes to sleep and I have to unplug, let it wind down and then plug everything back in. How do I set the router to keep everything on all the time if even possible?
Thanks,
Miles
Does it do this when you plug either device directly into the router?
This router has issues with devices that need a lot of power through usb and this sounds like they are losing power at some point, if the hub is self powered then I’m not too sure what could be causing it though as it should be able to handle it.
The router doesn’t really have any usb settings, but SharePort might have some related to idle power down.
Hello Ben,
Thank you for the reply. The printer seems ok at all times. But, the HD is another matter. I havn’t plugged the drive directly into the router yet, but will try that and reply. Sorry for the delay in responding, I didn’t click the auto notification box.
I couldn’t find anything in the shareport utility to increase the power at any point, but will review again. Maybe I missed something.
Miles
Does printer connected by SharePoint work even the server is turn off?
If it can, then I will try to use it.
Thanks in advance.
As long as the router is connected to the PC you want to use SharePort with, and is turned on, it will work.
Whenever I connect my Samsung scx4623f multifunction printer, it will show up and connect but then immediately disconnect. It will say available for a little bit but not be able to print and then it starts the connecting to printer dialog again. So it looks like it keeps connecting and disconnecting. This is on both Win7 and Vista.
Hello,
I would like to use my Dlink Dir655 router and the USB port on the back to connect a 1.5TB drive (in an external case of course) to stream media to my XBox 360. Does anyone know if/how this can be done?
Thank you in advance!
Hi,
I have a DIR 655 router, and have installed the shareport software (1.17). It is not detecting any of my devices (simpled usb thumb drives). Any idea why. The USB on the router is set to shareport.
Thanks,
Brnet
What firmware version and what revision is your router? If it’s new it most likely needs the newest version of SharePort, you can find it here.