Broke Plex by moving %LOCAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server

General Discussions
1

Hey Plex and other users.

I tried to move %LOCAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server to my raid from the small C: ssd
Only found this thread after, I was dumb enough to move the folder into the Plex media folder :frowning:

My dashboard now says : (
**The dashboard is empty
** Add libraries with your media to make the most of Plex Media Server

Regedit is correct, but I placed the “LocalAppDataPath” inside the Plex media folder.

Read this and tried to undo it, but now have 2 “LocalAppDataPath” folder, old drive and new.
And an extra one that was created by plex it self.

Can I salvage my config files somehow ?

Thx in advance for your time

2

I assume you still know into which folder you moved your original plex data?

Take a look into this folder.
It should have another sub-folder named Plex Media Server in it.

Now dive down into Plex Media Server and look what is inside.
Do you see yet another sub-sub folder named Plex Media Server? (case 1)
Or are there other folders in it, like Cache, Codecs, Crash Reports, … ? (case 2)

IF ‘case 2’,
THEN

  • shutdown/quit Plex Server
  • stop the ‘Plex Updater service’ from the Windows service control panel (important!)
  • go to the default storage location of the Plex data folder (C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server) and empty it out (<username> should be replaced with your Windows user account name) (C:\Users is a ‘hidden’ folder, you might wanna activate display of hidden files in Windows Explorer.)
  • copy all the folders and their contents from the location you have determined as ‘case 2’ above back into C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server.
  • You must make sure, that you don’t end up with 2 nested Plex Media Server folders. i.e. if you see C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Server you did it wrong.
  • edit the Plex branch of the Registry and remove the key LocalAppDataPath
  • Reboot your machine

Wait extra long after the reboot before accessing Plex.
See what comes out of it. Your posters may still be disabled/grey at first. But a Refresh is supposed to sure that.
But don’t start a full Metadata Refresh right away! Try first with a few single movies and tv shows.

If you got every thing into order, keep an eye on Plex for a few days.

After you are sure, everything is well again, use this guide to start a second attempt at moving Plex data:


But don’t attempt to mix Plex data and media again!

3

I could not get it working, so ended up setting this up again.