Can't find server

I downloaded and installed Plex Media Server, created some libraries and viewed them on my TV. This morning, and this isn’t the only time, I went back into Plex Media Server it says it “can’t find server”. This happens every so often. What am I doing wrong? Seems like I have to reinstall everything and create a new ID to my TV to get it all working again. Very frustrating.

Sounds like, PMS may have crashed. Have you tried restarting PMS instead of a re-install.

Haven’t tried restarting PMS; other than Signing out and signing back in. But that doesn’t help either. Is there a different way of restarting. Does the TV app have to be on while working on the PMS?

What OS are you running PMS on?

Windows 10 and Internet Explorer 11

On windows, find the Plex icon in the system tray. Right click and hit exit. Then find it in the start menu to restart it.

I did all that and nothing happens when I click on the icon. So I uninstalled and reinstalled it and still nothing happens when I click on the icon. I also clicked on “run as administrator” and nothing happens. Now, the only way, the only way I can get it to open and run and show my library’s is to open it through my browser; https://app.plex.tv/web/app. I copied the web link to my desk top, and that is now what I use to open the Plex Media Server. Clicking on the icon from the download does nothing except to frustrate me.

That’s the correct behavior. PMS is a server program that runs in the background. There is no screen that loads when you run the program. https://app.plex.tv/web/app is called the hosted PlexWeb. That is what you use to manage and configure PMS. There is a copy of this on your local PMS machine too. Right click on the PMS icon in the system tray, and the top option is “Open Plex”. That will load the local PlexWeb, also in a browser window. Save this address too so you can get to it easier.

Why doesn’t PLEX explain how all this is suppose to work. But still nothing happens when I right click on the PMS icon tp “Open Plex”. See image. There is no Open Plex command.

No, that is the start menu. You use a regular click there to start PMS. Once PMS is running, there will be a Plex icon in the system tray, that’s the area on the bottom right over by the clock. You right click on this.

See this support article for more information on using Plex Web. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200288666-Opening-Plex-Web-App

@bjkaufman said:
Why doesn’t PLEX explain how all this is suppose to work.

I reviewed our support article and we do mention this slightly in our PMS installation article, https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200288586-Installation, but it was not very clear. We’ve now added the following.

Tip!: It’s important to understand that Plex Media Server does not have its own graphical user interface. When you run the server on your computer, NAS, or other device, you won’t see a window open with a “server UI” or similar. Instead, you use Plex Web App to manage your server.

Looking at that page I see at least two references to choosing “Open Plex…” on Windows and OS X, but I can’t see this in the three example images. There is a “Media Manager…” choice in each image which might be the same thing. (I’m on Linux, so I can’t check which one is correct.)

OK, I think your last two answers have helped. Just seems like there is a lot of steps to take to get this to work, when one click should do it.

Thanks

Same thing here. Able to access via iOS or Mac app by the Web, not accessible anymore. HELP!

All I can say is, read all the info from MovieFan.Plex above.

@jonkv said:
Looking at that page I see at least two references to choosing “Open Plex…” on Windows and OS X, but I can’t see this in the three example images. There is a “Media Manager…” choice in each image which might be the same thing. (I’m on Linux, so I can’t check which one is correct.)

Ah, sorry about that. The images are old and haven’t been updated. Media Manager was another name used for PlexWeb but we thought it was confusing and changed it to say “open Plex”.

well i’m on a mac/roku and have the same thing going (posted a question in roku, no answer yet)… i tried everything i have heard on here…

@charidea said:
well i’m on a mac/roku and have the same thing going (posted a question in roku, no answer yet)… i tried everything i have heard on here…

It could be a secured connection issue. What is the security setting in PMS?