Qnap faq.....read me first!

General Discussions Tips, Tricks & How-Tos
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Welcome to Plex QNAP FAQ:

This post will try and answer some common questions related to the combination of QNAP and Plex Media Server

For more general Tips & Tricks, see this

First of all, we urge you to look @ our support site on the NAS Guide page

Questions:

Q1: I installed the latest version, or?

If so, then make sure you didn’t do it from QNAP App-Center, since the version held on the QNAP App-Store is almost always behind the latest release
We suggest you visit http://plex.tv/download instead
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Q2: Which version do I need, Intel or Arm?

It all depends on the processor that your QNAP is running…If Intel or AMD, then go for the Intel one, but if ARM, go for the ARM one.
And to check what version you got, visit Compare Products | QNAP and select your product. Then click on specifications, and look @ the top under CPU. Also note, that if running Intel, and using QTS 4.3 or above, that you need the 64bit version of PMS
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Q3: You say Arm CPU, but is all Arm devices supported?

Sadly no,
X-19 devices (most Marvel devices) are no longer developed, but still functional, and the last available version is V0.9.16.6.
X31 devices are fully supported, and developed.
X31Plus devices are fully supported, and developed.
Look here
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Q4: Will my QNAP be powerful enough to support client X?

Look here
And note, that different clients have different demands, so look up the specs for your client OS, since Plex relies on that. Without native OS support, the Plex Client has to depend on the Plex Server to transcode the media
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Q5: How do I install a downloaded QPKG from Plex?

When logging into QNAP Admin interface, select the QNAP App-Center, and then Manual install.
You can find a guide here, that shows how to install .qpkg’s manually.
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Q6: Do I have to uninstall before installing a new version?

Nope, and a bad idea…If you do so, all your information will be lost…Instead, and recommended, simply install on top of the old one
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Q7: How do I do a complete reinstall of Plex on my QNAP

In QNAP Admin Interface, select the App-Center, and then hit more/remove. After it’s done, install again. (Note that all your Metadata etc. will be gone)
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Q8: How do I find the installed version of Plex Media Server?

Simply launch the QNAP admin interface, and look in the App Center. It’s written on the icon for Plex
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Q9: How do I find out what model of QNAP I’m running?

QNAP Admin Interface. Select “Control Panel”/“System Information”. Look @ the summary page
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Q10: How do I find the QNAP firmware I’m running?

Same as above
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Q11: Where is the Plex install directory

Since this depends on your harddrive setup, do this:
Connect to the console of QNAP (SSH, look below), and type:
getcfg -f /etc/config/qpkg.conf PlexMediaServer Install_path
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Q12: How do I get to the logs directory?

Look at the Q11 above, and to the path returned, add /Library/Plex Media Server/Logs
To access it, use either SSH if on some kinda Linux, or WinSCP/Putty if on Windows.
( Hint…Also look @ Q18 as well as the easy on here: Q25
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Q13: How do I connect to my QNAP with SSH?

Depends on your OS:

  • Windows → Use Putty.exe
  • Mac and Linux → In a terminal, type ssh admin@“INSERT IP ADDRESS OF QNAP”
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Q14: Where should I put my medias?

It’s not important, as long as you DO NOT use the default shares from QNAP, like “Multimedia” etc, since they also are used with some QNAP bundled applications, that creates files and directories, that confuse the Plex scanners. If you however decide to go with that directory, we urge you to look for hidden directories and files in it, and add an exclusion for those by using PlexIgnore functionallity.
And to create a shared folder just for Plex Medias, follow this guide and remember to grant full rights to your self, so you can add new items there.
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Q15: Adding a plug-in from a Windows workstation

If running WinSCP then make sure that you have enabled to show hidden files and folders (Ctrl-Alt-H). Also make sure, that you connect using SFTP!
Then the path should be like what’s found in Q11, but add the following to the path: “/Library/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins”
After adding a plug-in, you’ll have to disable/enable your PMS from the QNAP Web-Interface

As an alternative, you could also install this one, which create an admin Share on your QNAP, pointing to the Library directory

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Q16: I have a problem with plex.tv, where I can connect to it, but not the reverse,

First of all, you need to make sure, that port forwarding is enabled on your router/firewall. See Troubleshooting Remote Access
Also make sure, that jumbo frames is not enabled, since this would break plex.tv communications. It must be set to 1500
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Q17: My media are located on a remote NAS or something else, but regardless, I need to run some script during every restart of my QNAP

This is a bit more complicated, if not used to Linux, so here’s the guide:

