Problem: My ReadyNAS 6 would not pull an IP via DHCP when connected via MOCA. Even when a static IP was assigned, it had no Internet access. With a static IP and the router assigned as gateway it was accessible by all LAN participants, but no WAN – a problem for cloud backup.

Solution: Static IP, Bonded NIC using XOR (even though I don’t have it connected to a managed switch or one that should permit XOR connections) using Layer 2+3 connection.

Update 25 AUG 17: Layer 2 only appears to be faster at switching (no pun intended.) I used 2+3 originally because I expected the Layer 2 association would work for LAN/devices behind the router and IPs for the Internet past the home router would be seen via Layer 3. This worked…intermittently. Layer 2 alone works much more consistently so far.

Facts:

1. Other PCs (minus VMs – see #4 below) did pull IPs via DHCP when connected either directly to the MOCA bridge (I use the Actiontec ECB6200K02).
2. There is a mix of MOCA 1.1 and MOCA 2 devices on the LAN, but neither exceeds the total amount of MOCA devices permitted by MOCA standards.
3. If I connected the ReadyNAS to the wireless bridge connected via AC (5GHz) to the Fios provided wireless router, the ReadyNAS would get an IP via DHCP and could access Internet
4. (Possibly relevant) my Hyper-V virtual machines also had difficulties pulling IPs or getting WAN/Internet access even with static IPs when going through a switch connected to the MOCA bridge. Again, any stand-alone PCs had no issues, including the machine hosting the VMs
5. Tried assigning separate static IPs in IPV4 and IPV6 to the two NICs in the ReadyNAS
6. Tried static routing one NIC to LAN IPs (192.168.1.0) and the other to Internet/WAN (didn’t work)
7. Tried connecting one NIC to the switch connected to MOCA bridge and the other to the wireless bridge in conjunction with #6 (also didn’t work)
8. I needed to use the MOCA bridge because it gives me Gbit connectivity to separate building housing the ReadyNAS. The wireless bridge is decent, but at best ~300Mbps and often less.

I do highly recommend these Actiontec coax to Ethernet adapters. As mentioned, they use MOCA 2.0 with bonded channels to get actual 1000Mb/Gbit speeds between the two buildings. Even over multiple coax splitters, and while using MOCA to get my WAN connection from Frontier (yuck) Fios. If you already have a MOCA service (i.e. most fiber to the home providers), you probably only need one as your router is pushing information to your TV set boxes via MOCA, and the Actiontec can pair up with it. If you don’t, you’ll need at least a pair. I only needed one, but they work so well I’m glad I purchased two. The latency and speed really is equivalent to running Ethernet and all the rooms in both buildings (main house and in-law apartment) were already wired with coax but not completely with Ethernet.

Update 2: 18 June 2017. Added quotation marks around the command in the batch file to allow for any spaces.

Update 1: 20 NOV 2016: Added a tweak to the batch file before you make it an executable to add some compatibility with Steam and nVidia streaming.

Background: I use the Steam Link to remotely play games on my family room TV. It’s basically a glorified remote desktop/streaming device.

Wouldn’t it be great if it could play Plex remotely so I could watch movies, TV, etc? In order to do this, you have to launch the application you want to view from within Steam. Easy enough for a “traditional” x86 app (i.e. one that is the type “something.exe”) but more difficult to launch a Windows Store application. As anyone who has tried knows, they are not only hidden, but don’t launch with an executable file.

Attempt 1: I tried launching using the shortcut to the Plex app – which sort of worked.

If you want to get a shortcut to any application, Windows Store or traditional, the best way I’ve found is to open the hidden “Applications” folder and create/drag a shortcut. You can open this hidden folder by going to “Run” (shortcut: Windows key + R) and type shell:AppsFolder then hit OK (or press enter.)

I created a shortcut to the Plex app, moved it to my D: drive, and used that shortcut in Steam as a non-Steam app to launch the Plex App. Problem was, although it would launch, it would always have an error box behind it.

Attempt 2 – Et voila!: A bit more complicated, but works very well. Basically you create a batch file that runs the shortcut, and turn the batch file into an executable file.

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