NAS WD pr2100 opens Plex Media Server app but upon log in plex sees it as a MEDIA PLAYER INSTEAD

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#: 1.24 (now after update)
Player Version#:
New to the forums, so I’m sure I’ll be inadvertently leaving out some info, so pls if anything I can provide is needed to better help me pls let me know what it is and how to obtain and provide it for you.

In a nut shell I’ve been enjoying my plex media server on my WD PR2100 with minimal issues since Feb. 2021. I have been managing the NAS and the Plex MEDIA SERVER (at the time was up to v1.22, i only just last night updated it to 1.24 in troubleshooting) using my macbook pro on Mojave… again, pretty much no problems…

And this next part I list only because it’s the only change that seems to coincide with when this problem started…so it COULD be relevant, but might not be, I don’t know, but I just want to provide all the info in hopes it helps someone figure out what happened.

But I bought an additional new computer (raspberry pi 4) and I was curious about accessing my NAS file folders which i was able to do no problem. Then I also tried to open up the NAS controller (that manages the pr2100’s settings and config) on the rasbpberry pi and here’s where I suspect the problem started, but again, you tell me…

I then opened up Apps to go to plex and hit Configure for the Plex MEDIA SERVER on the pr2100 so I could access the media server as well from the new raspberry pi 4. And that, seemingly, was the first sign of a problem.

When I logged into with my credentials on the now opened plex page to access the plex media server, SUDDENLY Plex was ONLY showing its own online content and none of my pinned library directories where showing at all

I thought well I probably just need to go down to “More” or to “My Media” to pull it up as is the case sometimes on my PS4 (which is mainly how I watch the Media Server files), but when I did that , a plex page opened that said

GET PLEX MEDIA SERVER…???

And mind you, this is coming from just opening up the Plex Media Server (v1.22 at the initial time) on the new computer, interfacing through the NAS interface where the Plex Media Server has been installed all this time

I had not otherwise tried to view anything on plex through any other platform that day before this, so I have no idea if the problem started earlier in the day somehow for some other reason, but it certainly seems that trying to access the SERVER via the new computer somehow created a problem…

So at that point, still unaware of the fact that the server was no longer functioning on any platform, I looked up rasplex, assuming the issue was just isolated to my raspberry pi 4 and started following all sorts of directions on altering the RPi4 to work with rasplex (the mpv-build folder set up, etc)…but as I understand it those changes are all strictly to the raspberry pi, and none of that should have or would have impacted the actual plex media server or the WDPR2100 whatsoever… So again I mention only as potentially relevant facts to this whole issue.

Shortly after that , I now became aware that now my PS 4 won’t access any of MY MEDIA, just the online content.

And more disturbingly, and when the panic really started to set in, when I tried to access the SERVER from the PR2100 NAS via my macbook pro i NORMALLY configure it on thinking the server needed to be reset or logged into on the device I normally do that stuff on…and now it too was the exact same way as it was on the RPi4. - not listing any of my media and when clicking on my media getting the “GET PLEX MEDIA SERVER” message…

So I started to do basic troubleshooting

I first unmounted/ejected the NAS library file directories i had accessed on the RPi4 in case accessing from a second device was the problem and tried again to access via the normal method through my macbook pro, accessing the wdpr2100 and configuring the media SERVER, but still,

NO CHANGE.

I uninstalled plex from the pr2100 and reinstalled it and updated to the latest WDPR2100 package from plex’s download page as linked from the GET PLEX MEDIA SERVER message…v1.24 for wdpr2100 OS3

NO CHANGE

The last thing I was trying, but am having to wait until tonight to see if it helped, was I was going to change the DHCP RESERVED IP address I’d been using for the media Server, just in case, I don’t know, but I figured was worth a try. But because I couldn’t force dhcp renewal from either my router nor from the NAS, I’m having to wait for the that lease to renew by tonight and try accessing it again… BUT for now,

still NO CHANGE…

My uneducated suspicion based on my limited knowledge of networking and stuff is that this could be a problem with the WDPR2100 somehow opening the media server in a way that plex doesn’t recognize it as a SERVER upon log in, but instead as a PLAYER/CLIENT ONLY since it keeps telling me to get the plex media server, despite having done exactly that and still getting the same get the plex media server message and link to download the latest version, which was done. And how I would fix that is beyond me…

I don’t know…

Bottom line, though, I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FIX THIS. So I’m reaching out to Western digital (created a support ticket yesterday) and I wanted to do the same thing here, but seems there is only community support (strange considering there is a PAID subscription service option for Plex…so one would think Plex would also provide direct technical support, but apparently not).

So I’m hoping someone understands what happened and how I can fix it and if the problem lies with PLEX proper or with the WDPR2100… my bet is the pr2100…but in either case my EXPENSIVE plex media server NAS has essentially been rendered useless as far as my own personal Media Library is concerned. Plex’s online media is all fine and good…it’s just my own media…

Any pertinent help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

2

I’m not 100% sure I fully get your issue – that’s a lot of text :wink:

Accessing your PMS from a different device does not reset it or lose your media. What you describe implies that you’re accessing the server as a different (Plex) user. Another user isn’t able to manage or access your server – all they will see is a “naked” version of the Plex web app w/ access to the online media.