  • Log into your QNAP device using SSH or Telnet, and if on Windows use WinSCP ( See Q15)
  • Create a directory named : /share/MD0_DATA/.qpkg/autorun
    ** (Note that MD0_DATA might have to be replaced with something else…See Q11, and look in the path returned)
  • Now we need to edit the file controlling all the installed QPKG’s
  • Edit the file named: /etc/config/qpkg.conf (Use WinSCP if on Windows, or VI if in an SSH
    Add the following:​

[autorun]
Name = autorun
Version = 0.1
Author = Plex Community
Date = 2015-06-09
Shell = /share/MD0_DATA/.qpkg/autorun/autorun.sh
Install_Path = /share/MD0_DATA/.qpkg/autorun
Enable = TRUE

(And in above, again might have to replace “MD0_DATA” with something like “CACHEDEV1_DATA”

  • Now create a file named: /share/MD0_DATA/.qpkg/autorun/autorun.sh
    Make sure, that the first line in this file is: #!/bin/sh
    Make sure, that the autorun.sh file just created, has executable rights:
    In WinSCP, right-click and select properties
    In SSH:
    chmod +x /share/MD0_DATA/.qpkg/autorun/autorun.sh

Now add the rest of your script after the first line to the autorun.sh file
Reboot and test
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Q18: Making it easy for the future

If you want fast access to like logs and plugin’s directory in the future, then it might be a good idea to create a share for this, so in the QNAP admin interface, select the shared folders
To do it the easy way, look here
To do it manually, read ahead:

In QTS Control Panel, select Privilege - Shared Folder

Shared Folder
Shared Folder700×388 44.2 KB

Then create a new share, by pressing the Create button

Enter a valid name, like Plex Internal Library and in the field named “Enter Path Manually”, enter the path from Q11
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Q19: Adding your own certificate to Plex Media Server

This answer comes from the gifted @bcjenkins that wrote up a howto, with screenshots and everything.
You can find it here:
QTS4.2 and before
QTS4.3
Thanks mate for this
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Q20: Upgrading QTS from 32 bit to 64 bit

If your QNAP is going to be upgraded from QTS 4.2.x towards QTS 4.3.x, then note the following:

  1. Do NOT reformat the drives. It’s a simple upgrade
  2. Do NOT uninstall the existing version of PMS. Doing so will make you lose all metadata, users and so on
  3. Upgrade QTS on to of the old one, and reboot
  4. After the reboot, PMS will fail, since the old 32 bit version can’t run on a 64 bit OS, but ignore that
  5. Download and install the 64 bit version of PMS from Plex
  6. Install on top of the old one
  7. Done
    On rare occasions QTS upgrade changes file/folder permissions used by PMS, and PMS becomes unusable. On such cases:
  1. Identify the path where Plex libraries are installed (see Q11)
  2. Stop PMS and reboot the NAS
  3. take a backup of /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer/Library/Plex Media Server (supposing that /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer is the path obtained previously). Optionally delete the Plug-in Support sub-folder (sometimes it gets corrupted too) but in this case you will have to reparametrize Agents
  4. Remove Plex Media Server and delete the /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer folder manually
  5. install PMS manually using PlexMediaServer_1.7.5.4035-313f93718_x86_64.qpkg (or later)
  6. Stop PMS and replace the newly created /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer/Library/Plex Media Server folder by your backup
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Q21: I got more than one network interface on my QNAP

If your QNAP is equipped with more than one Network Interface you can use more than one if, and only if, you enable trunking.

  1. If you have a switch in front of it supporting LACP/802.3ad → Read here for more info
  2. If your switch does not supports LACP then you can enable port trunking with balance-alb or balance-tlb
    If simply adding a second interface, and assigning a separate IP address to that, you will run into problems sooner or later.
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Q22: Which IP Address should my QNAP have

Servers need fixed (or reserved) IP addresses. To avoid a clash with any other server on the internet, you MUST use what is known as Private Address Space. According to RFC 1918 these are:
10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255

You will not be able to perform initial parametrization if you use another IP range because PMS “thinks” that you are trying to access remotely, therefore disabling initial setup.
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Q23: Can not claim Plex Media Server

If this is a first install, and after the install, you click on the Plex icon in the QNAP App-Center, in order to open the Plex Media Sever (PMS) page, you will fail due to the fact, that it tries to access PMS using the secure HTTPS protocol.
Sadly, unless claimed, PMS will only respond to pure HTTP calls, until claimed, and as such, simply remove the s from https://...
After claiming the PMS, all will work nicely
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Q24: I have connected my QNAP to another router and now Plex clients can’t access it

When you connect your QNAP to another router (your ISP supplied a new one, you have acquired a new router, etc.), please review the IP parameters of QNAP’s network interfaces. Replacing routers often implies that LAN now uses a different IP range, and when you use fixed IP’s for QNAP (as you should), you may have to change not only its IP address, but also its gateway and DNS. Failure to do so may lead to impredictable results.

