Failed to start Plex Media Server

[mcclurefamily]

Server Version#: plexmediaserver_1.15.5.994-4610c6e8d_amd64.deb

Recently change ip address on local host but getting the. following errors, runs on Ubuntu Server 18…

● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2019-05-05 20:26:44 NZST; 14s ago
Process: 3851 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_VENDOR="(grep ^NAME= /etc/os-release | awk -F= "{print \$2}" | tr -d \" )" PLEX_M Process: 3843 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "{PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_AP
Main PID: 3851 (code=exited, status=255)

May 05 20:26:44 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service RestartSec=5s expired, scheduling restart.
May 05 20:26:44 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 3.
May 05 20:26:44 YODA systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server.
May 05 20:26:44 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
May 05 20:26:44 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
May 05 20:26:44 YODA systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server.

Thoughts

[mcclurefamily]

ran through reinstall got the following error please help

root@YODA:/home/iteadmin# sudo dpkg -i plexmediaserver*.deb
dpkg: warning: downgrading plexmediaserver from 1.15.5.994-4610c6e8d to 1.15.4.993-bb4a2cb6c
(Reading database … 150310 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack plexmediaserver_1.15.4.993-bb4a2cb6c_amd64.deb …
Removed /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/plexmediaserver.service.
Unpacking plexmediaserver (1.15.4.993-bb4a2cb6c) over (1.15.5.994-4610c6e8d) …
Setting up plexmediaserver (1.15.4.993-bb4a2cb6c) …
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/plexmediaserver.service → /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.
Job for plexmediaserver.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See “systemctl status plexmediaserver.service” and “journalctl -xe” for details.
dpkg: error processing package plexmediaserver (–install):
installed plexmediaserver package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.29-0ubuntu2) …
Processing triggers for gnome-menus (3.32.0-1ubuntu1) …
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.23-4ubuntu1) …
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) …
Errors were encountered while processing:
plexmediaserver

[pl_5309]

The * matched the list order of file version of Plex and installed it, in this case it was older so you mostly got a bunch of warnings of downgrading your Plex Server.

Is it running?

sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver.service

If you only changed your IP you should have just rebooted not re-installed.

[mcclurefamily]

@pl_5309

sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver.service

Thanks afraid I tried a reinstall becuase nothing else was working

● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sun 2019-05-05 21:35:28 NZST; 32min ago
Process: 3139 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d “${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}” || /bin/mkdir -p "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_AP

May 05 21:35:28 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service RestartSec=5s expired, scheduling restart.
May 05 21:35:28 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 3.
May 05 21:35:28 YODA systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server.
May 05 21:35:28 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
May 05 21:35:28 YODA systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
May 05 21:35:28 YODA systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server.

Got this error

[pl_5309]

Have your rebooted?

Is there a NAS involved?

[mcclurefamily]

hi yes rebooted, tried rolling back and yes rebooted.

nas is only used to strore media, linked via nfs volume

[pl_5309]

Changing the IP address wouldn’t have been enough to cause the failure.
Are there any logs in:
"/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs/"

ls -l /var/lib Look for any backup directories the installer might have created like plex.keep.

[ChuckPa]

Is there a /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service file?
Is this system customized in any way?

[benzoto]

Hi,
I’m having the same issues where the Plex Server won’t start. I was about to open a new thread but i will use this one to post my troubleshooting and errors.

Server Version#: v. plexmediaserver_1.16.1.1291-158e5b199_amd64
OS: Ubuntu 16.04.06

Since yesterday evening, the Plex Media Server won’t start. The following error is shown after running - sudo journalctl -xe | grep -i plex

Jul 31 12:06:12 mmonkey sh[3703]: /bin/sh: 1: /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server: not found
Jul 31 12:06:12 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=127/n/a
Jul 31 12:06:12 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Jul 31 12:06:12 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Jul 31 12:06:18 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Jul 31 12:06:18 mmonkey systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Jul 31 12:06:18 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jul 31 12:06:18 mmonkey systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Jul 31 12:06:18 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Jul 31 12:06:18 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘start-limit-hit’.

The plexmediaservice.service is located in /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service with Root Permissions [0664] (rw-r–r--)
The override.conf file is located in the same folder under /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf and it is currently empty

I’ve checked the /usr/lib/ and there is no plexmediaserver folder at all.
Tried to reinstall it, using the latest version - plexmediaserver_1.16.3.1402-22929c8a2_amd64 but it still can’t start.
There are no logs within - /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support

[benzoto]

To add some more details, this is how the plexmediaserver.service looks like.

Ubuntu User is muser and the group is muser too.

[Service]
Environment=“PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR=/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support”
Environment=PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_HOME=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver
Environment=PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_MAX_PLUGIN_PROCS=6
Environment=PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_TMPDIR=/tmp
ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c ‘/usr/bin/test -d “{PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "{PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}”’
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c ‘LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver “/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server”’
Type=simple
User=muser
Group=muser
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StartLimitInterval=60s
StartLimitBurst=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

[benzoto]

error when trying to start the service:

service plexmediaserver status
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
└─override.conf
Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2019-07-31 12:28:34 EEST; 2s ago
Process: 5495 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver “/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server”
Process: 5490 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "{PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "
Main PID: 5495 (code=exited, status=127)

Jul 31 12:28:34 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Jul 31 12:28:34 mmonkey systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.

[ChuckPa]

How did you make the username change?

Did you use the official systemd method or did you hack the supplied services file?

[benzoto]

This is the Ubuntu Acc. I’ve found that in the override file it was stated user/user, then i’ve removed the file and edited the Services itself, then reloaded the daemon.

[ChuckPa]

Editing the main services file is highly ill-advised.

Everytime you update, I overwrite it. It’s a file which belongs to the package and as such dpkg overwrites it.

For a persistent change, I strongly recommend using the documented and Linux-supported method.

Customizing your Plex configuration

Customizing your Plex configuration on systemd based systems This information is intended for those systems where cat /proc/1/comm returns systemd. On systems which use Systemd (Ubuntu 16+, Fedora, Centos 7, Debian 8,) you create this customization file which SystemD reads prior to launching PMS. This file is independent of the default configuration and service control mechanisms in /lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service. Your customization override is preserved across updates, uninstal…

[benzoto]

i’ve changed the entire setup as per the default one howerver the error is still there.

I will try to run a fresh install of the newest version and i will come back if it is fixed