It is just a folder to which you can point Plex.
Settings - Server - Transcoder - ‘Show Advanced’ - “Transcoder temporary directory”
It is used to store the temporary “chunks” of transcoded/remuxed media as they are prepared during playback.
I just looked at my settings and that field is currently just empty. Does that mean it is pointing to a default location? And once I move my data and media to a new device, can’t I just leave it empty if it’s already pointing to a default location on the internal drive?
Yes. It points to a folder inside of the Plex data folder.
Which means if you move it, the temporary folder will move with it.
Which is not what you want.
I’ve followed all the steps. How do I know it is fully working? Is there any way to check?
I tried to rename my C:/ Plex Media Server folder (before I deleted it) but got this message.
Enable ‘debug’ server logs
restart the server
Wait 2 minutes
inspect the Plex Media Server.log for mentions of the old and the new data folder location.
That means that your Plex server installation still has one or several files in it in use.
You have either
- not stopped the server before making the registry change
- have another server installation (under a different Windows user account) running concurrently
- haven’t performed the steps mentioned in the “Addendum” above
Thanks @OttoKerner I think that worked. I missed the Addendum. I rebooted and was able to rename my old Plex Media Server folder.
I have a problem after doing these steps. I’ve done it before with no problems. This time, however, I can’t get into server settings. It shows Server settings are unavailable. I must have done something wrong. But, everything works just fine, I just can’t edit or add libraries, or change ports, etc. since I can’t get into settings.
I actually fixed it by giving permissions to the whole Plex Media Server folder. Just letting people know about how it was fixed.
Is the instructions at the top of this still the correct way to move the data drive to a new SSD? Did this about 2 years ago with success. Want to make sure it’s still the way to do it and accurate. Don’t need any colossal mess-ups on such an important step. My Plex Data SSD (not holding OS, just Plex Data) is 78%.
(1) Having repetitive issues on FastForward or Rewind constantly freezing streams until I back out and restart.
(2) Also random fake “freezes” that don’t resume unless also backing out and restarting (yet tautulli shows the timer still running, but I hear and see nothing but a frozen frame and it happens at least once a night). Any tips on these would be appreciated!
Streaming Devices: All Nvidia shields; happens on multiple devices
Server: Ryzen 9 3900x, 64 Gigs DDR4 PC3600, OS SSD, Plex Data SSD, 100+TB Storage, Platinum PS, Gig symmetrical internet, 32 gig ram drive for transcoding. TIA!
I also had issues. With the solution given at the start of the thread, I got the “ERROR” popup with no further info. Plex also crashed.
This sybolic link junction worked for me, so much easier.
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I’ve seen a handful of reports of issues with this method so I would, if possible, test it on a test system before trying it on one you need to work.
I can verify that the method I outlined in Comment 55 with a junction link does still work. It’s major benefit being that it does not rely on Plex not “fixing” your alterations & any changes they make to just about anything (With the exception of changing their default library location which would pretty much break every system that updates so it should never happen) don’t affect it because you’re just using the default folder but the drives themselves, not the OS, not the Program, store the files in a different place.
As of today, the OP method still works just fine on Windows 10/newest PMS.
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My new folder location is D:\Plex which stores D:\Plex\Cache, D:\Plex\Codecs, etc. It does not contain a single child folder named D:\Plex\Plex Media Server with those contents because wrapping them is unnecessarily bad folder architecture.
However, the guide says:
- The path you type in must not include ‘Plex Media Server’ as last part.
- Always use a folder. Don’t point Plex to “naked” drive letters.
Which is it? I remove the Plex folder name from the path, which simply makes it D:\, and then we’re told to not use a drive letter? Is this in regards to storing these files on the root drive? Can we make the registry key a drive letter and it will operate fine?
It’s ridiculous this setting was removed from the application and forced behind a dodgy guide on an internet forum but here we are. 
I don’t know what you are saying here.
Are you saying that you refuse to move your complete data folder?
Or are you saying that you have put D:\Plex\ into the registry and that Plex server did not create the full expected folder structure in there when you started it afterwards?
