Migration from Synology DSM 6 to DSM 7 Libraries Empty Issue

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Plex Migration to Synology DSM 7 Libraries Empty:
Issue:
After Plex Update (incl. migration from Synology DSM 6 to new version on DSM 7) cannot refresh or access pre-migration existing libraries on Plex Client.

Possible resolution: To Resolve unknown permissions issue: see OBSERVATION and ASSUMPTIONS at bottom of post.
Note: System user PlexMediaServer DOES have access to media Shared Folders, as detailed below (See Result and Current Status).

I hope this isn’t overkill. I didn’t do a ‘technical migration’ thinking it was safe so I have recorded from memory all steps and is the path to where I am now as best I can remember - any help to restore original library (with original metadata, usage etc.) which, as an early adopter has been used over many years, would be much appreciated. (…and I should say with much thanks as I have never had to ask for help before as far as I can remember!)

Issue Details:

System Synology DS8515+ Intel Atom C2538, 2.4 GHz, Mem: 6144
Original Plex Install: Volume1

Update of Synology DSM and Plex

APPROACH STEPS:

Pre update activities: Research indicated no impacts to Plex of the following actions except to update to latest Plex following DSM update. It is understood that the update should have migrated Plex correctly to the new version after DSM update.

Steps (high level)
• Updated all impacted software, including Plex to latest DSM 6 versions
• Stopped Plex
• Updated DSM6 to latest DSM 6 Update7
• Updated DSM 6 to DSM 7.0.1-42218 Update 6
• (Note: There is a further manual update offered to DSM7.1.1-42962 Update 6 on ‘staged roll-out’. The server is not displaying any issues so as per release notes I have elected the option to not install the update for the time being).

Note: Original Install Plex Version - Unknown. I still have the files in the /volume1 file system but am not aware of a way to see which version it is. (I do have access to file system via telnet and am Unix aware).

  • Backed up existing installation data folders, ‘Plex Media Server’ to volume1/Plex_Backups

  • Updated Plex to DSM 7 Plex Version: 1.40.4.8840-70008840 on Volume2 (note: I think it was a two stage update: i) update and migrate and then ii) plex server indicated a further update was available so I updated to latest)

  • File Permissions: Shared folder for Plex Media files is on Volume5 named V5-Media e.g. V5-Media/movies and V5-Media/photos
    DSM7 File permissions for System user PlexMediaServer are set to R/W for Shared Folder V5-Media

  • On starting Plex server and Web client I was able to select a [new] media folder V5-Media/Home Movies and it loaded and served the home movies to the web client. All looking good.
    Confirmed client to server access and external access - all green OK
    THEN
    When attempting to scan existing media folders (e.g. V5-Media/movies) it would allow me to select a folder from V5-Media on the server OK, but will not scan and add media files.

Attempted fixes:
Viewed permissions at command line - checks OK
All seems ok at Server and client level according to various threads and help articles online.

Reviewed various online help articles and implemented following:
• Uninstalled latest version and re-installed - no change to Libraries no-scan issue
• Changed settings to NOT update automatically to ensure not stopping refreshes - no impact
• Read that issues with DB can stop refreshes working. Assuming migration corruption considered options to repair. Backed up migrated data folder and ran SQL Lite commands as instructed here: https://support.plex.tv/articles/repair-a-corrupted-database/) including integrity check, rebuild indexes and low level database recovery.
• Result: Unable to access server through client and lost access to media files.
• Recovered backed up data files (command line unix, moved recovered database files to .OLD and moved original migrated data folders back to ‘Plex Media Server’, then changed owner to PlexMediaServer:PlexMediaServer, as per original).

Result & Current Status
• Back to original migrated state
• Strangely am able to access /Home Movies library (only) AND play files but cannot access the original media /movies, /photos or /music folders which all display as "Empty "
• OBSERVATIONS: - The targetted folders are all under the V5-Media shared folder. The only difference between the original folders /movies, /photos, /music folders is that the originals are all “Empty” and will not scan, whereas the new Library (at /homemovies, which is an existing files folder but new Library to post migration Plex) does scan, does display files and does play the media correctly and these were *** added and scanned post-migration***. I got ahead of myself and added this library before checking all was well with the other libraries post migration so discovered this by accident.
• ASSUMPTIONs - the issue appears like a permissions issue but I cannot find the cause: i.e. am able to scan new /homemovies Library but not original pre-migration libraries - however the other libraries can [apparently] be mapped using Library Edit. (This may imply it can see the folders unless this path is read from the server settings data file?).

• Note that web app Server/General Settings is now showing an update is available in the client server settings page as follows: 
Version 1.40.4.8840  An update is available.Please install manually with release notes that include this: (Synology) DSM 7 packages failed to install on some x86 devices (PM-2092). -

NOTE: This is not displayed in DSM packages as an update option and not wishing to update unless advised in current situation.

I have attached server and client logs and can follow any debig steps required that might help indicate the issue. I am new to this so please bear with if I have missed something obvious!

Edit Update: I have just checked the location of /volume2 and it is on the wrong disk set. I’m not sure how this happened but that is a data only drive. However I’m guessing it might be better to fix the above issue first and then work out how to move to a different volume - advice would be welcome of course.
Edit Update 2: Continued reading and implemented two things after stopping server: i) I found a permissions fix so ran it for good measure (it chowned all folder/file permissions to PlexMediaServer:PlexMediaServer) and ii) I decided I was not on the correct Plex Version. I manually installed v.1.41.0.8994-f2c27da23 (September 23, 2024). The install failed due to having the original Volume1/Plex folders and advised to remove it to enable the install. I moved the old install to Plex.OLD (using command line unix) and re-ran install successfully, however Library issue remains.

