It ran fine on Win 7. On 10 using the latest update from Plex I get this error, “The installer has insufficient privileges to modify the file. C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Plex Media Server”
I uninstalled and deleted the registry key for Plex and the file system directory. I then re attempted the install with admin privileges. Unfortunately, it still failed with the same error.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Charley
This hints at a problem with your hard disk.
Perform a disk check.
Make sure this folder C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Plex Media Server can at least be written to with Admin privileges.
You might want to inform yourself about setting access permissions on Windows.
Thanks for the suggestion. However, I am able to manually write the the directory and create the sub directory the install was trying to do and failed. And other install programs are successfully writing to …\Start Menu\Programs…
So, the problem must lie elsewhere.
an over-zealous Anti Virus perhaps?
Windows Defender show nothing in the log and I even tried an exclusion for Plex.
I also started the install and the server as admin w/o any luck. I am monitoring the directory and it does write all its files to the correct directory. So, the error message is wrong.
Ok, tried something else. I turned off Win defender and started up the server using: http://127.0.0.1:32400/web
And it found the server in “insecure mode”. However, this will not work with the firewall up.
@charleyrich said:
And it found the server in “insecure mode”. However, this will not work with the firewall up.
If the installer does not create the necessary exemptions in your firewall, you need to create them yourself.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201543147-What-network-ports-do-I-need-to-allow-through-my-firewall-
Are you using the default Windows firewall?
Yes, the default windows 10 firewall: aka Windows Defender…
I just added rules to the win firewall opening up the ports you suggested in your link and it still failed. I even tried turning off the firewall and this also failed.
What is so odd is that the error message says it can’t write to the directory. But it did as I see all the files. At the end of the install process when it fails, it deletes them all.
@charleyrich said:
What is so odd is that the error message says it can’t write to the directory. But it did as I see all the files. At the end of the install process when it fails, it deletes them all.
But didn’t you say you could access Plex via the web interface? http:\127.00.0.1:32400/web
This means that the install went OK, only the items in the Windows start menu are missing. And they are not really needed.
Adding the rules to the Windows Firewall should enable you to access the plex server from other devices in your network too. (test first with a web browser as well, but use the local IP address of your plex server machine, instead of 127.0.0.1) So you can use it almost as normal.
Only that pesky start menu is not playing ball.
(Which I still think has something to do with damaged filesystem or file permissions, which should be verified with a chkdsk run.)
Something unique about your setup - I just spun up a generic Windows 10 VM and installed Plex Media Server for Windows 1.1.2.2680 without issue. No errors, no tricks, no workarounds, no disabling of anything.
The other thing that concerns me is that you seem to be confusing Windows Firewall (which runs inside of a svchost), which is a firewall, as the name implies, with Windows Defender (C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MsMpEng.exe) which is anti-malware software. Ironically, I think at one point Plex required Windows Firewall to be running (and not disabled) to install. This is not unprecedented, there are some other packages that do that. I don’t know that it still does.
Windows Defender on a PMS? Meh…It’s not super efficient, particularly when it comes to large files, so you might want to use exceptions for certain file types. But Windows Defender running or not, I’ve never seen it care about Plex.
Point is - something unique about your setup - look at installer logs or think about running Procmon and capturing data during the install - it’ll have all sorts of interesting things that an installer log might not see if the issue is happening post install.
I meant Windows Firewall and not Defender. In the firewall opened up the recommended ports and even turned it off w/o result. I did it get it to wok unsecured, but only during the install. As soon as it finished and presented an error message,. it would delete all the install files. So I manually copied all the files to another drive and it works fine from there. I agree it must be my setup, but I can’t see why it behaved the way it did. But, the net is, it is working fine for me. Thanks for everyone’s suggestions.
I had the same issue and I discovered what the issue was. I had backed up the server and then restored it to a fresh windows install. Navigate to the directory that the Plex installer says it doesn’t have sufficient privileges. Right click on the folder and click “Take Ownership”. This solved the issue and Plex completed the install
