Media Server New Install Will Not Setup At All

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.29.1.6276-4a96dd5b1
Player Version#: N/A
MacOS: 10.14.5
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012)
Memory: 16 GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB

I was running into not being able to access my Plex Media Server from any device, and my previous install wouldn’t allow me to browse to the server library, even on the same machine.

I cleared out ApplicationSupport, Caches, Logs, and so on, for a clean install, and downloaded 4.4.0 just a few hours ago.

When I start up Plex Media Server, I am greeted with the introductory screen, and then taken to the Server Setup - the most basic setup there is, even before adding content to the library. There is no option to name the server, and clicking “Next” results in the “Next” button spinning animation, and hasn’t resolved in an hour.

I’m ready and willing to troubleshoot this issue, but I can’t find any information on the setup itself not working.

Edit: updated the server version - I put in the version for Plexamp by mistake. Very different app!

2

Endless spinning could be the webpage Javascript. Try Opera, Firefox, Chrome.

When you download the server zip from plex.tv, it has a long version number in the filename. The current macOS one for all users is 1.29.0.6244-819d3678c
You have that one or maybe PlexMediaServer-1.28.2.6151-914ddd2b3-universal
Please let us know which one and what happens with the different browsers.

For my username, I find my PMS logs in this folder

cd "/Users/nibbles/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server"

If one of the new browsers doesn’t work, you can right click on that folder, choose Compress and drop the zip into your reply if you want us to have a look at the logs

3

I would be looking at Catalina or use Chrome or both

4

Running a tail -f on the logs for Plex Media Server I get the following when stepping through the server setup process (in Chrome):

INFO - [Req#2bf] AutoUpdate: no updates available
DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:64979] 200 PUT /updater/check?download=0 (8 live) GZIP 169ms 323 bytes (pipelined: 23)
DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:64979 (Loopback)] GET /web/static/fdf56b22f9fbdf2f583f.woff (8 live) #2c2 GZIP
DEBUG - [Req#2c2] Final path: "/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Plug-ins-4a96dd5b1/WebClient.bundle/Contents/Resources/static/fdf56b22f9fbdf2f583f.woff"
DEBUG - Content-Length of /Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/Resources/Plug-ins-4a96dd5b1/WebClient.bundle/Contents/Resources/static/fdf56b22f9fbdf2f583f.woff is 69888 (of total: 69888).
DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:64979] 200 GET /web/static/fdf56b22f9fbdf2f583f.woff (8 live) GZIP 1ms 69888 bytes (pipelined: 24)
DEBUG - NetworkServiceBrowser: Parsing SSDP schema for http://192.168.1.254:49152/wps_device.xml
DEBUG - [HCl#7f6] HTTP requesting GET http://192.168.1.254:49152/wps_device.xml
WARN - [HttpClient/HCl#7f6] HTTP error requesting GET http://192.168.1.254:49152/wps_device.xml (7, Couldn't connect to server) (Failed to connect to 192.168.1.254 port 49152: Connection refused)
ERROR - SSDP: Error parsing device schema for http://192.168.1.254:49152/wps_device.xml
DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:64979 (Loopback)] GET /system/agents (4 live) #2c3 GZIP
DEBUG - [Req#2c3] [com.plexapp.system] Sending command over HTTP (GET): /system/agents
DEBUG - [Req#2c3/HCl#7f7] HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:49493/system/agents
DEBUG - [HttpClient/HCl#7f7] HTTP/1.1 (0.0s) 200 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:49493/system/agents
DEBUG - [Req#2c3] [com.plexapp.system] HTTP reply status 200, with 11288 bytes of content.
DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:64979] 200 GET /system/agents (4 live) GZIP 24ms 1810 bytes (pipelined: 25)
DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:64979 (Loopback)] GET /:/prefs (4 live) #2c8 GZIP
ERROR - Got unknown exception from request handler
DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:64979] 500 GET /:/prefs (4 live) GZIP 2ms 405 bytes (pipelined: 26)
DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:64977 (Loopback)] GET /system/appstore/updates (4 live) #2ba GZIP
DEBUG - [Req#2ba] [com.plexapp.system] Sending command over HTTP (GET): /system/appstore/updates
DEBUG - [Req#2ba/HCl#7f8] HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:49493/system/appstore/updates
DEBUG - [HttpClient/HCl#7f8] HTTP/1.1 (0.0s) 404 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:49493/system/appstore/updates (reused)
DEBUG - [Req#2ba] [com.plexapp.system] HTTP reply status 404, with 0 bytes of content.
DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:64977] 404 GET /system/appstore/updates (4 live) GZIP 6ms 177 bytes (pipelined: 13)
DEBUG - Request: [127.0.0.1:64977 (Loopback)] GET /:/prefs (4 live) #2ca GZIP
ERROR - Got unknown exception from request handler
DEBUG - Completed: [127.0.0.1:64977] 500 GET /:/prefs (4 live) GZIP 2ms 405 bytes (pipelined: 14)

I’m getting a bunch of 500s. I have removed my preferred DNS listing of 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 so I knew I wasn’t over-riding any local DNS settings, and I have removed Docker-specific entries in my hosts file, in case there were any localhost shenanigans going on there (doesn’t appear so).

