I moved my media to a hard drive directly connected to my router, logged out of my laptop, NOTHING!!

General Discussions
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Hey guys. I recently got a new 8 terabyte hard drive which i hooked up directly to my router. I filled it up with my media i wanted on plex. I logged out of my server on my laptop and now have zero servers available. I have no idea how to add a new server location. The user interface is not very user friendly. You would think it would be fairly simple but i made the mistake of logging out of the laptop server and its now disappeared. Its like all of a sudden this software has locked me out and become useless. I cannot find anywhere how to reestablish a connection with any sort of file source. I have unistalled and reinstalled the plex server app in hopes the initial start up wizard would help me out but it has not done that for me. PLEASE HELP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I LOVE MY PLEX!!!

Thanks,

Darren

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Why would you log out of your plex server on your laptop when you connect a hard drive to your router?

Perform this procedure
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/204281528-Why-am-I-locked-out-of-Server-Settings-and-how-do-I-get-in-

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If you purchased the nighthawk with the Plex server built in… don’t use it. If you have to transcode 1 file you will be hating it and yourself for even giving it a go.

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@OttoKerner said:
Why would you log out of your plex server on your laptop when you connect a hard drive to your router?

Perform this procedure
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/204281528-Why-am-I-locked-out-of-Server-Settings-and-how-do-I-get-in-

I didnt think logging out meant delete i guess. Usually one can log back into things. I have not used plex that much. I figured the user interface would be a little easier to use as well. So is my membership hooped now? Is it a one time deal? You can never change where your files are located? In my opinion it should be a simple setting, but its far from that…

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@DShot4Twenty said:
I didnt think logging out meant delete i guess.

Nothing got deleted.

Usually one can log back into things. I have not used plex that much. I figured the user interface would be a little easier to use as well.

It is a ‘server’ and a s such a bit more complex than your average media player.

So is my membership hooped now? Is it a one time deal?

Of course not. Nothing is lost.
Your Plex Pass is attached to your plex.tv account.
If you perform the above linked procedure, you can connect your server back to your account.

You can never change where your files are located? In my opinion it should be a simple setting, but its far from that…

Yes, you can do that.
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200289266-Editing-Libraries
‘Add Folders’

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It’s a little unclear to me exactly what you did, so I’m going to ask some questions:

Did you only move the media to the 8TB hard drive, or did you put Plex Media Server (PMS) there, too? If you put PMS there, then you will still need something to run that program. PMS is just like any regular program. It needs a computer to be on, and logged in, in order to run and actually serve the files. Your clients (smartphone, smart TV, Apple TV, etc.) need to connect to the server in order to view the files.

You said you logged out of your server on your laptop. This could mean a couple things. Did you open Plex (in the browser or else where) and click Sign Out? Or did you just log off of Windows? If you only logged out of Plex, then my next question would be, where are you trying to view the files now? You say there are no servers found. What device are you using to try to find the servers?

If you actually logged out of Windows (or any operation system, for that matter) then Plex Media Server is very likely no longer running, which is why nothing can find the server.

In general, you need to have a computer running full time, running Plex Media Server, in order for a Plex client to find the server. Simply having your media on a hard drive that is connected to a router won’t do the trick. There are some options that allow you to install Plex Media Server on a different type of device that makes it so you don’t need a full computer (desktop or laptop) running full time, but those are less common setups, I would assume, so I’m not going to assume you’re running anything like that.

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@PilotC150 said:
It’s a little unclear to me exactly what you did, so I’m going to ask some questions:

Did you only move the media to the 8TB hard drive, or did you put Plex Media Server (PMS) there, too? If you put PMS there, then you will still need something to run that program. PMS is just like any regular program. It needs a computer to be on, and logged in, in order to run and actually serve the files. Your clients (smartphone, smart TV, Apple TV, etc.) need to connect to the server in order to view the files.

You said you logged out of your server on your laptop. This could mean a couple things. Did you open Plex (in the browser or else where) and click Sign Out? Or did you just log off of Windows? If you only logged out of Plex, then my next question would be, where are you trying to view the files now? You say there are no servers found. What device are you using to try to find the servers?

If you actually logged out of Windows (or any operation system, for that matter) then Plex Media Server is very likely no longer running, which is why nothing can find the server.

In general, you need to have a computer running full time, running Plex Media Server, in order for a Plex client to find the server. Simply having your media on a hard drive that is connected to a router won’t do the trick. There are some options that allow you to install Plex Media Server on a different type of device that makes it so you don’t need a full computer (desktop or laptop) running full time, but those are less common setups, I would assume, so I’m not going to assume you’re running anything like that.