If you are “cascading” routers (connecting QNAP to the LAN port of a router whose WAN port is connected to the LAN port of another router) you may have created a double-NAT situation, and in this case it’s necessary to make a non-trivial setup to activate remote connections.
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Q25: Quick access to the internal Library Directory

If you want a quick way to access the internal Plex Library directory, where logs reside, as well as 3.Party tools/plugins can be installed in, look here: Create a share for Plex Library Directory
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Q26: How to restart PMS from commandline

Type the following in an SSH command prompt:
$(getcfg -f /etc/config/qpkg.conf PlexMediaServer Install_path)/plex.sh restart
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Q27: How to update PMS from commandline (SSH)

Please take a look at this trick
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If you have some additions to this FAQ, feel free to PM either me, or some other Ninja, and we’ll look into it

Best Regards

The Ninja Team

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Q28: How to use the PlexData share

The PlexData share, available in PMS 1.19.5 and above, can be used in multiple ways, like:

  1. Obtain log files to post in the forum when Plex misbehaves
  2. Add hidden preferences to your Plex configuration (Preferences.xml)
  3. Backup / Restore your entire Plex installation

Use of the PlexData share is completely optional. It is a diagnostic and support mechanism. It has no active interaction with PMS itself. PMS is completely unaware of this mechanism and independent.

Setting up and administering the PlexData share

Before the PlexData share can be accessed and used in FileStation, you (the administrator), must

  1. Create the “PlexData” share using Control Panel - Shared Folders. You may place this share on any storage volume you wish.

  2. Assign access permissions using the Shared Folders tool (Control Panel - Shared Folders). This is a required step because every system is different. Presuming any ‘default’ access rights would not be in the best interest of all users.

  3. If you have an existing shared folder named “PlexData” and do not wish to use this feature, it can be disabled: Create an empty file "${QPKG_DIR}/Library/Plex Media Server/.disablePlexDataSymlink" and restart PMS. (QPKG_DIR) is wherever QTS installed PMS. The path name typically looks like: /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/PlexMediaServer.

  4. Restart Plex one time. This initial start/stop cycle populates the linkage in the PlexData shared folder.

Obtaining Log Files

Zipping the log files to post in the forum is as simple as:

  1. Open the PlexData share
  2. Click the link to go into “Plex Media Server”
  3. Right-Click “Logs”
  4. Compress to the ZIP file
  5. When complete, download to your computer and upload to the forum.

PlexData-Zipping-Logs
PlexData-Zipping-Logs918×545 47.8 KB

Backing up your Plex metadata

Backing up your Plex metadata is very easy.

  1. Stop Plex
  2. Open FileStation
  3. Click into PlexData
  4. Click into “Plex Media Server”
  5. Click the top selection box to select everything
  6. Right click anywhere in the selected block and “Compress”
    6a. Change the name from Cache to the name you want. (By default, QTS uses the name of the first entry found as the backup name.)
    PlexData-MakingTheBackup
    PlexData-MakingTheBackup963×519 53.5 KB
  7. When complete, COPY/MOVE the ZIP file to a safe place.

Restoring a backup of your Plex metadata

Restoring the backup of your Plex metadata is as easy as it was making the backup
with one additional step

  1. Stop Plex

  2. Open the PlexData share

  3. Click the link and go into “Plex Media Server”

  4. Delete everything

  5. Copy your backup ZIP into the now-empty “Plex Media Server” directory

    PlexData-Ready-to-restore
    PlexData-Ready-to-restore924×541 34.5 KB

  6. Right-click on your backup file and “Extract Here”

    PlexData-ExtractHere
    PlexData-ExtractHere924×541 44.3 KB

  7. After the extraction is complete (several minutes), you should see your full Plex Media Server directory back as it was. (You will not see any interim progress until after it completes and FileStation refreshes. This is how QNAP works)

    PlexData-Complete
    PlexData-Complete925×541 47.1 KB

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Q29: How to bypass iHD driver

This FAQ How-To is of interest to those who:

  1. Have an Intel J4xxx CPU as well as some J5xxx CPUs
  2. Have unwatchable (breaking up) image quality using HW transcoding on J3xxx CPUs as compared to SW transcoding when using very LOW BIT RATE videos.

The issue is a known problem with the Intel HD media driver (iHD_drv_video.so) on those J4xxx CPUs.
The problem has been identified and a solution has been found.

