Share Links for Emby — guide

Installation

You need Emby Server 4.10.1 or newer.

1. Sign in to your MediaLab Works account, open Licenses and download the plugin DLL (available on an active subscription, a lifetime license within its update window, or during the free 30-day trial).
2. Copy the DLL into the Emby plugins folder and restart Emby Server:
   • Linux (package): /var/lib/emby/plugins/
   • Docker: the plugins folder inside your Emby config volume
   • Windows: %AppData%\Emby-Server\programdata\plugins\
3. Open Share Links in the Emby dashboard menu and click License. Paste your license key and activate it, or enter your e-mail to start the free 30-day trial or buy a license. The plugin contacts the license server, binds the key to this Emby server and shows the license as Active.

The license is checked once a day (and at every Emby start). Without internet the plugin keeps working for 7 days after the last successful check; after that it is stopped until it can check again.

License

Without a valid license the plugin is stopped; only the License page keeps working (there you can start the trial, buy, enter the key or update).

With a valid license, the same page can install an update or roll back to the previous version if an update causes trouble. Restart Emby after either.

Before you share

Guests outside your home network need an address of your server that they can reach (the same one you use for Emby from outside). Inside your network, the local address is enough.

Creating a link

1. Choose what to share: a movie, an episode, a season or a whole series.
2. Set the limits:
   • expiry: when the link stops working;
   • maximum opens: how many times it can be opened;
   • maximum simultaneous viewers;
   • an optional PIN, which the guest must enter.
3. Send the link: copy it, or send it by WhatsApp, Telegram or e-mail.

What the guest does

• In a browser, the guest opens the link. On a TV or another device, they open the short address and type the 8-character code, or scan the QR code with a phone.
• The title plays in the plugin's own player, where the guest can choose the audio track and the subtitles. Nothing can be downloaded, and the bitrate is capped.
• The guest never gets an account or a token for your server: everything goes through a proxy limited to the titles of the link.

Managing links

• Revoking a link stops its playback immediately.
• Each link has an activity log.
• Repeated wrong codes or PINs are locked per IP address and per link.

Sharing by regular users

Optionally, regular users can create links too, within a quota per 30 days: a default quota, or one per Cashier plan. Each user sees and manages their links on the My links page.

Why not a guest account

On Emby 4.10, library restrictions are not enforced when an item is requested directly by its id, so an ordinary "guest" account can reach the whole library. With Share Links the guest has no account at all.