Installing Plex media server on Synology NAS with DSM 6.x

[stud527]

I’ve been a KODI user for over a decade. Because KODI and/or Synology have terrible SMB implementations, I’ve been looking for an alternative. Everyone keeps telling me Plex. So I installed Plex on my Synology NAS running DSM 6… my older NAS does not support DSM 7. I already have the player installed on a Mac on the same LAN. The server install seemed to happen without any issues. As I have an existing media folder called VIDEO, I followed the instructions to allow the Plex user R/W access to that folder. When I try to “open” Plex media server from a browser window on my Mac, the Plex player opens in a new tab… no matter what I do, I can’t get a window for the Plex server to open. I then tried the same thing on another PC on my LAN that did not have Plex player installed… using the “Open” link on my Synology NAS for Plex Server, again, Plex attempts to open a Player. This time asking me to log into my Plex account. OK… so I then went to a TV, installed Plex Player and when I try to log in, Plex forces me to use a PIN (displayed on the screen) on another device… but when I use a browser to go to https://plex.tv/link, there is nowhere to enter the PIN… it wants me to authenticate with google or email… this is maddening… I’ve wasted 3 hours going around and around with this. What gives? And when I do open the Player on my Mac, and use my email to log in, I can’t add libraries… or even “see” the Plex server on my Synology NAS… there is something fundamentally wrong but I can’t even seem to reset things to create a fresh start…

[ChuckPa]

Looking at Plex.tv, I do not see the Synology server attached to your account.
This is the root of the problem.

I do see you have two other servers.

When you use the browser (Plex/web), it will often get confused with new servers (it’s only javascript and not too intelligent).

Have you tried doing the following?

1. Close the browser completely

2. Open the browser

3. Open an incognito (private) tab

4. In that private tab, open the synology plex by its IP ( http://ip.addr.of.syno:32400/web )

5. You’ll still need to sign in (due to incognito

6. At this point, you should only be talking to the Syno

7. It should start the setup wizard where you claim the server

8. Claim the server and continue the setup

9. Proceed forward and setup what you like until you’re at the dashboard

Please advise your progress

[trumpy81]

The first thing is, do NOT use the default Video or Music or Photo folders in DSM 6, these folders are reserved for use by the Synology apps and they have been known to cause issues with Plex whether you use the Synology apps or not.

Instead, open Control Panel > Shared Folders on the NAS and create a folder named Media (or similar) and then give it permissions for Plex etc…

Open File Station on the NAS and create the following folders inside the shared Media folder:

Movies
TV Shows
Music
Photos
...

Then move your media/folders to the appropriate folder above.

Then open Plex/Web ( http://ip.addr.of.syno:32400/web ) and sign in with your Plex account credentials (if your browser signs you in automatically, continue).

Go to Plex Settings > Server > Manage > Libraries (left of page at the bottom of page) and click on Add Library there. Complete the wizard and when asked for the folder, point to the appropriate folder above and no other.

Don’t forget to review the Manage Recommendations settings for your library, so your library etc. may be shown on the Home page.

Note: > Server > means to click on the server name shown in Plex settings (mid left of page) if you have more than one Plex server and select the desired server to work with.

If you only have one Plex server, you may ignore this instruction.

Next, go to the Plex/Web Home page and click on More… (it will be at the bottom of the fly out menu on the left of page).

Then ‘Pin’ your library/ies to the Home page.

When you return to the Plex/Web Home page, your libraries should show in the flyout menu on the left of the page.

On your devices, install the Plex app and open it, sign in with your Plex account credentials if asked and then a page should be displayed with a four digit code, type that code into the https://plex.tv/link page, click on Link and wait for the Plex app page to acknowledge the code etc. and move to the next page for set up of the app.

Once you have done the above you should be set to go.