Libraries don't automatically update when adding new content

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.42.2.10156

Synology DS414; DSM 6.2.4-25556 Update 8

4x4TB drives in a single storage pool with a single volume

“/Media” share for which plex user has R/W permissions, with “Movies”, “TV” subfolders and so on inside “/Media” to setup my Plex Libraries pointing to these folders, curated as close to the recommendations as possible, not getting any issues metadata-wise as they are scraped just fine.
However, I’m having trouble diagnosing why some, if not all my libraries don’t automatically update after adding new media, although the settings are set to do so. I noticed that sometimes they do update, and most of the times they only do after I launch a manual scan, so not automatically as they should.

Example : for a few TV shows, the TV library updates itself automatically, but not for another show belonging to the same library which is in the same folder (“/Media/TV/”) for which plex user has R/W permissions for all what’s inside the top “TV” folder.

So I went to the main logfile (Plex Media Server.log) and found many error entries such as :

ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for “/path_to_media_folder” (13: Permission denied)

Along with some entries such as DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching “/path_to_media_folder”

I checked permissions as per FAQ #19, as well as FAQ #16 regarding inotify which I increased very much to 262144, despite only having ~1000 folders in “/Media/”.

I don’t know what I am missing here, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

Attached my logs straight after increasing the inotify watches, restarting DSM and running PMS.

2

@omarkettani

Please confirm which version you are running?

Your logs are showing me PMS 0.9.15.6

Mar 14, 2016 17:29:13 [0x2e7c6400] INFO - Plex Media Server v0.9.15.6.1714-7be11e1 - synology DiskStation arm7 - build: linux-synology-arm7 synology
Mar 14, 2016 17:29:13 [0x2e7c6400] INFO - Linux version: 3.2.40 (#5644 SMP Wed Jan 20 22:40:35 CST 2016)
Mar 14, 2016 17:29:13 [0x2e7c6400] INFO - Processor Arm

Where did you pull these logs from?

3

@ChuckPa

I am running the latest PMS version, 1.42.2.10156.

I pulled the logs from /volume3/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs

I zipped the whole Logs folder as it thought I should, but it seems that it also contains logfiles files from older PMS versions over time.

Ordering the logfiles by last modified date would give you the most recent “Plex Media Server.log” which contains :

Sep 24, 2025 16:45:51.575 \[789156720\] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.42.2.10156-f737b826c - Synology DS414 armv7l - build: linux-armv7hf synology - GMT 01:00
Sep 24, 2025 16:45:51.577 \[789156720\] INFO - Linux version: DSM 6.2.4.25556-8, language: en-US
4

thank you.

The fact your PMS never gets further than the first log file is concerning.

I think I’ve figured out why you’re seeing what you’re seeing and everything is file permissions based.

  1. PMS itself has problems with the /Plex shared folder. We need to fix that
    – FileStation
    – Right-click “Library” → Properties
    – Permission tab
    – You should see ‘Plex’ owns the file(s) (either here or the step above)
    — ( We have no DSM 6 machines anymore – old age failure )
    – Make certain to set user “Plex” as the owner, and APPLY TO THIS FOLDER, SUBFOLDERS and FILES

  2. Your media lost its permissions for a lot of your media

Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.606 [947004272] DEBUG - [Notify] Initializing.
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.606 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/Documentaires" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.619 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/Films" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.718 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/Kids/Astérix" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.719 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/Kids/Autres" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.723 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/Kids/Disney" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.743 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/Kids/Les Schtroumpfs" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:09.744 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/Spectacles" (13: Permission denied)
.
.
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.446 [977494896] DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching "/volume3/Media/TV/Dexter - New Blood"
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.447 [977494896] DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching "/volume3/Media/TV/Dexter - New Blood/Season 1"
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.491 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/TV/Ozark" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.505 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/TV/Ozark/Season 4" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.585 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/TV/Ozark/Season 3" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.631 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/TV/Ozark/Season 2" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.682 [977494896] ERROR - [Notify] Failed to add watch for "/volume3/Media/TV/Ozark/Season 1" (13: Permission denied)
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.772 [977494896] DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching "/volume3/Media/TV/24"
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.773 [977494896] DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching "/volume3/Media/TV/24/Season 0"
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.792 [977494896] DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching "/volume3/Media/TV/24/Season 6"
Sep 24, 2025 16:47:15.795 [977494896] DEBUG - [Notify] Now watching "/volume3/Media/TV/24/Season 4"

To fix:

  1. FileStation
  2. Highlight the ‘Media’ shared folder. → Properties
  3. Permission tab
  4. Ensure “plex” has READ permission set here.
  5. Check the box “Apply to this folder , sub-folders and files”
  6. SAVE
6

@ChuckPa, I did both actions, and I’ve noticed a lot of activity in the console, which I thought was good as it triggered the server to scan many many folders, as you can judge from this log.

