Installed numerous times - will not recognise a single file

[KarlM]

I have installed Plex on two Win10 machines, and 2 separate NAS systems (Synology 218 and a Synology 920+).

Not once have I yet managed to get a single file showing up in my account.

The read throughs do not seem to work as explained. For example, in one (YouTube) the presenter shows himself clicking media folders he’s adding - he can click from Vol1 >> Plex >> Movies. Whereas mine I can only click through Vol1 >> Plex and then it accepts that as if it was the final destination.

So I manually copied (ctrl+C) the explorer address location of the media (\my-secret-nas\Plex\Movies) and pasted to the add-media page on the Plex web interface… it claims all is well - yet once more - zero is showing.

I just about give up.

I’d understand a one-off set up not going straight, but I’m no dummy where tech is concerned under normal circumstance - but this is just pure frustration.

[tom80H]

Try to assign your network drive to a drive letter on your Windows machine and link the path to your library through that mapped drive. If you’re not seeing the content from a certain point onwards, this implies there could be a permission issue.

Personally I find it easier to go by the support articles than following some youtube video – you never know how for sure how old a version they’ve been using to do that video. A lot can have changed compared to some old video.

Creating Libraries | Plex Support

[KarlM]

It has been mapped from my laptop to the NAS location for the Plex folders.

I have tried reading through some of the guides, but despite being a generally well versed tech junkie, I seem to struggle getting through - again as you’ve said, because sometimes they’re perhaps out of date (as what they say should happen doesn’t seem to my side).

I have my family members (and a handful of friends, yes, I do have some) listed on the users of the NAS, of which none have access to Plex aside from MY standard account (set to RW) and my Admin account (set to RW).

[tom80H]

According to your screenshot you’re just pointing to the network place. You should be able to map the “yellowed-out” path to an actual drive letter (e.g. \\My NAS\Plex\ → P:\)

[KarlM]

Ahhhhh!
Thanks! OK, so I’m doing that now. Would I better to use a dedicated Plex user account with RW or should I use my normal non-admin account or better to use my Admin-Account?

The NAS still doesn’t seem to be seeing anything though when looking at plex via the NAS.

[tom80H]

For full functionality you’ll need a RW account – if you don’t need Plex to be able to delete media or to create optimized versions you can also use a read-only account.

Can you see the folders/files from the Add Folder tab in the library options?
If the files are visible but not picked up by Plex there could be some disconnect between library type and the naming schema / folder structures. There’s a number of issues that could cause Plex to ignore files.

Why is some of my content not found? | Plex Support

[KarlM]

Still nothing, I’ve clicked the ‘Scan library’ button too.

I’m using my admin-account to ensure RW.

This is insane… I don’t usually struggle with these things, but this just won’t play ball either on my old NAS, my new NAS, my gaming laptop nor my desktop… Always installs fine - but it just won’t show a single thing I put in there.

[tom80H]

Well… how are those TV Shows organized / named?
As per the support article linked above, Plex will ignore episodes it doesn’t recognize based on its tv-show naming schema.

Structure should be like this:

TV Shows   <- the folder linked to your tv-show library
  Show Name
    Season XX
      Show Name - sXXeYY - optional episode title.ext
      Show Name - sXXeYY.ext   <- information beyond the sXXeYY pattern are ignored by Plex

Where .ext is a placeholder for the actual file extension, XXis the season number andYY` is the episode number.

[lyskamm]

Why do you put twice the same library? Forget the windows “letter” assignment and just put the Share path, i.e. /volume1/Media/Movies and /volume1/Media/Movies (you really shouldn’t put your media under Plex share, it will create problems, but it should work regardless)

Then unless ALL your media is wrongly named, it should find them. But since it doesn’t it’s for sure a permission problem on the NAS shares.

To help you fix you should tell us the DSM version you are using (6.x or 7.x) and where the Plex server (PMS) is installed?

[KarlM]

@tom80H

Well… how are those TV Shows organized / named?

@lyskamm

To help you fix you should tell us the DSM version you are using (6.x or 7.x) and where the Plex server (PMS) is installed?

Is this the necessary information you’re seeking?

[tom80H]

@lyskamm made an important observation which I had previously missed.
You should not place your media inside the Plex share

[lyskamm]

Check that you gave the appropriate permissions to the system internal user PlexMediaServer for the Plex share

You should follow the instructions for DSM 7 for installing/upgrading PMS. There are a few threads here, including one where you can get assistance

[Divideby0]

That looks like the files are in the old DSM 6 location for Plex, while DSM 7 puts them… checks yep, in the PlexMediaServer share. After you migrate from DSM 6 to DSM 7, the installer abandons the Plex share it created and all the data is stored now in PlexMediaServer. After the migration, you are free to use the Plex share or delete it. Though I do not know if this means you can use it to store media in. The reason you shouldn’t store files in the Plex share originally was because if the plex server scanned its own operational files with the media scanner, it’d go berserk. With the files now in another share/location, it SHOULD be ok. To be safe, maybe make a new Media share and put the files there, but I suspect that the file locations may not be the issue.

Specifically, I bet it’s a permissions issue. If you don’t follow the DSM 7 install instructions perfectly, skipping a single step can break Plex’s ability to detect files.

[KarlM]

@lyskamm

You should follow the instructions for DSM 7 for installing/upgrading PMS. There are a few threads here, including one where you can get assistance

Could you direct me accordingly to the suggested thread/s, please?

@tom80H

You should not place your media inside the Plex share

@Divideby0

…and all the data is stored now in PlexMediaServer.

There are auto-generated files within the PMS folder stating not to put media files there… Hence why I thought it had to go in the Plex directory instead.