For those of you who are using the PlexData share, this is an easy task.

  1. Install the QNAP “Text Editor” app in App Center

  2. Stop Plex in App Center.

  3. In FileStation, navigate to the PlexData share, click “Plex Media Server” to access your actual configuration files.

  4. Right-click Preferences.xml and “Open with Text Editor”
    Screenshot from 2021-06-22 21-09-15

  5. Go to the end of the second line,

  6. Add the text VaapiDriver="i965" to match this image.

    Screenshot from 2021-06-22 21-10-29
    Screenshot from 2021-06-22 21-10-291304×193 29 KB

  7. Save the file

  8. Start PMS.

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Q30: How to reset ownership and reclaim your Plex server on QNAP

  1. Create a shared folder, named “PlexData” (exact capitalization)

  2. Restart Plex

  3. Let it run for 30 seconds then stop it

  4. Install the QNAP “Text Editor” app from App Center if not already installed

  5. Using FileStation, Open PlexData → Plex Media Server (click into it)

  6. Right-click Preferences.xml → Open in Text Editor

  7. Carefully remove the PreferenceName="Value" pairs for

  • PlexOnlineUsername
  • PlexOnlineToken
  • PlexOnlineMail
  • PlexOnlineHome (This might not exist . OK if it doesn’t)

  1. SAVE the file

  2. Start Plex

  3. Open http://ip.addr.of.QNAP:32400/web from your computer

  4. The server will now be in the state for you to CLAIM it again.

Please reach out if you have any difficulties.

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Q31: HW Transcoding & HDR tone mapping in QTS/QuTS

EDIT: PMS 1.29.2 and above contain native HDR tone mapping support

PMS does not yet include native support for tone mapping in hardware:

For those Intel QTS/QuTS systems with QSV capability (-7xxx or higher, J3455, J4xxx CPU)
Docker Plex provides the workaround.

This FAQ shows how to create a docker container, as a work around, at the command line (a script) which perfectly overlays your existing PMS installation.

  1. Install Container Station and initialize it
  2. SSH into your QNAP as ‘admin’ (an ‘administrative user’ does not have the necessary privileges)
  3. Create a directory anywhere you’d like to hold this script for safe keeping.
  4. Make the script executable
  5. Run the script
  6. Observe as Docker downloads Plex
  7. Open PMS in your web browser
  8. Settings - Server - Transcoder - Show Advanced
  9. Make certain all HW transcoding options are enabled.
  10. SAVE changes

The script:

#!/bin/sh
# author: ChuckPa
#
# Find Container Station 
DOCKER_DIR=$(getcfg -f /etc/config/qpkg.conf container-station Install_path)

# verify installed
if [ "$DOCKER_DIR" = "" ]; then
  echo ERROR:  Container Station not installed.
  exit 1
fi

# Set alias
Docker="$DOCKER_DIR/bin/docker"

# Find Plex
PLEX_DIR=$(getcfg -f /etc/config/qpkg.conf PlexMediaServer Install_path)

# Verify Plex installed
if [ "$PLEX_DIR" = "" ]; then
  echo ERROR: Plex not installed.
  exit 1
fi

#  Stop Plex
/etc/init.d/plex.sh stop

# Warn if no HW detected for HW transcoding
[ ! -e "/dev/dri/renderD128" ] &&  echo "WARNING:  NO transcoding hardware found."

# Remove the old container image (prepare to update the image)
echo Stop and remove Plex container
$Docker stop Plex
$Docker rm Plex

# Remove old image if exists
Image="$($Docker images | grep -i Plex | awk '{print $3}')"

if [ "$Image" != "" ]; then

  echo Removing image
  $Docker stop Plex
  $Docker stop Plex
  $Docker rm Plex
  $Docker rmi -f $Image
fi

# Should be both QTS and QuTS compatible as-is

$Docker run \
-d \
--name Plex \
--network=host \
-e TZ="EST" \
-e LANG="en_US.UTF-8" \
-e PLEX_UID=0 \
-e PLEX_GID=0 \
-e PUID=0 \
-e PGID=0 \
-h DockerPlex \
-v ${PLEX_DIR}/Library/:"/config/Library/Application Support" \
-v ${PLEX_DIR}/tmp:/tmp \
-v ${PLEX_DIR}/tmp:/transcode \
-v /share:/share \
--device=/dev/dri:/dev/dri \
plexinc/pms-docker:plexpass

$Docker start Plex
$Docker update --restart=unless-stopped Plex

Running it:

[/share/CACHEDEV2_DATA] # ./DockerPlex 
Stopping Plex Media Server...
Stop and remove Plex container
Error response from daemon: No such container: Plex
Error: No such container: Plex
Unable to find image 'plexinc/pms-docker:plexpass' locally
plexpass: Pulling from plexinc/pms-docker
a70d879fa598: Pull complete 
c4394a92d1f8: Pull complete 
10e6159c56c0: Pull complete 
d1042fe57e96: Pull complete 
ac5317c7b384: Pull complete 
47414e89d67b: Pull complete 
Digest: sha256:8aeb4a982ea564ad309861dd251cd9e218aac3f4e4d3da21375568341be1b16f
Status: Downloaded newer image for plexinc/pms-docker:plexpass
2226b00b1c1ee8afb8335f108f5940a5fa13715fb4941f79ed954f540f4e388d
Plex
Plex
[/share/CACHEDEV2_DATA] #

You may now use container station instead of the native PMS package.

If you wish to update PMS, simply run the script again. Your metadata is not damaged.

DO NOT REMOVE the native Plex package. It will remove your metadata.

DO NOT attempt to use App Center. It is currently bypassed.
Use Container Station to control PMS.

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Q33: How to move PMS to a different Data Volume.

On QNAP systems with more than one storage volume (DataVol1, DataVol2, … ),
you can move PMS to any of the volumes you want.

Step 1: Open Control Panel
Step 2: Click the DownArrow next to Open

Screenshot from 2025-04-26 00-20-44
Screenshot from 2025-04-26 00-20-44640×360 52.7 KB

  1. Click “Migrate to”

  2. QTS will now show you where PMS is installed and a list of new possible location.

  3. Highlight the Volume you want and click “Migrate”

    Screenshot from 2025-04-26 00-22-56
    Screenshot from 2025-04-26 00-22-56856×584 60.5 KB

  4. QTS will ask you to confirm what you are about to do

    Screenshot from 2025-04-26 00-24-48
    Screenshot from 2025-04-26 00-24-48468×314 18.1 KB

  5. Click “OK” and let QTS move PMS to the new Volume.

  • Depending on how much data you have to move, it can take anywhere from 1 to several minutes.
  1. When migration is complete, QTS will restart PMS.

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10

This announcement is due to a major bug introduced by QNAP’s CodexPack vers 4.5.0 and how it disrupts normal PMS operation.

For those who are using the Multimedia library, introduction of CodexPack 4.5.0 breaks all access to your media in PMS.

Your normal media access, which was defined through Multimedia is disrupted by the CodexPack incorrectly and inappropriately injects itself into that path internal to the Multimedia share mechanism.

Your previous path to ‘Movies’, which previously was in /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/Multimedia gets altered.
After installation of 4.5.0, your path now looks like /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/.qpkg/CodexPack/mnt/share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/Multimedia which does not work because PMS does not know of that path.

It is understood CodexPack is required to use HD_Station and other QNAP apps.

To remove your PMS installation from this problem and prevent any future involvement with it, it is strongly suggested to access the shares directly.

Example:

  • Previously shares animated, horror, scifi, and comedy as part of Multimedia/Movies
  • PMS was accessing them through /share/Multimedia/Movies.
  • In Libraries -> Edit, for each Library section, add each share directly into the list of folders for PMS: /share/animated, /share/horror , /share/scifi, and /share/comedy
  • Do NOT remove the 'Multimedia` entrie(s) at this time
  • Allow PMS to scan your media and find it again. This happens automatically after Editing a Library section
  • PMS will show a duplicate (2) for each item as it finds it again. This is expected and desired.
  • After scanning is complete, verify all media has been found. Resolve any missing items
  • Return to Libraries -> Edit for each section and remove (x) the Multimedia based folder definitions
  • As PMS scans the section one final time, observe the 2 being removed.
  • The watched status and metadata will be intact for any items not previously lost by the installation of CodexPack 4.5.0

The TL;DR is

Only use /share/ShareName (from the left pane) or /share/PoolName/ShareName (using two-step left/right panes) in Plex. Let Multimedia and CodexPack do what it wants to. Keep PMS free and clear of it.

Addendum:

If QNAP tech supports attempts to assert PMS is corrupt, refute, do not accept, the answer. it is 100% CodexPack failure, not PMS.

Update: 19-Sept-2017

Telephone conversation with QNAP tech support (California, USA) confirms

  1. Use /share/ShareName or /share/PoolName/ShareName (e.g. /share/CACHEDEV1_DATA/ShareName) as they both go to the same place.
  2. If you experience this difficulty with CodexPack and Multimedia, send in a HelpDesk ticket about it.