WebApp_DebugLog_.txt (71.5 KB)
Plex Media Server Logs_2024-10-12_16-46-39.zip (1.1 MB)

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ADDITIONAL TROUBLESHOOTING of FILE PERMISSIONS
So based on the premise that the issue is a permissions issue I delved deeper.
My media files have historically been loaded via various mechanisms (eg’s: from PC via remote folders or via downloader on server)
I opened File Manager and right clicked on MyMediaFolder>Permissions to see that PlexMediaServer had RW permissions. However when checking sub-folders permissions PlexMediaServer was not listed.

I then reviewed the only Library folder working in the plex client (HomeMovies) at unix command line and noted that the permissions were 777 (i.e. rwx for all)
I tested changing permissions at command line for the music folders and sub files (chmod -R 777 music) and then ran a scan on the web client for music Library - this is now successfully running.

File Manager FIX
Following the above tests I revisited the DSM File Manager and right clicked on MyMediaFolder>Permissions again. This time I clicked on the box at the bottom to recurse the ‘MyMediaFolder’ permissions to all sub folders and files.
I checked in the sub folders>permissions and they now appeared to have correct permissions. Following this I noted additional media folders are being scanned.

RESULT:
Unfortunately I am not seeing my previous usage data, which was the purpose of migrating rather than uninstalling and reinstalling - so the migration still appears to have failed.

Again - if there is any way of recovering usage data into this install I would be very interested - I have the previous installation and its data folders all backed up and recoverable if it can be done.

Whilst an unhappy result, hopefully in the morning I may have all media accessible at least.

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Please follow this guide on migrating PMS after upgrading to DSM 7.
DSM 7 brings some significant changes to the platform, it’s not just about restoring/fixing a permissions.

4

To add to Tom80H,

Synology imposed significant internal changes to DSM 7.

Those changes required we completely rewrite how Plex runs on DSM 7.

In a nutshell, the following changes were mandated by Synology.

  1. The package name changed from Plex → PlexMediaServer
  2. The username changed from plex → PlexMediaServer
  3. The installer no longer had ‘root’ (admin) privileges at any point during the installation meaning I could not do all the work I would normally do for you automatically

To share how much changed, you can start reading here

When finished, FAQ 27 will show you the step by step of upgrading from DSM 6 → DSM 7.

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Thanks for the raft of reading! I think I have the hang of it but stuck on permissions.
I have fully uninstalled DSM 7 version (removed) and reverted to new install.
As expected it states it does not have permissions for Plex shared folder.
Instructions state I should set the permissions to Custom with r/w/admin rights. However, there is no Custom column in shared folder permissions and I cannot find how to change this - any thoughts?
(Note the only option I can find via googling is to go to Shared Folders, Select Plex shared folder, click Action>Convert to Windows ACL) - apparently this does the trick?

Update: OK, with further reading cofnrimed this change and went ahead.
Migration appears to have completed…

Plex Media Server migration to DSM 7 started: Sun Oct 13 15:48:25 IST 2024
=== Sun Oct 13 15:48:25 IST 2024 === Start: Change ownership
chown: cannot dereference ‘/volume1/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Metadata/TV Shows/f/59ff4d2ce7d6a903e69fe7fe0f359ba233eda97.bundle/Contents/_comb ined/seasons/4/episodes/6/thumbs/._com.plexapp.agents.thetvdb_140561236410e67bdf5e8f90d12ba1e872d06189’: No such file or directory
=== Sun Oct 13 15:50:27 IST 2024 === Completed: Change ownership
=== Sun Oct 13 15:50:27 IST 2024 === Start: Convert symbolic links
=== Sun Oct 13 15:54:55 IST 2024 === Completed: Convert symbolic links
=== Sun Oct 13 15:54:55 IST 2024 === Start: Migrate Plex Media Server
=== Sun Oct 13 15:54:55 IST 2024 === Completed: Migrate Plex Media Server
=== Sun Oct 13 15:54:55 IST 2024 === Completed: Migrate Plex Media Server
=== Sun Oct 13 15:54:55 IST 2024 === Start: Clean /volume1/Plex
=== Sun Oct 13 15:54:55 IST 2024 === Completed: Clean /volume1/Plex

All seems to be OK - Happy Days!
Thanks for the support!

1 Like
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That right “Custom” column missing is most likely because you first setup your Syno in the DSM 4 or DSM 5 days ???

DSM 6 gave us the “Windows ACL” capability

The easy solution I have for folks is:

  1. Control Panel - Shared Folders —
  2. Rename “Plex” → “Plex-old”
  3. Create new “Plex” shared folder
    – and add the new permissions (Full Control) for System Internal User “PlexMediaServer” in the process
  4. Now drag & drop “Library” from “Plex-old” → “Plex”
  5. If you’re lucky, the move takes 10 seconds. If not, you wait for the classic Syno copy+delete style move. There’s no predicting it.

I’m glad you got it up and running.

Don’t you LOVE all the details? :roll_eyes: :rofl:

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Yes I’ve had Plex a loong time!
… and although I came kicking and screaming back into the detail, yes I do love it really!

Just to say, rather than your suggested approach I used the ACL convert (via control panel>shared folders> Plex Convert to ACL )

I ensured permissions were correct and recursed for Plex, PlexMediaServer and on all my media folders before running for the second time.

All seems to be working fine. Well done you guys, I’m sure it was a long journey as it sounds like Synology pulled the rug from under you with DSM7 !

… and thanks for your swift help this weekend :pray::wink:

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