@PilotC150 said:
It’s a little unclear to me exactly what you did, so I’m going to ask some questions:

Did you only move the media to the 8TB hard drive, or did you put Plex Media Server (PMS) there, too? If you put PMS there, then you will still need something to run that program. PMS is just like any regular program. It needs a computer to be on, and logged in, in order to run and actually serve the files. Your clients (smartphone, smart TV, Apple TV, etc.) need to connect to the server in order to view the files.

You said you logged out of your server on your laptop. This could mean a couple things. Did you open Plex (in the browser or else where) and click Sign Out? Or did you just log off of Windows? If you only logged out of Plex, then my next question would be, where are you trying to view the files now? You say there are no servers found. What device are you using to try to find the servers?

If you actually logged out of Windows (or any operation system, for that matter) then Plex Media Server is very likely no longer running, which is why nothing can find the server.

In general, you need to have a computer running full time, running Plex Media Server, in order for a Plex client to find the server. Simply having your media on a hard drive that is connected to a router won’t do the trick. There are some options that allow you to install Plex Media Server on a different type of device that makes it so you don’t need a full computer (desktop or laptop) running full time, but those are less common setups, I would assume, so I’m not going to assume you’re running anything like that.

Hey there. Thanks for the response. What has happened exactly is i had just bought the new hard drive. I copied all the media i wanted on my plex to the new drive. I then logged into plex on my laptop. I wanted to direct plex to the new location the files are on which is the 8tb hooked up to the router. I had not ever tried this before. I logged into my plex service and went to the server tab. The icon showing my server which i called ■■■■■■ laptop (cause its on a ■■■■■■ old lap top which i plan on replacing one day soon) had something along the lines of “log out of server”. So i logged out of it. It disappeared. I cannot find it anywhere to log back in. And to be honest its the first time i ever remember it prompting me to log out. After that had happened whenever i fire up plex, there is a notification in the top left of the page saying its searching for servers. The main portion of the page says i have no media shared. I then tried setting up a cloud service thinking maybe i could have the software that runs the server online and would possibly take place of the laptop altogether. It turns out its only for if you have cloud storage you pay for. No way could i afford multiple terabytes of cloud space so that instantly became useless. I just want to be able to reestablish a server on my laptop now. Weather it be a new one or reconnecting to “■■■■■■ laptop”. Im sure its gotta be possible. I just dont get why its so difficult to figure out…

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@DShot4Twenty I think you’re making this harder than it has to be.

Why did you attach the hard drive to your router? If possible, suggest you attach it to the computer that is running Plex Media Server.

Either direct attached or network attached will work. However, direct attached is generally an easier setup - no router config, no mapping of network drives.

If you leave the drive attached to the router, did you map it to the computer running Plex Media Server?

If not, you’ll need to map a network drive. First, enable windows/smb file sharing on your router. Second, open up Windows Explorer, right click on This PC, select Map Network Drive, and set up a mount point. Something like M:\media\plex\movies (or however you have the directories set).

Make sure you can see the media files in Windows Explorer and play them with an app such as VLC. If you can’t see them in Windows Explorer, Plex can’t see them either.

Now you should be able to configure libraries in PMS.

If it isn’t already running, launch Plex Media Server.

If you’re on the computer running PMS, point your browser at http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/index.html. You should see the login screen for PMS running on that computer. Login with your Plex userid/password.

If you’re on a different computer, then substitute the IP address of the PMS computer for 127.0.0.1. Something like http://192.168.1.XXX:32400/web/index.html.

Once you’re logged in to PMS, you can then create new libraries pointing to the new hard drive, whether it is USB attached or network attached.

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I used this link

http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/index.html.

I logged into my plex. Then i had to claim ownership of the server again. This all is working so far. Now i just wanna know how to redirect the library to different file locations. I took the drive off the router and reformated it and have it connected directly to the computer the server software is on. I have moved all my media files to it and just wanna know how to get plex to use the new locations for the media. thanks for the help

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Check out the help doc: Editing Libraries

You want the Add Folders tab, then add the location of your media.

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@adamskoog said:
Check out the help doc: Editing Libraries

You want the Add Folders tab, then add the location of your media.

wheres the add folders tab?

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@DShot4Twenty said:
wheres the add folders tab?

Did you follow the previously provided link?

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Awesome. Thanks for all the help guys.