Server Version#: 1.20.1.3232 (smb/beta)
Player Version#: 8.6.0.20351
Running latest versions of Plex and PMS versions on a 2015 Shield running latest 8.2. The following happened with the latest stable release of PMS but I tried the beta with no success.
PMS was running perfectly. Now it’s stuck on ‘stopped’. Attempts to switch it on show about 30 seconds of initiating this with a rolling progress animation but it returns to stopped. Force quitting Plex, restarting Shield, or shutting down with power unplugged doesn’t change this.
I can recreate this bug with the following steps:
Change password (of the PMS owner running on shield) via plex-web. Ticked the box to force all devices that use this account to reauthneticate.
Wake Shield from sleep and open Plex, seeing message requesting that I sign in again. But PMS is running on this user-less version and shows as running in settings
Sign in. Am requested to do so via a link I follow on my phone. Phone tells me account is now linked. PMS is now shown as unavailble and stopped. I cannot start it, as per the opening description
Sign out. PMS shown as running again without me having changed it manually.
I am now stuck with being unable to sign back in to my Plex account on the Shield after changing my password and have a reachable library. It doesn’t make sense that the library is accessible if I sign out. So I assume this is a bug?
I’m avoiding uninstalling plex as the library and watch records are important to me. I’ve seen a similar, older problem fixed when a PMS update was released. I’m unsure whether the update addressed the issue or it was just a partial configuration reset that happens with an update.
Anybody encountered this and have any advice that doesn’t involve trashing the entire records? It seems so harsh a solution to just wanting to change a password. Thanks.
I’ve been googling similar past issues, incase this isn’t new and saw one mentioned a few times about PMS losing permissions to exernal storage but not overtly displaying this problem when trying to start the server. It just gets stuck saying ‘stopped’ each time, like my issue.
Unfortunately this wasn’t a solution for me. PMS already had permission to access external storage. I toggled it off and on to be sure. Anyway, the fact that PMS runs when I sign out likely indicates permissions wasn’t an issue anyway.
I signed in to plex web and was tempted to remove the shield as an authorised device as it was reauthenticating that started the problem. But I’m concerned that I don’t know what information this remove and if it removes my play history. It seems unlikely it would fix the issue anyway.
Have managed to access logs but don’t see anything related? I try and start the server at a certain time, look at Plex Media Server.log for that time and there doesn’t look like there’s any messages relevant to starting the server or failing to start it.
Having the exact same issue. Someone hacked my account, managed to get it back, changed password. Did the same steps as you, if I’m logged out I can access everything, server says “running”. If I log in with plex.tv/link, I can’t access my movies anymore and server says “stopped”.
This happened both on the android version before and the new one that came out recently. (8.2).
So my developer nose says it’s not android system version related, but password change related.
Player version: 8.6.0.20351
Server version: v1.19.5.3112
100% authorization problem with Plex Media Server, we can login and fix this with the player app, however there is no option to do this with the media server, so to be able to fix this:
I had to remove the media server authorization on the web (this actually removed the “Stopped” problem described earlier when logged in, however it’s also not sharing anything online)
Clear the plex media server data on the Nvidia Shield
Set it up again, add the whole library again and do it from scratch…
Now I can access my library again from app.plex.tv
Very much not ideal if you have to change the password…
I mentioned I was avoiding solutions that involved clearing library data. The watched logs on my server are quite sentimental for me as I share the server with only a few close friends. A highly personal preference, yes, but a caveat I thought was important to state at the start as a lot of Plex related issues seem to get solutions that suggest starting over. I don’t think everyone’s as attached to their watch history as I am. Nevermind that it’s incredibly useful to have what I’ve watched and my progress ticked off.
On a similar note, i believe that running the wizard resets PMS library data.
I had gone enough days without being able to access Plex that I ultimately wiped the library and started again. Feels like such a blunt solution to a problem that could surely be corrected in a config value somewhere in a file or a database? All from just changing my password and asking other devices to ask for authentication again. If this is expected behaviour (which I doubt it is, given the erratic outcome) it would be good to have a warning.
The library was wiped when I took the risk of uninstalling the PMS on the Shield and reinstalling, as I was out of ideas. I wasn’t sure if it would keep the library data and knew it was a risk. It didn’t, and I had to start from scratch. But for those who aren’t as attached to their watched logs - uninstalling PMS, reinstalling and being obliged to make a new library allowed the PMS to run again.
While we’re on the topic, I should mention that getting back on track has not been straightforward either.
I now have the new library and a dead one that says it cannot connect (obviously as it’s the previous library I was unable to start). I’ve had some trouble knowing what was the best way to remove references to this old library and to clear the space it took up without damaging anything. During my brief search it seems like Plex expects the library I want to remove to be running to preform some operations I needed (not definite about this).
But if I get it removed fine on my account, I fear all my friends will be stuck with a reference to a dead server and a lot of questions that are over their heads. They’re already confused enough about the free movies and tv shows that appear in the menu.
I was also really hoping there was some option for copying an existing library. I thought perhaps a server could recognise there was an existing library when creating a new one and offer some options that benefit.
