Background - I started my Plex server and file hosting on a windows machine 8 years ago. I then built a a Unraid server on an old very slow CPU to just host the files and left the server on the windows machine. Recently I upgraded my Unraid server to a new box that has a much better CPU and I would like to now move my Plex server over to it. I have 1000+ Movies 60+ TV series and 3500+ FLAC Music Albums.
I would like to keep all of my watched unwatched , date added, On deck info.
Is it possible to move this info between Windows and Unraid? Is it easier to do this with a docker set up or windows VM?
I have read some of the other posts that describe how to do it and gave it a try but I ran into some permission errors and 30 hours of moving files to a docker did not work. I thought best to check here before digging into this further and trying again given how long it takes.
I have read that and is what I used on my first try. My concern is that is it not clear about changing to a different OS. Is there anything in the Windows registry that I need to worry about when moving to an Unraid docker?
Has anyone had success moving from Windows to Unraid?
the plex main database - this has all your media info/history/etc
the preferences.xml - this has your server guid and preferences from plexweb
copying the database alone will get you most of the way there, but it will show up as a new server and you will have to re-configure the server settings to your liking, and re-share the libraries to your users (your users are stored online in your plex account).
the other thing that is important to consider is the path changes, windows uses “” and linux use “/”
basically you have to make sure that ‘empty trash automatically’ is DISABLED
then add the new path(s) to each library (do NOT remove the old paths)
after all libraries are edited and and the library rescanned, you will likely have (2) shown in the corner for all your content.
after doing some verification (how much is up to you) to make sure each library’s content (you can “GET INFO” to see the paths for a video) shows both the old and new paths, then you can remove the OLD paths, refresh libraries and then ‘clean trash’ which will now remove the duplicate items on the old (inaccessible) paths.
finally, you will need to refresh metadata (re-fetches all artwork etc) for each library
you should of course keep multiple copies of your database backups in case something gets screwed up.
also, as far as permission errors, linux is very particular about file ownerships and permissions.
you may want to google and learn about linux permissions and how to change the assigned user/permissions.
which you install plex, it should setup its own user/permissions for the application, but you will need to make sure any MEDIA is also accessible to the plex user/application.
and when you copy the plex.db and/or preferences.xml you need to make sure they have the correct plex permissions.
I’ve done the move several times. The steps above will work great. If like me, you’ve gigs of image thumbnails stored be sure to move your media (Library/App Supp/PMS/Media) folder. You might also want to move your plugins and custom scanners, if applicable, and the db files for the plugins like Trakt.
I did have success with this but wanted to add a note for anyone else looking for a solution. To solve the permissions issues I used https://hub.docker.com/r/binhex/arch-krusader to move the files and that got rid of the access issues and copied all files over.