My local IP address is 192.168.1.123, not .254, and I’m not clear why the server is trying to call resources from .254.

Still unable to resolve this page.

5

EDIT: I can reproduce this on a 2018 Mac Mini x64

Symptom for macOS 10.14.6 Description
PMS-1.29.1-6276-4a96dd5b1 Setup hangs on the step naming the server
PMS-1.29.2.6273-2b1f0cbcd (transcoder preview) same as above
Visual no place to enter the name, clicking Next causes spinner
Plex Media Server.log[1] http error 500 when asking PMS for prefs
Browsers tested Safari, Chrome, Opera, Firefox
Browser inspection logs[2] 4x Error 500 when asking PMS for prefs
Plex Media Server.app the identity of the developer cannot be confirmed
a Security & Privacy exception is required to run the app.
Forums appearing in several topics about macOS 10.13, 10.14

original post

SSDP sniffs your LAN and tries to connect to devices and request their config in an xml file. Plenty of devices don’t reply well which is a non-issue, but if the poorly responding device is a router, that can go wrong. What is that 192.168.1.254 device?

I can see you’re getting a 404 trying to talk to the localhost, but before that it succeeds. Things are out of context, but you are on a supported OS and could have found a thing. For example they just hotfixed a bug stopping 10.11.6 and 10.12.6 from crashing at startup (missing dylds).

I have a 10.14 mac Mini but don’t use dockers and won’t be able to reproduce your issue. However, if you zip and drop those server logs into a reply, it would help any devs reading this.

  1. The OP has a good log from PMS in post 11 below ↩︎

  2. I copied the Opera log → browser.devlog.txt.zip (1.6 KB) ↩︎

6

To be clear, I don’t use Docker anymore either. It was an old hosts entry that I removed as a sanity check.

192.168.1.254 appears to be one of the many wi-fi mesh router nodes, but shouldn’t be in the mix at all, since it’s a simple Velop mesh router - an older one, at that.

My media server host is hard-wired (ethernet) to the DHCP main node at 192.168.1.1.

7

and is 192.168.1.1 your default gateway?
I would setup the PMS device to have a static IP, gateway, and those nice DNS you chose.
No docker and it can’t connect to 127.0.0.1 maybe permissions.
If you don’t want to share your logs on the forums that’s okay. You sort of want to focus looking at log starting at the one and only instance of the word setup .

@FordGuy61 can you assist on a Mac connection refused to 127.0.0.1 ?

8

SSDP messages are noise. You can ignore them. Plex sends out SSDP broadcasts looking for clients. Some devices respond in a non-standard manner and Plex logs an error.

Try connecting to http://192.168.1.123:32400/web using a private/incognito browser window (to bypass any plugins). Some versions of Safari have not worked well with Plex. You might try a current version of Chrome or Firefox instead.

No idea why 127.0.0.1 would refuse a connection, unless a VPN or similar is running, or /etc/hosts is bad.

I do not run PMS on my MacBook. Other than comments, /etc/hosts has only the following entries:

127.0.0.1    localhost
255.255.255  broadcasthost
::1          localhost

Suggestion: Completely uninstall Plex Media Server and start over.

Follow the uninstall directions in Uninstall Plex Media Server.

Then download the current version from plex.tv and re-install.

If you run into the spinning cursor again (mentioned in first post), do not stop Plex Media Server.

Try refreshing the web page. If that doesn’t work, quit the browser (quit, not just close windows), then relaunch it and go to http://127.0.0.1:32400/web using an incognito/private browser window. Note it is http, not https, and don’t forget the /web.

If none of that works, then you’ll need to pull the log files and post to the thread. Stop Plex Media Server, navigate to the Plex Data Folder, compress the Logs directory, and post to the thread.

9

192.168.1.1 is my default gateway, yes.
I just configured the PMS to have a static IP, but still using DHCP (so, on Mac, they say “Using DHCP with manual address”)
Docker is totally uninstalled on this system.
I’m sitting at, installed upon, and am running setup upon this very self same MacBook Pro, yes indeed.

10

@FordGuy61 , this is all a brand new install, following those instructions. However, the impetus for the uninstall was that my long-working installation just stopped working one day, and I couldn’t get the libraries to load, even on the local computer.

To eliminate the mesh network and any routing, I have disconnected from the mesh network (default gateway 192.168.1.1) and connected via wifi to my ISP device’s wireless network (default gateway 192.168.0.1).

So, my IP address has also changed, and I’m accessing via this IP address instead of a 127.0.0.1 localhost IP address, which is now 192.168.0.48

http://192.168.0.48:32400/web/index.html#!/setup/8bedfc7234d9c0c3fde685e1ae2343f27eae5cee

plex_media_server.log (890.1 KB)

I’ve uploaded a copy of my logs. The network change happened some time around Oct 05, 2022 16:45:35.329, give or take a few network disconnect / reconnect attempts.

