Missing a strep someplace. Trying to setup plex and setup screen says I'm not authorized

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#:1.40.0.7998 (Fedora 39)
Player Version#:

So I went to bed Friday night and my plex server was running fine. I get up Saturday and the computer its running on is locked up. Can’t even do anything via ssh. So I power cycle and let come up. Unfortunately, the Prefences.xml file got trashed. So plex never really started right and the web interface on my laptop just said my server “plex2” was unavailable. I deleted the Preferences.xml and restarted. Plex did put some info into a new file but it remaned offline.

Not knowing what else may have been corrupted, I decided to do a fresh install.
I stopped the plex service
I uninstalled the plex rpm
i deleted the /var/lib/plexmedia directory and everything underneath it.
I downloaded and installed the latest plex rpm
On my laptop browser, I go to http:://plex2/web, and it asked me for my plex account credentials but I get a screen that says I’m not authorized and that I don’t have access to this server.

It suggest claiming the server but I can’t figure out how to do that and so far what I’m googled hasn’t helped. I know there is a step I’m missing.

I’m not too worried about it today but I’d really like to get it configured and the DVR setup by Sunday night.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help

2

When Preferences.xml gets trashed, a couple things can happen.

To see what can be salvaged – Check for 3 different UUIDs

  • MachineIdentifier
  • ProcessedMachineIdentifier
  • AnonymousMachineIdentifier

If you have them, or minimally the ‘ProcessedMachineIdentifier’, the server can be reclaimed.

Preferences.xml will lose some of your settings but previous sharing you’ve done will be intact

Here’s my claiming tool, which you run on the command line of the host.

  1. Get a Plex Claim Token
  2. Within 5 minutes, use that claim token to reclaim the server

I show examples / how-to in the github.

If you need to reclaim it completely, you can still use the tool.
You’ll need to share the server again one created

ALSO (important)

Go here to remove the OLD server instance (common name) so there’s no duplication/confusion

https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/devices/pms

3

Thank you so much! That got me in and I was able to setup my data paths and dvr. Now it will take me forever to set up all the “season passes” :smiley:

When I re-logged into my plex account I see the device listed. It is busy scanning all the media but I tried playing an episode of a tv show from my laptop and it worked

I am not sure I follow you on sharing the server

4

For sharing the server / libraries , I’m referring to when you share your media with family & friends Settings → Manage Library Access (upper left corner)

5

Ah ok, I don’t have friends or family that use it.

Thanks again!

6

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