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I believe if you did that it WOULD work… But I’d recommend against it for reasons stated many times already, essentially there are invisible things in the root directory that Plex has to look at for no reason, including things that change very frequently as well as the Recycle Bin which when you delete an item gets moved to until you empty the Recycle Bin. There have also been past Windows updates that have, in the past, caused problems with root directory locations because it marked them as Unsafe. That being said I believe you could probably do it without any problem. It’s much worse to have your Media Directories looking at a Root Directory & everything Plex is looking at SHOULD be inside the Plex Media Server directory so it should be fine. But the directory is expected to exist within the User LocalAppData directory, so it’s uncertain. I’d personally recommend doing a backup before you test it though.
This is just saying that the directory you are supposed to provide is what the Plex Media Server folder is inside of, so the folder before that sub folder.
I’m not sure what you mean here, are you saying that it’s bad folder structure because Plex Media Server is inside Plex which is the 1st word of it’s name? if so You could use D:\Media\ or D:\Resurces\ or D:\HotDog\ or whatever you like to avoid that. If you are concerned with file length limitations the default one it uses is C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Localfollowed by Plex Media Server, so anything you put is likely to be shorter though I’d recommend avoiding Spaces in the names, but that’s more an old-timey thought process because some older programs didn’t support the names with spaces & would get stuck. But I still consider it good practice when reference locations are in the registry particularly
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Thanks so much for the replies! I’m not sure how to include multiple quotes in a message so I’m going to block quote them. 
I don’t know what you are saying here.
Are you saying that you refuse to move your complete data folder?
There is nothing in my data folder besides another folder named Plex Media Server. Why wrap a folder within a folder? That’s like having ~\Downloads\Downloads\ or ~\Documents\Documents\. Not the end of the world, but for keeping everything clean, it would be ideal to raise the Plex Media Server folder out of the Plex folder shown in the example. So .\Plex\Plex Media Server\ simply becomes .\Plex Media Server\.
This is where the conflicting information comes in, since my .\Plex Media Server\ folder is on the root of my external drive. We are not to include the PMS folder in the registry string, which leaves us with the drive letter, which we are not supposed to use either. To limp my Plex data migration along I’ve followed the tutorial with the D:\Plex\ registry string (with the full D:\Plex\Plex Media Server\ folder structure) but as stated above wrapping a folder within a folder should be avoided.
Thank you too @LostOnTheLine — I would quote but I think my message also answers your question. 
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Why?
This is purely your opinion.
There are technical reasons for the recommendation to use a subfolder.
If you want it to work properly, do it as recommended.
Yeah, it totally did. So it looks like you are confused as to why the folder has to be alone in a folder, I get that. I kinda gave an explanation, but here’s a bit more context. The directory you are giving the registry is essentially telling the registry that for this program the Local AppData folder is located at D:\Plex\ instead of at C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Local & the Local AppData folder has a bunch of other things in it.
If that’s a Deal Breaker I’d suggest using my method that I posted about in Comment 55. I personally prefer that method, because according to programs, the OS, Plex, & everything else nothing has changed, the location it thinks is correct is still correct, the location just exists on the other drive. This means any outside apps that interact with Plex work without issue. Essentially you make a Junction & you could put that real folder in the root directory if you so desire, though I personally advise against that in general, but nothing is actually seeing it there except you, so that’s just personal preferences. Some people have issues with my method because they are afraid of Hardlinks & Junctions because if used improperly can cause problems. But so long as you aren’t linking something inside itself it is perfectly safe. I personally use Hardlinks a lot, so I’m very comfortable with them, but others are not.
mklink /J "C:\Users\#YOURUSERNAME#\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\" "D:\Plex Media Server\"
That would be your link, just sub in your Username
Just remember that you have to not delete the one in your AppData folder, it’s essentially a door that when opened goes to your location, so without it Plex will just recreate that folder & make a new one.
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Never mind, it works.
Thanks for these instructions. Think I have followed but only partial success. Music , photo & playlist metadata accessible , but movies and TV series does not. Error Message when attempting to open Movies or is “something went wrong… try again”.
Have reversed process and removed back to original location and all working again, however I am running out of disk space of the C: drive.
Any words of guidance would be appreciated.
