My server is confusing Users and interrupting playback.

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1

I have Plex installed on a Server (Windows Server 2012).
I have several users set up. One user (A) starts a movie and it shows up on my server as streaming. Then another user (B) (logged on as a B) starts a movie and the server seems to confuse who is who and reports that both movies are being watched by a single user. (in actual fact, the first movie is interrupted and the first user (A) is now watching nothing. If user B stops his movie, user A’s movie sometimes resumes!
I can’t seem to figure out why this happens.
The Network is set up as DHCP and there are no address conflicts.

Any advice?

2

I have attached the debug log files as recommended on how to report an issue.
The situation was repeated after restart of the server. This is disheartening and a real problem so if anyone has any idea on how to handle this I would really appreciate it.
Thanks.

3

Thank you - not quite as recommended because the Reporting Issues support page does advise on restarting the server and then reproducing the problem

So I have server logs covering Jan 29, 2017 13:47:23 to 15:13:41 - 84112 lines of logs
Could you help me by telling me in this test to highlight the problem, which is user a and when and which is user b and when and what was showing as wrong and did you take a screenshot of the issue?

Before you repeat the test, could you first tidy up your servers and what is known to plex.tv

On your account I can see two servers with the same name and same IP address - one was created 8 days ago and the other 29 days ago. They were both seen by plex.tv as being live within the last 24 hours.
Both of these servers have users the libraries are shared with

So lets tidy up first before you do a controlled test and logs and screenshots and information on what was done when and by whom and what the outcome was

So go to settings / devices / servers and delete the server that should be obsolete - leaving only the current one

4

Thank you very much @sa2000,

I did not mention it but I had restarted the server before doing the test.
I have now removed the “extra” server which created itself when I restarted the server a few days ago trying to solve the issue.

In this test, User A is Sky Lounge. User B is Freewinds.

In the test, I started by playing music on Freewinds. Then I started a movie on Sky Lounge. There was no problem. Both items showed up in the NOW PLAYING window. I then stopped the song on Freewinds and started a movie on Freewinds. It showed up on the NOW PLAYING window as Sky Lounge having started the movie - screwing up the playback. I then quit the movie on Freewinds and the Sky Lounge movie resumed playing “normally”.

Do you still want me to run another test knowing the above data?

5

@Freewinds said:
Thank you very much @sa2000,

I did not mention it but I had restarted the server before doing the test.
I have now removed the “extra” server which created itself when I restarted the server a few days ago trying to solve the issue.

So you had launched Plex Media Server in different windows user accounts and you had the automatic start on login ticked presumably. You need to make sure that is unset for the obsolete instance - better still for that user account, ensure
registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\Plex Media Server is deleted
and also registry area HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server deleted - this is for the user account under which you do not want Plex Media Server to run anymore - leaving only the settings for the windows account you do want it to run under

@Freewinds said:
In this test, User A is Sky Lounge. User B is Freewinds.

In the test, I started by playing music on Freewinds. Then I started a movie on Sky Lounge. There was no problem. Both items showed up in the NOW PLAYING window. I then stopped the song on Freewinds and started a movie on Freewinds. It showed up on the NOW PLAYING window as Sky Lounge having started the movie - **** up the playback. I then quit the movie on Freewinds and the Sky Lounge movie resumed playing “normally”.

Do you still want me to run another test knowing the above data?

Thanks. I will have a look at the logs you provided.

So was this using one plex client / one session and signed in to the admin account Freewinds and using Plex Home user switching feature to switch accounts ? If it was Plex Web, was there only one web client browser tab running ?

6

Would actually want to see full screenshots of the issue and time it arises

Can you check my interpretation and correct / add any other info

B 10.2.3.151 Freewinds 15:16:36 Music 13172 completed 15:21:38
E:\New Music\Al Jarreau\Best Of\01 Compared To What.m4a

B 10.2.3.151 Freewinds 15:21:54 Music 13173 completed 15:21:38
E:\New Music\Al Jarreau\Best Of\02 Goodhands Tonight.m4a

A 10.2.3.154 Sky Lounge 15:28:07 Movie 106 Completed 15:28:43
E:\Movies\Kung Fu Panda.mkv

B 10.2.3.151 Freewinds 15:28:12 Music 13174 Completed 15:28:43
E:\New Music\Al Jarreau\Best Of\03 Agua De Beber.m4a

A 10.2.3.154 Sky Lounge 15:28:44 Movie 106 Completed 15:29:20
E:\Movies\Kung Fu Panda.mkv

OK at this point - both showed up in Now Playing

Stopped Freewinds music
started a movie on Freewinds

B 10.2.3.151 Freewinds 15:29:09 Movie 21 Completed 15:29:20
E:\Movies\BLACKSEA (2014).mkv

It showed up on the NOW PLAYING window as Sky Lounge having started the movie -
Then quit the movie on Freewinds and the Sky Lounge movie resumed playing “normally”.

