I’ve installed the PLEX media server on my Windows PC. All of my media is stored on a local network NAS. When I try to browse for my media folders, PLEX doesn’t seem to be able to see my network, only my Windows PC.
Do I have to first map a network folder from my NAS on my PC? If yes, what are the actual steps to do this? Can I just map a root folder from the NAS to get access to subfolders Music, Movies, etc?
If this isn’t the method, can I type in a Network path or IP address of the NAS? What is the format for that?
Keep in mind, if you go the UNC route, that if you ever have to replace the file server/NAS, you will have to give the replacement the exact same host name and file share names. Otherwise you would need a rescan of the library, which could lose you some of the metadata – particularly those on personal (i.e. non-commercially available) media.
One more question. It looks as if the Windows PMS is always running, even after restarting the computer. I guess I don’t have to do anything else, such as making the PMS run as a service?
That’s activated by default. You can control it using the task tray icon.
That depends. If you are always logging in on the computer (and you don’t have more than one Windows user account on it), and the computer is not “headless”, then you probably don’t need to run as a service.
Running as a service is non-default. But is possible.
This tool is kinda endorsed, though it is made by a user: PMS as a service
But you can also “roll your own” (e.g. by using NSSM), but that is not as convenient.
