Chromecast's new Guest Mode explained

Martin Brinkmann
Dec 12, 2014
Music and Video
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Google introduced a new Guest Mode for its Chromecast device in the most recent Android Chromecast app. It allows anyone to cast contents without having to connect to your wireless network to do so. Here is how it works.

Whenever you set up a Chromecast device using the Android application, you need to specify a wireless network and its password that you want the Chromecast device to use.

That's true for the initial setup, but also for any other device, be it phone, tablet or computer, that you want to use to cast to the device.

When friends, family or colleagues want to use their device to cast using your Chromecast, they needed to run the same setup routine which meant that you had to provide them with your Wlan password.

While that's not always a problem, it can be problematic if you prefer to keep your wireless password a secret. Up until now you had to change it after the third-party was done casting to your device to make sure it was protected and you were the only person with access to it.

Chromecast's Guest Mode provides a solution to this by allowing others to cast to your device without the wireless password.

Setting up Guest Mode

chromecast guest mode

When you start the Chromecast application on your Android device for the first time after the most recent update, you are informed about the Guest Mode on start.

To set it up do the following:

  • Select your Chromecast device from the list and connect to it and wait for the connection to be established.
  • Tap on Guest Mode and switch the slider to On.

Congratulations, you have set up Guest Mode correctly.

So how does it work?

To use Guest Mode, select the Chromecast device in the list of devices on the device you are using. The Chromecast attempts to establish a connection with the application automatically using the four digit pin.

If that fails for whatever reason, you receive a prompt which you use to enter the four digit pin which is displayed on the Chromecast's Home Screen.

The connection is established then and the contents that you have selected to be casted will be shown on the TV.

The new Guest Mode is useful whenever a guest wants to cast something on a Chromecast device as it protects the wireless password when enabled. Chromecast owners who don't need it leave it off and that is that then.

Summary
Chromecast's new Guest Mode explained
Article Name
Chromecast's new Guest Mode explained
Description
The Chromecast Guest Mode enables guests to cast content to the Chromecast device without having to enter the wireless password first.
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Comments

  1. Anonymous said on August 1, 2010 at 12:43 pm
    Reply

    Why not make use of the mplayer.conf?

  2. Mike J said on August 1, 2010 at 2:58 pm
    Reply

    Huh, I have never even seen this “font cache” pane; videos play at once for me, using VLC & XP SP3.

    1. Martin said on August 1, 2010 at 3:39 pm
      Reply

      Mike, in theory this should have only been displayed once to you, at the very first video that you played with VLC. The time this window is displayed depends largely on the number of fonts in your font directory.

      1. Mike J said on August 2, 2010 at 2:30 pm
        Reply

        huh, I lucked out for a change?? Amazing!!
        Apparently VLC keeps this info through version updates, but I didn’t see this message after a fresh OS install about 8 weeks ago, & a new VLC.

  3. myo said on August 1, 2010 at 5:52 pm
    Reply

    yes, yes, i have the same problem. sometimes, VLC crashes when it is playing .mov file.

  4. Kishore said on August 13, 2010 at 2:55 pm
    Reply

    Error:
    Buidling font Cache pop-up

    Solution:

    Open VLC player.

    On Menu Bar:

    Tools
    Preferences

    (at bottom – left side)
    Show settings — ALL

    Open: Video
    Click: Subtitles/OSD (This is now highlited, not opened)
    Text rendering module – change this to “Dummy font renderer function”

    Save
    Exit

    Re-open – done.
    Progam will no longer look outside self for fonts

    Source – WorthyTricks.co.cc

    1. Martin said on August 13, 2010 at 3:10 pm
      Reply

      Great tip, thanks a lot Kishore.

  5. javier said on August 14, 2010 at 1:50 pm
    Reply

    @Kishore, I’ll try your tips, but does this mean it will no longer show subtitles either?
    I do use subtitles, but the fontcache dialog box pops up (almost) everytime I play a file.

    Could this be related to the fonts I have installed? Or if I add/remove fonts to my system?

    I’ll try to do a fresh install also, if your tips does no work. I’ll post back here later…

    /thanks
    /j

  6. Kishore said on August 15, 2010 at 12:38 pm
    Reply

    @ Javier, The trick i posted will show up subtitles too. If not,

  7. Kishore said on August 15, 2010 at 12:39 pm
    Reply

    @ Javier, The trick i posted will show up subtitles too. If not,Dont worry, VLC is currently sorting out this issue and the next version will be out soon.

    No probs @ Martin !! Its my pleasure

  8. Ted said on October 22, 2010 at 3:57 am
    Reply

    Try running LC with administrator privileges. That seemed to fix it for me

  9. Evan said on December 8, 2013 at 1:48 am
    Reply

    I am using SMplayer 0.8.6 (64-bit) (Portable Edition) on Windows 7 x64. Even with the -nofontconfig parameter in place SMplayer still scans the fonts. Also, I have enabled normal subtitles and it is still scanning fonts before playing a video. Also, it does this every time the player opens a video after a system restart (only the fist video played).

  10. Mike Williams said on September 6, 2023 at 1:26 pm
    Reply

    Does that mean that only instrumental versions of songs will be available for non-paying users?

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