# Disabling channel auto update **URL:** \ **Category:** Dev/API Corner\ **Tags:** plugin-dev\ **Created:** [April 14, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771 "2013-04-14T02:16:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mim\_212](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mim\_212](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mim_212)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/1 "2013-04-14T02:16:45Z")
Hi,    Im relatively new to plex, but im loving it!   I am currently trying to modify the channel 'reddit videos' to create a custom list of subreddits that I enjoy, but plex keeps erasing my changes every few hours. I have tried renaming the bundle as well as modifying the init.py file to try and make plex recognise it as a different channel, but every time after a few hours the changes I made are deleted?    Is there a setting I can change to stop plex keeping my channels up to date?   ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 5:55am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/2 "2013-04-14T05:55:50Z")
What I usually do when working on a channel is this: Move the channel bundle from the Plug-ins directory to some place convenient (desktop, etc.) then create a sym-link from the new location back into the Plug-ins directory. That will allow PMS to properly load the code for execution but not replace it when running the auto-update routine. ---
**Author:** ![mim\_212](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mim\_212](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mim_212)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:14am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/3 "2013-04-14T06:14:31Z")
Thanks for your response Mikedm139, I have tried your method by moving reddit videos to the desktop and creating an alias of it, then moving the alias into the '~/application support/plex media server/plug ins' folder but plex didnt recognize the channel? When I refreshed the library and entered plex again, the channel had disappeared? Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/4 "2013-04-14T06:26:42Z")
Strictly speaking, aliases are not the same as symlinks. I’m sure a quick google search would turn up lots of more in depth tutorials but, I use the OSX Terminal command: ``` ln -s ‘PATH/TO/SOURCE’ ‘PATH/TO/DESTINATION’ ``` ---
**Author:** ![mim\_212](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8dc957/32.png) [@mim\_212](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mim_212)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/5 "2013-04-14T06:29:08Z")
Thank you very much! ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f19dbf/32.png) [@Dan\_J](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Dan_J)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/6 "2013-05-19T20:07:00Z")
This has been frustrating me constantly when I'm trying to modify an existing plugin. Thanks for the tip on creating a sym link, that said shouldn't there be a developer flag to stop the media server from trying to be "helpful". ---
**Author:** ![mikedm139](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/mikedm139/32/96909_2.png) [@mikedm139](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mikedm139)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/7 "2013-05-19T22:48:35Z")
Technically, there is a developer flag that an be added to the channel’s plist file to disable auto-update. ``` PlexPluginDevMode 1 ``` However, I’ve heard reports of it being ignored on Windows machines. I personally don’t use it because I find it annoying to have to remove the flag before uploading changes to GitHub. ---
**Author:** ![Gerk](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/gerk/32/81980_2.png) [@Gerk](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Gerk)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2013, 4:07pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/8 "2013-05-24T16:07:29Z")
symlinks are definitely safer and easier to manage than adding that option to the plist, at least in my experience -- especially if it's something that you want to release to others at some point, because then you have to keep juggling turning on and off that devmode option.  With symlinks it "just works" (and by works I mean your changes don't get stomped!) ---
**Author:** ![CORRUPT27](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@CORRUPT27](https://forums.plex.tv/u/CORRUPT27)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 2:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/9 "2013-06-02T14:15:39Z")
I’m trying to do the samething. I’m running windows xp no links any suggestions for me? Can’t I just modify it to be a new channel ---
**Author:** ![shopgirl284](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shopgirl284](https://forums.plex.tv/u/shopgirl284)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/10 "2013-06-02T19:15:18Z")
I have always just created a channel I call test that I paste code in to play with and tweak things, so yes you can set it up as a new channel. But this does seem like a better way to tweak channels without a lot of hassle, especially if you want to just try out a tweak for an existing channel structure . Also it could be of benefit based on how you have your Github account set up and you manage updates to it.  So it is a method I am going to try. As Mikedm139 said above, a quick Google search of symlinks and your operating system brings up many tutorials. ---
**Author:** ![shopgirl284](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shopgirl284](https://forums.plex.tv/u/shopgirl284)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/11 "2013-06-02T19:24:05Z")
Here's a question about this, does it need to be a hard symbolic link for Plex to pick up the symlink? ---
**Author:** ![sander1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@sander1](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sander1)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/12 "2013-06-02T21:42:00Z")
> Here's a question about this, does it need to be a hard symbolic link for Plex to pick up the symlink? This is not an area I know a lot about, but I think there is not something like a "hard symbolic link", there's just a "hard link" and a "symbolic link" (or "soft link"). I'm pretty sure PMS checks for symlinks. Check out this nice tool to make creating symlinks on OSX a lot easier: [https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10433/symboliclinker](https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/10433/symboliclinker) ---
**Author:** ![shopgirl284](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shopgirl284](https://forums.plex.tv/u/shopgirl284)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/13 "2013-06-02T22:02:25Z")
Your right it is soft symbolic or hard link. I was getting confused by the options of mklink from the tutorials I looked up, since they mention all three options. I have Win 7, but did find a couple automated tools for Windows as well. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/disabling-channel-auto-update/32771/14 "2019-12-20T23:13:25Z")
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