Then I restarted PMS to see if the errors are still there, and it seems that they still are, judging by the log after PMS restart.

Are these errors still relevant after PMS reboot? Or should I just assume that it worked?

7

If you’ve fixed the filesystem permission errors which are blocking PMS,
All you’ll need to do is “Scan Files” and it will find them now

The next PMS restart will add them back to the automatic list.

If you look in any server log (Plex Media Server.log) about 3 minutes after starting PMS , you’ll see these errors.

(( Inotify initialization starts after all the networking and agents are setup ))
(( It adds all the folders to the list to monitor. ))
(( Once all of those are done, you’ll see normal playback activity ))

Again,

  1. Fix permissions
  2. Restart PMS
  3. Let it sit idle for 2-3 minutes (no playback)
  4. Download the logs ZIP file
  5. Open Plex Media Server.log
  6. Scroll down and look for the Now watching activity.
  7. Any errors (permission denied) are things you need to fix
  8. Any No space left on device means we need to adjust a system configuration
8

@ChuckPa the steps you describe are those I did, resulting in my previous reply.
I re-applied the permissions (plex to own the “Library” folder and all subfolders and files, and to have read/write access to /Media share and all subfolders and files).
Then restarted PMS, let it slide, saw the log (attached in my previous reply), and permission denied errors are still there, so I don’t know how I can fix them…
I doubt that the problem is related to permissions, because Plex has always been able to see and play the files located inside the so called folders with permission denied notify errors in the log, as whenever I do a manual scan, the library is updated, which means that plex can see the files as it adds them to the library, and even play them, the problem I have is that the library doesn’t update automatically when adding new content.
I think that the permission denied error in the log is somewhat misleading, because how can Plex display the media in the library, get its metadata, play it in any client, although it says in the log that permission is denied for the parent folder of such media?

9

@omarkettani
Looking at your log files, you have configured your libraries incorrectly in Plex.

The only folder you should have in your TV Show library is /volume3/Media/TV

And NOT all of the various show and season folders.

Because of the way you have things set up now, you have filled the iNotify table, which is why you are getting the permission denied errors.

Edit your TV Show library and go to Add Folders and make it look like this:

image
image1358×993 24.7 KB

That should resolve your issue, fingers crossed.

10

@trumpy81 my TV library is indeed configured just like you described, I have only one folder, the top level one as you can see.

image
image727×306 12.9 KB

11

Hmmm … that is odd then.

I see some folders are watched but the majority of them are not, returning permission denied.

It is probably the iNotify table being full. See this link and adjust your iNotify table as needed.

12

@trumpy81 I already did before posting this topic.
I increased the value to 262144, although I only have 995 folders to watch.

image
image667×125 3.67 KB

image

13

In that case you are more than likely running out of RAM.

Your NAS only has 1GB of RAM as standard and I don’t believe it is expandable.

Reduce the iNotify table to it’s default 65536 and see if that helps.

It may also pay you to triple check the permissions again, in case that did not work for some reason.

14

Solved thanks to @ChuckPa’s valuable knowledge. The origin of the issue was due to ACL permissions not being consistent or misaligned with permissions shown on DSM’s GUI. Reverted back to default value of 8192 in the iNotify table, more than enough in my setup. Thanks again @ChuckPa !

15

@omarkettani

My pleasure!

To all who find this,

  1. ALLOW permissions (ACLs) and DENY permissions (ACLs) conflicted.
  2. Using SSH into the machine (with PMS stopped)
  3. I used a combination of find and chmod to remove the ACLs
    (I’ll provide details to anyone who wants them)
  4. Once cleared, We set the ALLOW ACLs only. (The default condition is DENY)
  5. While PMS was down, ran DBRepair to optimize the DBs.
  6. Started PMS and off it went :slight_smile:
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