Please try the following:

  1. Open http://[IP of your WD PR2100]:32400/web in your browser
  2. Open Settings
  3. Check if you can see the server settings or if you only see your account / Plex Web settings

If you have different Plex accounts you might want to sign out and login with the account that owns the server.

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Hi there.

First, I do apologize for the lengthy post, but i really felt more was better than less and then all the back and forth answering questions i could just have covered up front including what i think happened when it happened, what i did to troubleshoot etc…so I am sorry, but ultimately it seemed the more effective way.

2nd - I have only one log in account, to my recollection. And to corroborate that (I feel), as mentioned in the post, I always watch plex using my PS4, which since I have auto sign in enabled, I only had to sign into it once months ago and when whatever happened happened, suddenly, that same sign in that always worked and that was still logged on, suddenly stopped working as far as pulling up my own specific media. Similarly on my macbook pro, i had the login and password for plex.tv saved in my safari passwords autofill, and when i opened it, it is the login and password that i used on the raspberry pi and that still results in the problem of not seeing my media library.

So my initial gut is to rule out the multiple accounts with diff logins idea as a cause, based on those 2 things.

However, digging through my notes, there is a note saying that under the same account email, that there is a different password… I’m thinking it’s just an old outdated note though, since I don’t know how they’d have/allow the same account with 2 different log in passwords. BUT for ■■■■■ and giggles I will try to log in using that other password when I get home.

I thank you for your input and will come back to report if that helped or not.

Just curious though…if that isn’t the problem… do you have any other ideas to consider and for me to check out? Do you not think that logging into a new device (the raspberry pi) and accessing the server interface on the pr2100 through the raspberry pi might have created some log in conflict with plex’s log in servers? I feel like it’s something along those lines, if not actually the pr2100 that is the problem.

4

and in direct response to your instruction set…if you mean to see my log in account via the server interface through the wdpr2100, then if memory serves correctly, it was the same log in and the password of course was obscured…but the login email was still the same… I will go back and look again when home though.

There is no idea I’m unwilling to try… I NEED to get this back up and running. Was a very expensive investment to be ruined like it is now to not try anything and everything I can.

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And then there is the other thing, that I’m not sure if you took into account, so just to clarify and ask… the issue of trying to open the My media or More on what is supposedly the server (installed on the wd9r2100), is that the plex window that opens actually says “GET PLEX MEDIA SERVER”… so it’s as if plex isn’t recognizing v1.24 for wdpr2100 os3 plex media server as an actual server, but rather as a player/client only.

Does that specific symptom ring any bells?

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It’s the exact symptom for the issue I had described above.
If Plex thinks you’re not the owner of the server or you got yourself locked out, it’ll give you a “naked” web app but none of the server’s “local” capabilities (e.g. none of your libraries, media or server config).

As for being locked out… if you indeed got yourself locked out:

I’m not exactly sure if/how you can access the preferences.xml file on a WD PR2100. On other NAS platforms you can SSH on the device to access its internal file system and access those paths

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How can i get a plex employee to look at my issue to see if they can help? so far no success in finding a solution to my problem in forums. I recently posted this issue…and can’t seem to find others that are exactly like it… so any help would be appreciated.

Here is my post, in case you or another plex employee can take a look and see if it’s something they might be able to assist with.

This would be amazing and greatly appreciated…

8

so in reading the links you included, i saw this…

Tip! : If you’re opening the web app this initial time on a device other than the one running the Plex Media Server, you need to take extra steps. See the information in our installation article for Plex Media Server.

And that sounds like EXACTLY when things went wrong…so I’m fairly convinced now that was the issue and that your links will be hopefully the solution.

I’m not sure about accessing the server data on the pr2100, but i actually just learned how to use SSH to access stuff on my network yesterday also, as an exercise for remoting into my raspberry pi…so i will give that a shot. FINGERS CROSSED!

Thanks again. I’ll report back.

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No, that refers to something else.
If you setup your server without linking it to your Plex account, you won’t be able to access it through another Plex app. That includes regular clients (e.g. for mobile devices, streaming boxes or smart TVs) as well as the Plex web app hosted by Plex (https://app.plex.tv/desktop). If you access your server through it’s local IP, you’ll be connected right to it – so no impact by “not having claimed your server” (though from what you had described, your server is linked to your account – or an account)

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And i think I’m a bit lost when you say “claiming the server”. I typically use the ip address to access the wdpr2100…and not sure how to link (or if I might have already linked) the account to the server…where would I check that?

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That’s pretty much the check from my 1st response.
Access the server through its IP and open Settings… do you see only the account and Plex Web section or also other settings linked to your server’s name?