Could you slot it what was wrong and where
And you Sky Lounge resumed - does this mean it actually paused when Freewinds started ? Cannot see any evidence of pausing

7

Are these two different Raspberry Pi’s ?

I am concerned that the device identifier is the same for both devices

IP Address 10.2.3.151

Jan 29, 2017 15:29:10.461 [3256] DEBUG - Request: [10.2.3.151:40022 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?containerKey=%2fplayQueues%2f27&duration=6865398&guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb%3a%2f%2ftt2261331%3flang%3den&key=%2flibrary%2fmetadata%2f22&playQueueVersion=1&ratingKey=22&state=playing&time=0 (14 live) TLS Signed-in Token (Freewinds)
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:10.461 [3256] DEBUG - Client [792b8740-9f5e-40e1-a424-e8a6c72c0f52] reporting timeline state playing, progress of 0/6865398ms for guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt2261331?lang=en, ratingKey=22 url=, key=/library/metadata/22, containerKey=/playQueues/27, metadataId=22
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:10.461 [3256] DEBUG - [Now] User is Freewinds (ID: 1)
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:10.461 [3256] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Plex Home Theater (RasPlex).
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:10.461 [3256] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is Raspberry PI

The Client Identifier is 792b8740-9f5e-40e1-a424-e8a6c72c0f52

and
IP Address 10.2.3.154

Jan 29, 2017 15:29:06.011 [3256] DEBUG - Request: [10.2.3.154:53274 (Subnet)] GET /:/timeline?containerKey=%2fplayQueues%2f26&duration=5423968&guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb%3a%2f%2ftt0441773%3flang%3den&key=%2flibrary%2fmetadata%2f107&playQueueVersion=1&ratingKey=107&state=playing&time=63263 (13 live) TLS Signed-in Token (Sky Lounge)
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:06.011 [3256] DEBUG - Client [792b8740-9f5e-40e1-a424-e8a6c72c0f52] reporting timeline state playing, progress of 63263/5423968ms for guid=com.plexapp.agents.imdb://tt0441773?lang=en, ratingKey=107 url=, key=/library/metadata/107, containerKey=/playQueues/26, metadataId=107
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:06.011 [3256] DEBUG - Play progress on 107 'Kung Fu Panda' - got played 63263 ms by account 11944666!
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:06.011 [3256] DEBUG - [Now] User is Sky Lounge (ID: 11944666)
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:06.011 [3256] DEBUG - [Now] Device is Plex Home Theater (RasPlex).
Jan 29, 2017 15:29:06.027 [3256] DEBUG - [Now] Profile is Raspberry PI

The Client Identifier is 792b8740-9f5e-40e1-a424-e8a6c72c0f52

These look the same
Device with User B - The Client Identifier is 792b8740-9f5e-40e1-a424-e8a6c72c0f52
Device with User A - The Client Identifier is 792b8740-9f5e-40e1-a424-e8a6c72c0f52

Can you test all this using other players / other devices

8

I’m going to answer the last query first as this might be all that’s wrong.
Yes, these are 2 different PIs but I created them using cloning. Ie. I configured one and then cloned the SD card.
I am not sure how the Client Identifier is created (and didn’t know about its existence).
How do I create a “new” device and make sure the client identifier is not the same?
I’ll test with a windows Home Theater device and report too.

9

Moving to the rasplex forum

10

@Freewinds said:
I’m going to answer the last query first as this might be all that’s wrong.
Yes, these are 2 different PIs but I created them using cloning. Ie. I configured one and then cloned the SD card.
I am not sure how the Client Identifier is created (and didn’t know about its existence).
How do I create a “new” device and make sure the client identifier is not the same?
I’ll test with a windows Home Theater device and report too.

Made the same mistake once myself. That’s exactly the problem. You’re going to have to setup OpenPHT/Rasplex individually for each device.

11

So whats the best way to reset the ID without having to reflash rasplex?

12

Is this similar to the problem I discovered with my rpi2’s?

13

@CaptainFred said:
Is this similar to the problem I discovered with my rpi2’s?

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/249390/playback-stopping-breakup-when-two-local-rasplex-devices-are-playing-any-videos-at-the-same-time

Did you clone the rPi’s?

14

@videotecaCNSU said:
So whats the best way to reset the ID without having to reflash rasplex?

That’s a good question. I haven’t attempted it. I’ve just reflashed the rPi and kept a cloned copy of each one. But I suspect if you erase the UUID settings, you’ll be forced to log back in and receive a new one.