To be clear this is only moving metadata. Not actual songs, movies, TV shows?
My 2nd Question involves an understanding of my current Plex. I have a ton of songs in my iTunes folder – that Plex can see and uses to generate my music collection. Plex also sees a ton of TV Shows and a ton of Movies on two external hard drives.
So if I keep all that the same on the destination PC – meaning the locations and names of EVERYTHING remain the same – should it all just work again? Like nothing changed? Or will it need a lot of time to re-read all the files?
No. It’s the media paths that hsve to be the same.
Assign the external drives the same drive letter they have now.
Check your music library folders (iTunes). Do they include your user name? I’m not familiar with iTunes.
The problem is I couldn’t find that anywhere. Then I suspected it was an invisible file and so I revealed hidden folders and found this –
I moved my GIANT folder in from my other PC and checked to make sure it arrived the same size. I rebooted and got this –
To be fair I did not follow the instruction that I “may” copy additional server settings simply because of that word. If it were a “must” copy I’d have already done it.
Di you copy the “Plex Media Server” over that folder you found or inside it? You want to replace it. i.e. You do not want C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Server
Tip: you can copy this string and paste it into the address bar of Windows file explorer + Enter.
It wil take you straight to the folder – even if hidden files and folders are not made visible in the settings.
%LOCALAPPDATA% is an alias for C:\Users*UserName*\AppData\Local
It points to the same location on every PC no matter what the UserName or drive letter is.
To the above question, yes, I followed the process. Didn’t work.
The problem is simple. Plex Media Server installs TOO MUCH CRAP before you begin setup on the Destination PC, It’s that simple.
When a user installs Plex on the destination PC, the VERY first thing it should ask is if you are starting a new server or moving a server. If you select ‘Moving’ it does NOT install anything yet. Nothing. Instead it tells you what to do on your source PC.
The source PC should have ONE BUTTON to push that does EVERYTHING. In settings there should be a button called MOVE SERVER TO NEW COMPUTER. You push it and the server shuts itself down. The notion of clicking a hidden ‘empty trash’ button happens AUTOMATICALLY. One big ZIP file is dumped on your source PC desktop. You’re told to move that to the destination PC – where it simply imports it. No regedit.
My solution was to completely uninstall and begin fresh. It of course takes time to make sure my movies match (and all that) but it sure beats this ridiculous process.
I’m taking a tone here because in previous posts Plex types have taken a tone with me. Don’t get mad at me. Get crackin’ on a MUCH simpler transition process.
I want to thank Plex for this otherwise excellent software. It’s stable as hell once it’s set up properly. But this process is pathetic.
Not true. If you skip the setup wizard, there is very little installed. You then overwrite the Plex Media Folder with the old backup and restore the registry, done.
I can’t say I didn’t predict this type of condescending comment.
I did that. It didn’t work.
I used Macs exclusively for 29 years. I switched to Windows with Windows 10 at release. In a matter of 3 years I’ve learned more than %85 of PC users. I’m no Pro but I’m an above average (B+) user.
This process of moving the server to a new PC sucks. Most ‘normal’ users will struggle and give up.**
“You must have done something wrong.” No. Plex has created an overly complicated process that doesn’t always work. Fact. Do not invalidate the feedback. Hear it.
** The PC I’m writing this from has Speedfan installed. I installed it to slow the fan speeds down. Anyone who has ever used this app will tell you that’s a marvel I or anyone could pull this off. It is an INSANELY complicated app – and yet – I managed to get it to work.
I’ll admit that Plex hasn’t created a one-button export/import option, but the process itself is not difficult. Keep in mind that the guidelines are for moving a standard PMS install with the same PMS version number to the same OS with all drive/folder references identical. If there is something different, then yes you will need to make some adjustments. You haven’t mentioned anything special you’ve done so the standard procedure should have worked.
If you didn’t export the registry, that assumes a standard install so the new install will use all defaults. If there was something custom in your old setup, then that wouldn’t have carried over and could be why something broke.
Plex has tested this, and I personally went through this over the holidays after getting a new computer. I have my appdata on a separate internal hard drive assigned as F drive. I literally went through these steps.
find PMS installer for the version running on old computer, copy to F drive
backup registry, save it to F drive
pull F drive out and install into new computer
assign the drive as F on new computer
installed PMS, did not launch at the end of install
restore registry
start PMS
That was it. I was up and running in less than 5 minutes.
I’m sure you are mistsken if you think @anon18523487 was meaning to be condescending.
The Plex employees and Moderators do a very good job of staying on topic and not getting personal. I don’t know how they do it sometimes. A lot of posts are aggressive and rude, not yours, but these guys stay professional and try to help.
Everyone that is responding to you is trying to help. Your not giving us much to go on though.
Again, I don’t know how many different ways there are to say this – I’m a B+ PC user. I know more than 85% of users.
Example: when you do a cumulative update, do you immediately run an SFC afterwards? If you don’t, you should… because file corruption is always revealed right at that moment. I would say 1 in 100 users know this.
Another Example: Windows Defender. It will sometimes say, hey, I just ran a quick scan 4 times in a row and you’re good to go. Are you aware that’s kinda useless? Because the two times I found a virus hiding was when I ran a full scan instead of a quick scan. 1 in 100 users know this.
So when I say this process is difficult I think y’all are simply saying ‘no it isn’t’ because you’re too familiar with it instead of hearing feedback and remaining objective. This is the albeit accidental condescending thing. “It works when we do it!” isn’t relevant if a user like me can’t manage it.
I reiterate: I did exactly what I was told and something didn’t work. There is too much complexity. I have never been instructed by any software vendor to export and import registry settings. If you haven’t noticed the registry itself warns you not to mess with it.
This is why a one button on each side is critical. If moving a server and adjusting registry settings isn’t so hard – what’s stopping you from making a one button option?
It depends on how PMS is setup. The registry isn’t needed if there are no customizations. If there are, then even coping the registry might not work. PMS itself is complicated and trying to move it with a single button is not realistic. Even the instructions won’t work for everyone due to the complexity.
Also, moving a server is not something the average user would do. This is an advanced feature and should only be done by users comfortable, knowledgeable, and willing to take the risk of doing something advanced.
Good to hear you got it set up again.
In the Server settings, Scheduled tasks, enable Backup database every 3 days and save it to a different drive. I have mine set to go to a NAS that is copied to the cloud.