Now, with all this done, I am prompted to login, but then I get the spinning gold wheel and no other UI at all. It doesn’t resolve to the setup page whatsoever.

I am totally willing to uninstall / reinstall completely, but I’ve just done that 2x in the last 24 hours or so… 36 maybe…

I’m also getting CORS errors in the Chrome Inspector logs -

The CORS errors suggest to me that I should be using 127.0.0.1, and it’s that IP address difference triggering the CORS errors. — however, switching back to 127.0.0.1 does not allow the page to load. It’s the same spinning gold plex circle of doom.

Access to XMLHttpRequest at 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/media/providers?X-Plex-Product=Plex%20Web&X-Plex-Version=4.87.2&X-Plex-Client-Identifier=7nedm8ttd3dlwd0qv2hn0iqy&X-Plex-Platform=Chrome&X-Plex-Platform-Version=105.0&X-Plex-Features=external-media%2Cindirect-media%2Chub-style-list&X-Plex-Model=bundled&X-Plex-Device=OSX&X-Plex-Device-Name=Chrome&X-Plex-Device-Screen-Resolution=1347x737%2C1440x900&X-Plex-Language=en' from origin 'http://192.168.0.48:32400' has been blocked by CORS policy: The 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header contains the invalid value 'app.plex.tv'.

I’m seeing other errors in the Inspector that relate to shared libraries external to my home network - friend shares - and they’re failing with ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID and ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT, but I won’t post the whole message, since I assume those are related to my invalid install rather than those sharing with me. I’m not sure if I can revoke my connections to an outside server that is shared with me, or if those are even related.

11

Following up:

Over the weekend I took @FordGuy61 's advice and went ahead and uninstalled Plex Media Server, following all the instructions for removing library entries, etc.

Reinstalled - no joy. Same deal. Used Safari, Chrome, and Firefox and got the same results. FWIW, I had to circumvent Mac’s Security feature to allow the application to be installed, as it has no developer cert that Apple recognizes.

I uninstalled the VPN client I was using (although it was turned off, it has routing features that may have been left active, and I wanted to be sure it wasn’t blocking content in anyway).

Additionally, disabled DHCP on my ISP modem / router, so that only my mesh router is doling out IP addresses.

Still no love.

Logs attached.
Plex Media Server.log (897.4 KB)

12

Am I correct that you’re trying to run the PMS setup on the Mac where PMS will live?
Let’s try something different.

  1. Do your complete uninstall to reduce variables.
  2. In Safari clear your cookies, cache, history, and quit out of Safari.
  3. Run the PMS and let it start Safari and ask you to sign in.
  4. Don’t sign in, just quit Safari
  5. Switch to a modern Mac.
  6. Open Safari on the modern Mac and http://plex.server.ip.address:32400/web
    being sure to use http and the correct address

Let us know how that works.

13

@nibbles , unfortunately, that route didn’t work either - so maybe I have to assume it’s a limitation on the hardware / OS at this point.

I used another, more modern computer to download and install PMS, and a couple things are immediately different:

  1. The application is not flagged by my 12.x macOS operating system as unsigned developer. I didn’t have to open preferences and “open anyway”.
  2. At first, I got a spinning wheel, but after I cleared the URL with uBlock Origin, I was able to log in and begin the setup process.

So, maybe there’s a compatibility issue that’s unpublished with OSX 10.14 and a Mac as old as mine, or maybe I’ve got some other setup issues on that machine that aren’t normal. It’s strange to me that OS 10.14 doesn’t recognize the developer, while macOS 12.x does.

I can’t upgrade further because the hard drive installed in the 2012 model isn’t APFS formatted, so I’d lose my data. I’ve attempted to restore via Time Machine before, and it doesn’t work because my Time Machine drive restores to a Journaled / Non-APFS. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

14

Excellent debugging. I wish I had another fix.

On the subject of upgrading, what I do is use SuperDuper! to clone my internal drive to an external USB drive (and test the external drive by booting from it).

Then I have an exact copy of my internal drive.
Then I wipe my internal drive and install macOS to it.
At the end of the install it asks me if I want to Migrate.
I have it Migrate my data back off the external which takes maybe ½ hour,
while Time Machine would take a day.

15

Contrary to what the download page claims, Plex Media Server 1.29.1 will not run on Mavericks or newer for network access. It requires Catalina (11.0) or newer.

16

@lasvegas_1 , are you aware of a version (still available to download) I could install to restore the PMS to working state on Mavericks?

17

Unfortunately, I don’t. I religiously install updates as they arrive and just went through the headache of replacing my motherboard & processor on my Hackintosh to allow me to update to Big Sur and restore my Plex server. The previous update before 1.29 worked fine in Mojave (10.14.6).

18

I believe for macOS, the last 1.28 stable was

PlexMediaServer-1.28.2.6151-914ddd2b3-universal.zip

19

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