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Hi all, can I install the plex media server on a PC that doesn’t have my movies? I have my movies on a NAS that doesn’t have plex so I installed it on my PC that I have connected to my AV Receiver in my home theater. Can I not have the plex media server look to my NAS for the movies? It seems like something basic that it should be able to do.
Of course you can do that.
To make things run as smooth as possible, I urgently recommend you to create a user account on your NAS, which has the same username and password like you use on your Windows computer to log in.
For the rest see Verbatim Powerbay NAS with Plex media server
thanks. sorry I put Roku server as the subject of this thread, but I mean plex server. so I installed the plex server on the PC and entered the IP address of my nas where the movies are, but it doesn’t work. I’m not at home right now so I can’t tell you exactly what happens. is there a document online somewhere that tells me how to do this?
I can’t teach you how to access your NAS from your Windows computer. Because that is what is necessary to get this working.
No I meant how to add the movies on my NAS to the library in Plex.
I have set a link above. The process is described in detail in there.
Yes that’s what I did, but it didn’t work. I’ll try it again tonight so I can tell you what happens.
The simple answer is that Yes, you can run a PC Plex server with NAS file storage. My setup, as well as many others run this way.
It gets more complicated when you start to ask… How? This depends a lot on what your setup looks like, and potentially the brand of NAS you’re trying to work with. The good news is, if you can access your files from the PC (outside of Plex), then you’re in good shape to start.
I would recommend looking into “mapping drives” from the PC to the NAS for a start. If the term “mapped drive” is a bit foreign to you, then this journey might be harder for you to navigate and you’ll likely require support beyond which this forum can easily provide.
Once you get Plex up and running, it’s pretty phenomenal in what it does. The pieces you’re trying to work with are a little “next level” for a Plex setup, so your learning curve will be a bit steeper. Have patience, and try to engage that random cousin that knows a little bit about computers and networking if you’re finding yourself in over your head.
Good luck!
As a side note… mapping a drive on your PC isn’t the only way to go about doing this. It may be one of the simplest options, but probably not the best.
I know about mapped drives, I’m an IT Analyst, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I know everything about this Plex and networking in general. I don’t want my Dlink dns 323 NAS mapped on my PC because if it gets a virus, it can infect the nas aswell. so I’d rather access it using the IP address.
Ahhh… Have you tried setting up your Plex directories using the network name of the NAS?
\servername\sharename\
That’s how mine are set up:
\servername\movies
\servername\shows\
Should solve for your virus concerns. Not sure why this post wont allow two \, but all of these examples should start with two of those.
doesn’t it let you use the IP address?
Will have to let @OttoKerner answer that. I don’t know.
Of course you can use the IP address.
Open Windows file explorer
click into the address bar and type in
\\<ip-address> Enter
yup. i’ll try again tonight when I get home.
In my environment, I prefer network name over IP. Most of my devices use dynamic IPs. (I should probably change that.)
I have my IP addresses hard coded in my router, but I was too lazy to look up the network name so I just tried to use the IP address instead.
Ok I launched plex again and the movies I tried to add from my nas were there now for some reason. so I added another source and that worked. Then I created another library using my WD live hub cause it contains older movies and that worked. then when I went back to the first library, all the thumbnails of the movies had a red recycle bin icon in the middle of them. what does that mean? how do I get rid of them?
‘Scan library files’
And make sure that all your NAS devices stay operational as long as Plex server is running.
Do also disable any “sleep mode” in the NAS devices.
Disable
Settings - server - library - “Empty trash automatically”
ok thanks. I’m not crazy about web interfaces so I downloaded the windows app from the store. I installed it and when I logged in, it wouldn’t let me play any movies. it said something about me not having a pass? do you know what that means?
