Im having intermittent issues with mapped drives and my TV Library. I have tried to switch it over to UNC with no luck. Sometimes, PLex will mark all tv shows in the library as missing and soft deletes them (Red Trash bin icon overtop of the media). Usually a restart of the plex server will take care of it but this time, no dice. I recently moved to Windows 10 1903. Before, on Windows 7, I did not have one issue.
I am running the plex service as my local account but that account does not have rights to the Synology share. I have added a saved credential in the Credential Vault. I map the drive on startup without an issue. My Movie library uses the same mapped drive but in a different directory (Y:\Movies rather than Y:\TV) and this library scans correctly (just did another scan before writing this post to see if they will delete too and they did not). Scanner logs show:
(I rechecked the scanner log file and it does show that some of the movies are not there but are still showing as available (no trash can icon). In going to the actual movie itself, I found that the info showed the file and Inaccessible but after refreshing the metadata, it found the movieâŠ)
I have added the UNC path to the TV shows to the scanning engine for the TV Show Library and am scanning the library now.
After adding the UNC path, the TV shows do NOT show up as âduplicatesâ like the normally should (Number 2 in top right corner) and, when getting the info of a particular show, it still lists the file as being on the mapped drive.
Scanner is shoing:
Dec 23, 2019 08:18:01.071 [11000] DEBUG - Scanner: Processing directory \\UNC\PATHTO\TV\SHOWNAME\SEASON (parent: yes)
Dec 23, 2019 08:18:01.079 [11000] DEBUG - File 'Y:\TV\SHOW\SEASON\EPISODE' didn't exist, can't skip.
Dec 23, 2019 08:18:01.084 [11000] DEBUG - Scanner: Processing directory \\UNC\PATHTO\TV\SHOWNAME\SEASON\EPISODE (parent: yes)
Dec 23, 2019 08:18:01.086 [11000] WARN - Error scanning directory, we'll skip and continue: boost::filesystem::directory_iterator::construct: An unexpected network error occurred: "\\ds415p-01\content\tv\Youre The Worst\Season 1\Youre.the.Worst.S01E10.Fists.and.Feet.and.Stuff.720p.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H.264-NTb.mkv"
It still shows the file with the drive path as well as the ânetwork error occuredâ error with the UNC Path as it did beforeâŠ
After doing numerous scans and looking at the logs, I moved a TV show out of the content folder and recanned. Once this was done, I removed the show from my library and rescanned. I then added the show back to my content folder and rescanned. The logs show that it found the show but didnt add it to the library becaseu ânothing changedâ. Logs show:
Dec 23, 2019 08:45:21.733 [5984] DEBUG - * Scanning \\UNCPATH\TO\TV\SHOW
Dec 23, 2019 08:45:21.735 [5984] DEBUG - Scanner: Processing directory \\UNCPATH\TO\TV\SHOW (parent: yes)
Dec 23, 2019 08:45:21.748 [5984] DEBUG - Skipping over directory '<TV SHOW>', as nothing has changed; removing 0 media items from map.
Dec 23, 2019 08:45:21.748 [2372] DEBUG - HTTP requesting GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/metadata/updateProgressMessage?message=Scanning%20TVSHOW
Dec 23, 2019 08:45:21.751 [2372] DEBUG - HTTP 200 response from GET http://127.0.0.1:32400/:/metadata/updateProgressMessage?message=Scanning%20TVSHOW
Dec 23, 2019 08:45:21.752 [5984] DEBUG - Scanner: Processing directory \\UNCPATH\TO\TV\SHOW\SEASON (parent: yes)
That is in my experience a bad idea. Storing access credentials doesnât work reliably for some reason.
Create a user account on your synology which has identical username and password like the Windows user account. GIve it access permissions to your media shares.
If you run plex server as a Windows service, you cannot use drive letters at all. Because the script which restores the drive letters on login is not run for services. UNC path is the way to go. But still do the above.
Thank you for your reply. I have added a user with R/W perms to the Synology. During my troubleshooting, I have done the plex dance once (deleting the trash before cleaning bundles). I renamed the content folder and then made an empty folder that has the same name as the content folder. Easier than moving everything out. I have now deleted the library and readded it. First time, used the mapped drive as plex can see it (no dice) and the second time using the UNC path. Both didnt work unfortunately. The Plex dance prior to deleting the library also didnt work.
The logs still show an âunexpected netowrk error occuredâ even tho browsing to the shares works everytime.
When I moved this install, I moved it to Windows 2016 and had big issues with SMB v2 and v3. I dont believe those are issues any more as I enabled both protocols on the synology.
I guess im hella confused as to why the movie library is working when it is calling the same UNC path as the TV shows libraryâŠ
When scanning the movies again, it is using the Mapped Drie as its content location. Logs show that the files dont exiust and when i get the info of one of the problem movies, it shows as âInaccessibleâ again with a âCheck the permissions on this fileâ error. Attempting playback, it calls that same error again.
aaaaaand⊠the movie library is all gone as well⊠There was just a windows update⊠let me see what that was. Nope. a couple windows defender updates yesterdayâŠ
So it looks like after a complete plex dance including deleting both libraries, bundles, the whole 9 yards and then renaming the content folders to a new name and add the libraries back with the \IP\Content path (was using the DNS name before, took no chances now!), the movies are updating. Of course I need to rematch a bunch⊠grrrâŠ
Updated the tv shows and the library is blank but I think that is because i was updating the movie library. Ill wait til thats done and update the TV.
Tip: if you are trying to plex dance a whole library at once, the dance may fail. Because if a library target folder is completely empty, Plex will consider the files in it as temporarily unavailable.
The workaround is to either remove the folder from the library (edit the library, go to the âAdd foldersâ tab)
or
put a single, small text file into the folder (so it isnât completely empty).
interesting. I will remember that for next time as, unfortunate as it is, it will come sooner rather than later. Ugh, i guess ill have to spring for a server with local storage. Seems the better approachâŠ
I was able to upgrade to 1909 during all this. I hope that the possible SMB issues, that could potentially be the underlying issue, are taken care of.
Just to add here. I not sure what did it (apologies) but after I updated to 1909 as well as updating my Synology to the latest firmware, the UNC pathing stuck and I havent had a problem with the libraries dropping out since.
