Missing posters: How to force select posters after database restore?

[Binson_Buzz]

Server Version#: Version 1.43.1.10561
Player Version#: 4.159.0
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>

I restored my server only using a DB backup. After running “refresh all Metadata” several times, it is downloading all the poster variants but for many library items it is not selecting a Poster and instead stays blank.

If I go into the media and look at the posters (without manually selecting one) and then refresh Metadata it works - but I can’t do this for thousands of items. See video.

Is there a way to fix this? Is it a bug that needs fixing by Plex?

Watch Metadata | Streamable

[OttoKerner]

Probably because the posters had previously been “locked” by manually selection.

Reset all manual poster selections in a library at once or unlock other metadata fields

The following could be most useful for very old libraries, which had their metadata agent already changed several times. For instance if the server admin has manually selected different posters on many items, but now wants to make a clean break and leave all poster selections to the agent. While one could do that by deleting the library and re-creating it, it might however be a bit drastic a measure. What it does: reset the locked attribute of all poster selections in a given library. Upon th…

[Binson_Buzz]

Thanks - I’ll give it a go

[Binson_Buzz]

@OttoKerner that didn’t work. It was a long shot as we are talking about literally thousands of show and movie posters and I haven’t manually changed that many over the years. I did wonder if a service like Kometa might have, but the reset didn’t work.

From the video you can see that it looks like the posters aren’t there until I go to the edit option - there is a slight delay before they become visible. Could this be the problem?

[OttoKerner]

Have you verified on some test items that the Lock status was indeed engaged, and that it has been successfully cleared after the API call?
Did you Refresh Metadata after resetting the lock status?

[Binson_Buzz]

@OttoKerner thanks for the reply.

I’m not sure how to see the Lock for posters? I can see it for e.g. genres.

I tried refresh Metadata after running the API call and the experience is the same as in the video I posted:

1. Refresh Metadata: progress indicator whirls, but poster doesn’t change
2. Go to edit and look at posters but do not change - the posters “flicker” which seems to indicate being downloaded for the first time (or maybe just the thumbnails?)
3. Refresh Metadata again and the poster gets updated

[OttoKerner]

@Binson_Buzz

I’m not sure how to see the Lock for posters?

If the poster is locked. it should be shown as thumbnail among the other “locked” data, like the genre.

@Binson_Buzz

Go to edit and look at posters but do not change - the posters “flicker” which seems to indicate being downloaded for the first time (or maybe just the thumbnails?)

I can only assume it is a side effect of how the library was transferred/restored. Maybe you could enable “Refresh library metadata periodically” in the Scheduled Tasks and simply wait until the server has processed all the items.

[Binson_Buzz]

I’m still not sure how to see if a Poster is locked - I can see padlocks on the “General” screen, but not the Poster Screen.

I’ve already got all the scheduled tasks options ticked - I really hope that works eventually as I don’t want to do the Plex Dance.

[OttoKerner]

Inspect the plex media info XML.
On items which have at least one field locked, there is an XML property named Field locked. You typically find it below the cast list and chapter and credit markers.

[Binson_Buzz]

Thanks - checked and the posters weren’t locked. I’m going for the Plex Dance option - hopefully it’ll go fast before everyone wakes up for the Bank Holiday weekend!

[bbaorbb]

Have you tried to do a “Fix Match…”?