Cannot install (solved) - now a network access problem

Getting rather cheesed off here. I'm trying to update Openelec to LibreElec, but nothing works.

I tried the USB creator, all it did was turn a 16 gb usb stick into a 512 mb stick (it will not format to its full capacity, so it's effectively otherwise useless now) and all it did was install a bunch of near-random characters & folders to the stick.
So I downloaded the manual update file, with the intention of simply putting it in the Update folder then rebooting to install the update. No matter which browser I try, (tried four different ones) none will show the directory structure, all that happens is the generic interface for Kodi opens. I followed the instructions of the LibreElec video to the letter, yet it does not work.
Any suggestions please?

Slight update, still no joy.
I used a different computer and found that I could see the Openelec box on the network, and from there the update folder.
So I downloaded the LibreElec update file again, copied it to the OpenElec Update folder and rebooted it. No update happened.
I unzipped the update file and copied that across to the OpenElec Update fold and rebooted it. No update happened.

Anyone got any ideas please??

Another update.
Tried using the 2nd computer to run the USB creator, but it runs for a while then comes up with 'write error'. I'm not really willing to burn-up any more usb sticks to try to make it work.

Any suggestions please?

Quote from CvH

thats all, now you can use that stick to boot at whatever device you have

if you want to format it back to a normal stick it is also possible - but that depends at your used OS

Thanks - I'd like to do that but the USB creator util doesn't work properly now either - with only a few seconds to go it comes up with a write error and the util freezes.

I'm using Windows 10.

Quote from bubblegum57

You haven't supplied any details of the type of box you have.

from downloads – LibreELEC at the direct downloads, from the drop down select your device

then from the same page

Manual Update / Migration from OpenELEC (.tar)

LibreELEC update files are compatible with OpenELEC. To migrate transfer the manual update file over to /storage/.update/ or the “Updates” samba share before rebooting to start the update process. The same file is used for v2 and v3 devices:

The box is a generic Intel unit. I've selected the correct update file. As mentioned above, I have copied across the update file to the correct directory but that does not work either. I'll try to get a photo of the screen as it tries to install the update.

Quote from kszaq

Billzilla LE image consists of 2 partitions, one of them 512MB and second is the rest of the drive. Windows can see only the first partition. You can use Rufus to format USB drives and SD cards back to full capacity.

Ah, some good news, thanks!

Okay .... got it installed, at last.

The major problem is that after the update the box cannot see the homegroup network. Before the update it could. It has an IP address.

So, sorry, but the upgrade has made things worse. I'm still hoping that someone can please help fix that.

Good timing - I was about to post that I found out the solution, and it's much as you just wrote. So now I'm seeing the network just fine, but it's asking for a password, which I don't recall setting in Windows. I'll keep searching for an answer, thanks for the ongoing help.

This - SMB shares on Windows computer - appears to answer the problem, so I'll give that a go.

Still no joy. I created a password for my shares, but no matter what name I type in (Openelec, Kodi, Libreelec, guest, etc) it won't let me access those folders.
Any suggestions please?

Edit - Am reading the release notes for 8.2.1 now, I should be able to work it out.
(But don't go away! )

Okay, from here - LibreELEC (Krypton) v8.1.2 BETA – LibreELEC - it says ...

"Windows SMB shares must be added using the full server/share path."

And

"Connection failures to anonymous and guest shares are normally solved by creating a local machine user account and password credential for Kodi to use, then setting read or read-write permissions for that credential to the shares Kodi will access."

I'm not sure how to do the latter. I tried entering the network address for one of my shared folders (movies) by entering //captain/movies , with a '/' at the end and also without. None of the combinations worked unfortunately.
I'm a bit stumped again sorry.

Quote from Billzilla

"Connection failures to anonymous and guest shares are normally solved by creating a local machine user account and password credential for Kodi to use, then setting read or read-write permissions for that credential to the shares Kodi will access."

I'm not sure how to do the latter. I tried entering the network address for one of my shared folders (movies) by entering //captain/movies , with a '/' at the end and also without. None of the combinations worked unfortunately.
I'm a bit stumped again sorry.

I'm still at a loss as to what to do here to make it work. Windows 10 doesn't make it easy to get all the settings right, and I don't know enough about all this stuff sorry.
Can someone please walk me through, step-by-step as to how to set up W10 and maybe LE.