As mentioned all over support, problems with Plex Media Server recognizing or accessing files. Everyone has said permissions need to be changed to allow Plex to use files after the server software upgrade, but after reviewing all permissions on this single USB drive, this problem persists:
Windows 7 Sp1, Plex Media Server, USB terabyte drive
Plex “sees” the drive, but the video files all show “unavailable” when individually accessed.
After reviewing permissions while in Admin mode, Plex Media Server worked just fine. I switched over to Standard User mode and tried to open PMS ---- individual video files were listed as “unavailable.”
Switching to Admin mode, PMS showed all video files as “unavailable” once again. Don’t understand the change of access after switching modes.
As a test, I moved a video file to another USB drive and mapped it in PMS. Access was perfect, but I don’t have a large enough drive to transfer all files and to work on the anomaly I’m facing later. Just trying to get PMS to work…
Perhaps this is super neophyte stuff, but I’m scratching my head.
Advice would be terrific and appreciated.
What you have read about access permissions in a new Plex version was probably intended for Synology NAS users. i.e. not applicable to Windows.
Never, ever start Plex server “As Administrator”.
It can cause parts of your Plex data folder to get unmodifiable when back in regular mode.
With external drives in Windows, it is a very common fallacy to not notice when they switch their drive letter.
Compare the current drive letter of your external drive
with what Plex thinks where the video file is stored
(look at the Plex media info )
If you see a discrepancy here, change the drive’s assigned letter back to what is in Plex’s database.
Otto- thank you for the prompt response. I will check the drive lettering.
One question- PMS is set up to load when Windows loads, so switching to Admin I find the software loaded. Is there a way to toggle PMS not to load in Admin, or should I simply load it manually all the time?
Bing, Bam, Boom, its fixed. The Admin mode anomalies are corrected and PMS is never to be opened in Admin mode again.
PMS did indeed have library trouble and it was a drive lettering error.
