A while back I got the notification that Plex would no longer be supporting my supporting my operating system (Windows 7). Once the day came to update my server, I stopped updating. Since, I’ve been noticing little bugs here and there. Is there any way to avoid updating? Or is my server just going to stop working one day?
I have been running this server perfectly for many years. I don’t want to upgrade my Windows. I’m really tired of these companies forcing you to update/upgrade. I’ve been a user of Plex since the very beginning. This is a HUGE bummer.
I appreciate your frustration. Unfortunately it is the nature of computing that change happens continuously and quickly. It is both a blessing (improvements!) and a curse (upgrades are needed.)
If you are going to stay on Win7 I would strongly encourage you to isolate it from the internet. Computing needs evolve, and more maliciously, bad actors techniques evolve and exposed weaknesses in code. Win7 simply now has too many well known vulnerabilities to be safely used on the internet. Win7 can be infected and maliciously used to steal data by bad actors without any obvious impact to the use of the computer. You will continue to see software vendor cease to support Win7 and will not offer updates. If you want to install new software it may simply not work on Win7. You will have to stop updating Plex as new versions of Plex server will begin to have issues running on Win7. You may be able to continue to drag it out, as you have been doing, but you will need to keep that computer static and isolated, which is a problem for a server, and I would think it will continue to get more frustrating and problematic.
Windows 7 was a great OS when it was released in 2009, but Microsoft ended support for it in 2015. Even their extended support ended in 2020. Software vendors can only afford to support so many OS versions because every version they support requires resources. Win7 now only represents less than 3% of installs at this point. This isn’t a Plex specific problem.
I feel your pain, and wish I had better news. I rebuild my Debian Linux based computers every couple years. It’s not fun to make large time investments to only keep your functionality, but I try to think of it as giving myself the ability to continue to get improvements.
Edit additional info: I wouldn’t upgrade to Win10. Support for Win10 ends this September. Note that Win 11 requires TPM 2.0 hardware. There are some hack work arounds, but generally speaking Win 11 doesn’t run on computers older than approximately 2019. This has created a lot of controversy in the computing world, but it is what it is. Old hardware that can’t support Windows any longer can get new life running linux. Plex supports Debian or Ubuntu linux, but linux has a significant learning curve.
As @hokierulz pointed out… it’s a „bummer“ you had 10 years coming.
At some point it’s no longer viable for companies to spend extra time / effort to keep their products compatible with retired platforms (plus it’ll either cut them off features/improvements introduced in newer versions or they have to keep adding complexity → if this instance runs on Windows 7, do something the old/manual/legacy way, otherwise use Win 10/11 feature XYZ).
10 years after Microsoft ended regular support for Win 7 is a long time in IT.
I appreciate the thought out response. And, I assumed something like this would be the answer. I suppose my option at this point is to update to Win10. It was on my PC when i got it but I quickly downgraded to 7 because 10 is absolutely awful to use (for me). I may consider moving to linux. I haven’t messed with it since I first started using plex, around 13-15 years ago.
I just wish tech companies would come up with a way to allow me to just stay right where I am, instead of updating everything in my life.
Better go for Windows 11 if your machine can deal with it (though, that might be a challenge for a 13-15 year old machine). Microsoft will also end support for Win 10 later this year.
If you’re familiar with Linux, an Ubuntu LTS setup might be more up your lane.
I set up an Ubuntu server for my Plex, and I love it. The learning curve is… kind of a cliff, but if you can get at it and install docker (and a UI like Portainer), you can run Plex as a container and it is great.
On the plus side, I also learned a lot about docker, and am spinning up servers left and right for games and other things. I’m using the spare CPU and Quicksync in it to run an automatic Handbrake container to process movies and/or files.
So, I got my PC updated to Windows 10, but I forgot to follow any of the instructions on moving my plex info over. Am I screwed now? It still shows my libraries, but nothing is in them.
That usually means that the Plex data folder with the database was successfully carried over.
That the libraries are now empty might have to do with the media files being either absent, or accessible now under a different drive letter.
How were your media files attached to the server before?
Can you restore them so they are accessible under the exact same drive letters, folder names, and file names as they were before?
When I go to settings/libraries, it shows 0 libraries. But from my home screen it shows my libraries with the /!\ (yellow triangle) warning sign.
I’m not sure how to restore them.
That is unfortunately only a remnant of your formerly “pinned” libraries. it is stored in the client, not on the server.
Unless you can find the former Plex data folder on your hard drive, you must consider these server data lost. Do you have a backup copy of your system drive (C:)?
Shut down Plex Server beforehand, using its task tray icon, or the copy will fail or remain incomplete
chances are that the backup was made while Plex server was still running on the old installation. If that was the case, the primary database file might be damaged. You then have to restore the first backup copy of both com.plexapp.plugins.library.db and com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db. See https://support.plex.tv/articles/202485658-restore-a-database-backed-up-via-scheduled-tasks/
what I said above about the storage locations of your media files remains important.
Found the backup files. Moved them to the new file location. Everything seems to be the same. No improvements.
Did I need to copy any other files/folders from the old file system?
