Server Version#: 1.42.2.10156
Player Version#: Don’t know what this means, I use the Plex app across devices.
I had to rebuild my Synology DSM DS418 because the system drive was too small and rebuilding it was the only fix. I backed up the Plex Media Server Directory and all of the media and reinstalled DSM and Plex.
When done, I restored all of the directories. The paths are identical to what they were before. But, while all of the metadata is restored and Plex lists all my movies, TV shows, etc. I get an error when I try to play them.
Please check that the file exists and the necessary drive is mounted.
When I go to the info section of a particular show and look at the path, it is correct. I’ve even copied and pasted in the path of the file in the SSH console and it is correct. Permissions also look correct as my user is part of the Administrators group.
The only thing that looks odd is that the top directory “Media”, is owned by root. I’m not sure what it was before, but I can access the files as my user from both SSH and the File Manager app.
When I look at Manage Libraries, the paths are all correct, e.g. /volume1/Media/Movies
What am I missing? Why can’t Plex play the files?
Checked the Plex Media Server.log and it has this entry for all my libraries:
Jan 19, 2026 07:07:46.682 [547881185504] ERROR - Couldn’t check for the existence of file “/volume1/Media/Movies/.grab”: boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied [system:13]: “/volume1/Media/Movies/.grab”
And
Jan 19, 2026 07:07:58.578 [547873722592] ERROR - IsDirectory failed boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied [system:13]: “/volume1/Media/Movies”
This “.grab” file does not exist in any of my folders on the filesystem As for the permissions denied, the permissions are:
drwxrwxrwx+ 1 patrickt333 root 227640 Jan 18 23:28 /volume1/Media/Movies
patrickt333@Roark:/volume1$
Rescanning libraries has no effect.
Had a thought. Could it be that the UID for my user is different from the old one? I have no idea what the old UID was.
Well, listing out the UID on the backup files vs the restored files is UID 1026 on both, so I guess that’s not it.
Plex is a different user than you or root. It uses its own user account, like all Linux things do: Synology FAQ - Questions, Answers, and How-To's - #25 by ChuckPa
1 Like
Thank you, that was it. I didn’t see that because PlexMedia isn’t a regular user, it’s a system user and is only seen under that special tab. I suppose that’s in the install instructions somewhere, but I missed it.
Thanks again.