Thank you all for your help so far - I shall endeavour to relocate data into the folder where it strangely tells me not to place media - and see whether that works…

[KarlM]

OK, it seems to be working now

I have information on a test film I added and a test TV series I added.

Thank you all for the support

[Divideby0]

Sorry, but DATA and MEDIA are different things. I did not clarify the use of each. DATA is boring old files, like text, binaries (executables), settings files, etc. Not too helpful for your average computer user. Typically, you want to ignore these files and never touch them on installation. Rarely, you may be asked to dip into folders containing DATA to do something, but if you don’t know what’s up, stay out.

MEDIA (multimedia) is generally used to refer to your actual videos or audio or pictures. Plex needs to access MEDIA , but it doesn’t matter where this MEDIA is stored EXCEPT they do NOT want it where it saves the DATA.

This is pretty important, as if you tell plex to look for media in a particular folder in the DATA directory (In DSM 7, this is the PlexMediaShare) you can crash the server and never be able to come back form that without a reinstall.

In the before times (pre DSM 7) Plex used to have its DATA folder, where it got installed to, in the “Plex” share. So at the time it was very-much taboo to place your MEDIA in this location, hence all the files warning you to not use that location to store the media. I just came in to say that you were - at the time - not using Plex in DSM6, so TECHNICALLY the Plex share was safe to use. But I still recommend you make up your own “Media” share and refer to that instead. And DEFINITELY stay the heck out of the PlexMediaShare.

[lyskamm]

As divideby0 rightly said, on DSM 7 DON’T put your media files n the PlexMediaShare share.

Again to be sure:

DO NOT PLACE MEDIA ANYWHERE INSIDE THE PlexMediaServer SHARED FOLDER

You can put them in any other share (Plex is fine, but to avoid confusion it better to create a different one), just remember that you need to give the system internal user PlexMediaServer permission to R/W on that share.

For reference.
Instructions:

DSM 7 - Finalized Configuration (PMS 1.24.2.4973) - Release information

DSM 7 - Finalized Configuration (Packaging 2.0) - Release Information See below for updates Since DSM 7.0-41890 finalized, I’ve had time to digest everyone’s input as well as review what we ultimately ended up with in DSM 7.0 Looking at all the issues faced, there was one overriding problem which could not be solved – Plex’s data was not accessible from the GUI or other Synology tools such as Hyper Backup. An important issue for most was the data area could not be moved. It took some t…

Assistance for problems:

Synology - DSM 7.0 Release - Plex Installation (Not Operational) Issues

DSM 7 Release Issues Synology has finally advanced DSM 7.0 to Release status – Complete with more changes. In this thread we will focus and resolve any issues which result from the latest (DSM 7.0-41890) firmware. Reference to existing DSM 7 package features and migration instructions can be found here with the migration procedure beginning with the second post of the thread.: Read below and evaluate your status before proceeding.

[ChuckPa]

Now look what you did.

You got my attention

I can and will hide the shared folder if I have to. I’ll make a lot of people angry.

PLEASE obey my warning files!!!

For what it’s worth …

1. The old “Plex” share is free for everyone to use however they want.

2. You are free, welcome, and invited to put your media there if you wish because the permissions are already set!

[KarlM]

@Divideby0

Sorry, but DATA and MEDIA are different things.

Yes, I recognise this - but just to be pedantic - media is made from data, lots of data.

@lyskamm

DO NOT PLACE MEDIA ANYWHERE INSIDE THE PlexMediaServer SHARED FOLDER

You can put them in any other share (Plex is fine, but to avoid confusion it better to create a different one)…

Well, mine is working nicely with the media very much within the PMS shared folder, not sure why it’s suddenly working but indeed it works without issue now… so far, at least.

@lyskamm

just remember that you need to give the system internal user PlexMediaServer permission to R/W on that share.

My control panel shows no such user. I have a disabled Admin account, an active Admin account, several family accounts (all under normal user privileges) but nothing about a PMS user.

[Divideby0]

The instructions on installation for DSM7 shows how to switch over the user accounts pane to show System Internal Users, which is distinct from the local users such as your family and admin accounts.

Observe the Edit Shared Folder Plex pane in the bottom half of this image pulled from the install and migration discussion. The picture is from Scenario 2, Step 3.
https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/optimized/3X/b/c/bc6cc48107fddb36aec7a4d619fc9c16f18f0aa1_2_690x638.png

Just above the user table is a drop-down box currently labeled System Internal user. You must change the drop-down to this text to see the various DSM system “users”, of which Plex is now one of. This is the location of the PlexMediaServer user you must give access to the share where media is at. In the screenshot’s case, they are actually editing the permissions to the old Plex share for another reason entirely, but if your media is there it should work to find the media too.

As for where your media is currently stored… yeesh. This may be bad advice but… It very well may be ok where it is now. IF you are careful. I still recommend you move it to the Plex share, but if you select ONLY these (Movies, Music, Photos, TV Shows) folders as a source for your libraries, then it should be ok. But I (and everyone else here ) will tell you to please move it elsewhere.

What you must MUST MUST never do is select one of those other folders (Codecs, Plug-ins, metadata, etc) as the source of any of your libraries. See, some people may have a single media type, “Videos”, and put that in the root of the “PlexMediaServer” share. They then may select the “PlexMediaServer” folder as the source of a library, which will index every single sub-folder within it. That is the issue.

Don’t just follow my advice though. I love to over-explain things, and give the deep-down explanation for doing things and why doing the wrong thing might work in very specific cases. I am also admittedly not that good at explaining my point, so I may be adding some confusion. If there is one person to listen to, ChuckPa is the one, not me.

There are rules that say to never place media in Folder blah-blah-blah. Because it’s too confusing to try to explain why, when a simple “DONT” order works just as well…