Hi Plex team. Needing some help troubleshooting an issue with Plex server and Alexa skill that is driving me nuts. I’ve got a plex server running on a Qnap Nsa, all is running fine can access the server remotely and all functioning on multiple TV’s.
Recently I’ve gone down the path of home automation again and dusted off an old Amazon echo dot gen 2 to enable voice controll of my Plex server.
I had this sertup in the past and all worked well so thought I’d get it setup again but not having much luck. I’ve confirmed all my setup steps are right, Alexa skill is linked to my plex account, Alexa can see my server and I’ve set it to my current server and linked it to the desired Plex player (LG 70" TV) but for some funny reason Plex refuses to play ball.
When i prompt Alexa to get plex to play a movie it can see the movies on my server and responds saying that Plex is playing the movie on my TV but nothing happens on the TV and the plex home screen remains despite my echo saying that its playing a movie.
I’ve tried mulitple things to get this to work including the following none of which are working
unlinking and relinking my plex account
Creating a new plex server on a different device (windows 10 PC)
Re-downloading Plex on my tv (player)
un-installing alexa off my phone and re-installing
Trying different Plex players (Nvidia shield)
None of the above have addressed the issue and its driving me nuts as this use to work many years ago with no dramas.
Can someone please assist in helping me resolve this issue please..
They do, I am a bit surprised they hadn’t chimed in yet. There was an issue last week in getting Alexa to work with music, but they seem to have rebooted the service and it worked fine. The employee that assisted with that issue was @BigWheel, so hopefully they know where to look into this.
Have you opened a browser to your server, and watched the “Console” in your server settings menu when you attempt to use Alexa to stream a movie? It’s kind of a real-time display of your logs, and it might present a clue if your server is even getting the request from Alexa. If nothing shows up, then try to stream a movie, wait about 1 minute, and then download your server logs under the “Troubleshooting” settings menu and upload the zip here. Hopefully, if you do this, and bigwheel pops in, they might be able to assist you further.
I think we will need server logs right after Alexa says it is playing to first see if the server even got the request. and if it did what it did with it.
Does your Alexa play music on itself from the server?
Alexa does require remote access to be working so if you are having issues with that, Alexa will not work. Your server logs might provide info on why remote access is not working.
Ok cool
So I got my remote access sorted unsure if it was a Plex watch pass issue or my port forward but it’s sorted
Now I’m back to the old issue of not seeing any action on my screen dispute Alexa saying the requested movie is playing.
Confirming I’ve asked Alexa to change the server and selected the right server. I’ve also requested Alexa to change the player and confirmed the correct player is selected.
When I call for a movie Alexa is saying it’s playing but I can’t see anything happening on screen. The Home Screen of Plex also shows no record of the movie been called up.
Can someone help me trouble shoot or direct me on where to get the logs so I can sure with the community for support please
Hi guys,
Please see attached copy of my plex log.
Would appreciate any help you can offer in helping me working out why my Alexa skill wont play anything on my screen / player despite all the requirements been met, ie remote access been enabled , alexa skill set up with correct server and player selected.
Thanks in advance guys Plex Media Server Logs_2025-06-08_17-48-31.zip (3.4 MB)
Last voice command given @ 4.48pm (seen as 17.48) requesting alexa to play the movie toy soliders.
Your logs show the search command come in from Alexa, but it doesn’t show any results. Can you try searching for that movie from any other Plex app and see if it produces any results. I’m wondering is the search feature might be broken on your pms.
hi guys please see updated logs attached after trying to run voice commands to execute playback via alexa. once done with no outcome i’ve then searched for the movies requested via my phone app and TV app and both players have been able to find the movies and commence playback so issue seems to be with just alexa.
Mate it does the same thing whether I’m playing a movie already on the player or sitting there doing nothing it simple won’t play.
I’ll have another crack this morning put up a new log ensuring I call for movies with nothing playing.
Is there anything else that can be seen in the logs??
Plex staff / @BigWheel I’d really appreciate your input with this as it’s driving me crazy and to be clear… Emby servers and Alexa work fine with no issues so surely Plex been far superior than Emby and be configured to work
Please see attached a copy of my updated log files where i have requested a movie to play via alexa with nothing else happening on my plex server (no action happens despite alexa saying movie is playing). I have then searched for the same movie via the plex TV app i have on my LG TV with issues and also played the movie.
Any assistance that can be provided would be appreciated please Plex Media Server Logs_2025-06-09_13-08-22.zip (3.7 MB)
I’m still hoping to get a response and some help on this topic please to assist in trouble shooting my Alexa voice control issues with my server.
Appreciate everyone is very busy with day to day life but I’m really needing some help with this.
Official Plex team and @BigWheel I’d really appreciate some official Plex support as I believe this is a product issue and surely something your team has been able to resolve in the past.
Would really appreciate a response please guys
