New Mac Plex Media Server update won't launch

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.40.3.8555

The latest update to Plex Media Server doesn’t launch in Mac OS Ventura 13.6.7 (Intel). I have been using Plex for many years. I did try to download a clean copy from Plex.tv with the same results. Is it possible to download the previous version?

Thanks

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I was able to download and install the previous update (1.40.2.8395-c67dce28e) and it works again. I would appreciate a fix for this though. I like to keep up to date.

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The same problem exists with version 1.40.4.8598-71044f963. Am I just stuck with the old update?

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If there’s no hint on why it’s failing to launch in your server logs, you could try the following procedure to identify what’s wrong with the setup:

  1. Open Finder and navigate to /Applications
  2. Select Show Content from the context menu of the Plex Media Server.app item
  3. Navigate to Contents/MacOS
  4. Open the Terminal app
  5. Drag the Plex Media Server executable from the Finder window (#3) into the Terminal Window and press Return to execute it

This is no different from running the app, so it won’t succeed – but you should get a more specific error message about what’s causing it to fail starting.

1 Like
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Two things:

  1. Post your server logs from a failed startup attempt. You can find them in ~/Library/Logs/Plex Media Server. Plex zip and attach the whole set of logs.
  2. Run “/Applications/Plex Media Server.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex Media Server” directly from a terminal and have a look at the output (and/or post it here). It may provide some clues as to why it’s failing to start.

[Edit]
Oops, crossed posts with @tom80H . Their way is probably easier.

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This is the update log:
update-log.txt (200.9 KB)

This is the result from attempting to launch version 1.40.4:

tony@Server ~ % /Applications/Plex\ Media\ Server.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex\ Media\ Server

Error: Unable to set up server: sqlite3_statement_backend::loadOne: database disk image is malformed (N4soci10soci_errorE)

Launching version 1.40.2 from terminal results in:

tony@Server ~ % /Applications/Plex\ Media\ Server.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex\ Media\ Server
Error: Unable to set up server: sqlite3_statement_backend::loadOne: database disk image is malformed (N4soci10soci_errorE)
tony@Server ~ % /Applications/Plex\ Media\ Server.app/Contents/MacOS/Plex\ Media\ Server
Error starting framework core for /Users/tony/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/PlexTools.bundle.

And the server launches normally,

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It’s possible that the database corruption is only exposed by the new version. I’d suggest backing up your current databases (com.plexapp.plugins.library.db and com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db) and running @ChuckPa’s excellent DBRepair.sh tool to check for and repair damage to your database (this is Chuck’s own project, but he’s a Plex team member):

You can just download it to your Downloads folder, make sure Plex isn’t running, run the script, and choose the automatic option. Read the GitHub page for full options/directions.

1 Like
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Thank you! It appears that the 10.40.3 update had damaged my database. Replacing it from the backup fixed it and allowed me to run 10.40.4.

Thanks again!

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You’re welcome, glad you got it working!

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