Need help with Home Sharing and Music app

Question

attrex2013 Author

Level 1

11 points

Need help with Home Sharing and Music app

I have a Mac Studio (OS 15.6) with a very large music library and hundreds of playlists. I also have an older MacBook Pro (maxed out at OS 13) on my home network and would like to use Home Sharing to play music from the Studio's library on the MacBook Pro.

I was able to set up Media Sharing in the system settings of both. The problem for me is in the Music app. The Apple Support notes tell you to click on Library in the Music sidebar and choose a "shared library". Unfortunately there is nothing of the kind showing up in the sidebar. What I do have are the usual things: Recently Added, Artists, Albums, Songs, Music Videos, etc. I can of course click "Edit" and then select Genres, Composers, and TV & Movies, but these aren't of use to me. In any case, no "shared library" appears.

Can someone set me straight here?

Thanks

Mac Studio

Posted on Dec 10, 2025 6:30 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 10, 2025 10:25 PM in response to attrex2013

In addition to turning on Media Sharing in System Settings, you also need to enable library sharing inside the Music app. On your Mac Studio, open Music → Settings → Sharing and check “Share Library via Home Sharing.” Then make sure both Macs use the same Apple ID for Home Sharing. After relaunching Music on the MacBook Pro, the shared library will appear in the sidebar under “Library.”

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Answer 2

attrex2013 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 11, 2025 5:22 AM in response to azaksalmarzur28

On my Mac Studio, the Music app has four settings panes: General, Playback, Files and Advanced. None of these mentions Sharing.

I wonder if this is so because my Media Location is not in my user Music folder. Instead I have put it onto an external hard drive; this is for space considerations.

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