Example:

Bildschirmfoto 2021-10-15 um 01.26.14

  • :orange_square: orange box → account settings
  • :purple_square: pink box → Plex Web settings
  • :green_square: green box → server settings (where Panoptikum is the name of my server – if you see that section, the section header will be the name of your server)
    • :blue_square: blue box (Settings > [Server Name] > General) → if your server is linked to your Plex account, you’ll see your account photo/logo, a label stating that the server is signed into your account and a button giving you the option to sign out. if your server isn’t linked, this will show you an option to sign the server into your account.
      Bildschirmfoto 2021-10-15 um 01.30.12

If you don’t see the server settings that means you’re currently signed in with a different account than the one that’s linked to your server (=“you’re locked out”). That’s when the procedure to regain control when being locked out comes into the game.

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Screen Shot 2021-10-14 at 6.53.54 PM
Screen Shot 2021-10-14 at 6.53.54 PM961×520 59.7 KB

yeah this is all i see…

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So managed to connect via SSH and managed to get to the ENCLOSING FOLDER that holds the Plex Media Server folder which in theory should hold the preferences.xml file, but I can’t seem to get into that particular folder.

I can only get as far deep as its parent directory. And I’m not sure what this means, but where all the other directories are devoid of spaces, with all characters connected with underscore or hyphens…but as you can see in the pic below, the Plex Media Server is just as you see it…and when iItry to change directory to it, it only reads change directory to “plex” and doesn’t recognize the whole Plex Media Server directory name…

I feel like I’m so close but am still very green at unix/linux commands, but I was able to get as far as i did using the same cd command with no problem, so not sure why i can’t get into the media server folder…go figure…

Taking a look at the shot I included, can you see anything that might be an issue…

Screen Shot 2021-10-14 at 8.16.24 PM
Screen Shot 2021-10-14 at 8.16.24 PM836×598 190 KB

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Screen Shot 2021-10-14 at 8.59.05 PM
Screen Shot 2021-10-14 at 8.59.05 PM1252×370 125 KB

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As mentioned in the docs, stop Plex Media Server before editing the preferences.xml file.

Make a backup:
cp preferences.xml preferences.xml.bak

If cp does not work, try copy.

No idea what text editor is installed on WD NAS.

Instead of open, try edit or vi (visual editor). In vi, :w is write to disk, aka save, and :q is quit.

After editing preferences.xml, restart Plex Media Server.

If all else fails, after making a backup, you can delete preferences.xml (rm preferences.xml). That is like starting over. You’ll have to recreate your libraries, re-share with any friends, etc.

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16

Linux based platforms require some special attention when it comes to spaces in your file names. You can notice that the feedback to your cd commands is always cutting some part of the file/directory path away (from the OS point of view, the space indicates the start of another parameter/option to the command)

To fix that you have 2 options:

  1. quoting: put the path in quotes so the command knows that it’s a single parameter (I’m typing this example on my mobile so the quotes are probably replaced by some non-standard quote character → best not copy&paste that one)
    cd “/mnt/HD/HD_a2/plex_conf/Plex Media Server/“

  2. escaping: putting a \ before each space character will achieve the same (the backslash indicates that the next character is part of the string and doesn’t have its usual meaning; here: not the usual separator)
    cd /mnt/HD/HD_a2/plex_conf/Plex\ Media\ Server/

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Ok cool that was going to be one of my other questions. Thanks for that. One follow up question tho….do IMO run the co or copy command from within the Plex media server folder? And if so where does it put that back up copy? and if it puts it in the same folder is that a potential issue? Do I need to put it somewhere else to avoid some conflict? I feel like I saw mention of that somewhere that the back up file copy can confuse Plex or something like that…

Thanks for ur help btw!!! Much appreciated!!!

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Ok that’s awesome. Thanks for thw help with that I was breaking my brain over the spaces…. Getting ready for work so won’t have a chance to try this agin until Im back home tonight.
Fingers crossed…I feel like I’m at the home stretch here…

Thanks for all ur help! Couldn’t have done it without you guys! And maybe I’m jumping the gun since it’s bot fixed yet, but all the same I appreciate the efforts greatly!!!

And there is one other question tht popped up…. Semi unrelated… but I had been accessing this forum from work no problem… but when I came home and tried to access from my Mac using safari the login page would bring me to app.Plex.auth instead and would say safari can’t open this page or something to that effect. So I tried chrome and no problem. Any ideas why that is? Is this a chrome only forum or something?

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I’m currently using the forum (and Plex Web) with Safari without such an issue.
While I usually love the experience, I have to admit that Apple makes it a habit of adding some minor/major glitches to their major updates (here: Safari 15.0) that should get fixed with their subsequent updates.
:crossed_fingers:

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20

Hey there,

Sorry to ask but i just re-read this and suddenly i’m confused a little by your last statements.

After making a back up, you can delete preferences… And then you say I’ll have to recreate my libraries, etc…

So what I’m not quite grasping is, isn’t the purpose of making the back up to save the library set up etc? Or at least part of the purpose in backing up?

And if not then what exactly am I backing up that is worth saving if i have to just start from scratch presumably with a new preferences file being created after having deleted the original?

Thanks again for all your help. Wanting to make sure i’m properly understanding all the input so i don’t inadvertently screw things up worse, lol :slight_smile: