Playback error: An error occurred loading items to play

Plex Media Server
1

Hi! I recently have starting having an issue on PLEX where no media is played, regardless of type, age, or platform.

I simply get a “Playback error: An error occurred loading items to play.” error on Windows / “Error Occurred: Failed to fetch play queue response” on iOS

I’m on Unraid using plexinc/pms-docker to host PLEX.

I have tried:

  • Repairing database
  • Rolling back database
  • Downgrading PLEX
  • Downgrading Unraid

all to no avail - and nothing shows up on logs that I can find either - would appreciate any help; thank you!

Plex Media Server Logs_2025-05-16_01-14-00.zip (5.4 MB)
Server Version#: 1.41.6.9685
Player Version#:
Windows: 1.109.0.329-ea562b95
iOS: 2025.15.0 (1053)

2

I’ve just started getting this too. ‘failed to fetch play queue response’

3

Same here and i havent figired out how to fix it

4

Same.. multiple apps on different os’s all have same issue

When I use jellyfin with the same repository it works fine

5

Same here. DB recovery didn’t work, but DB Restore from backup of 5/12 did. Then I just rescanned the libraries and plextractsync’d it all up again.

6

@thechad6 Did you restore only the DB or the whole config folder?

I tried db restore twice, did not work unfortunately

7

As a workaround, Infuse works fine, both to download and stream

This is however still occurring for me, and the lack of a response from anyone from PLEX is annoying considering the fact (1) I pay for a service that currently doesn’t work (2) this is the only way to report a problem to them

8

Same issue for me. no resolution so far.

9

Same issue here

10

I’m working with one of the team on another thread to try and resolve it - Playback error on every platform - #42 by ChuckPa

11

Have also been getting the same error with both music and video media for the past few days. Server is running on MacOS X, Plex Server version 1.41.7.9823

12

Just the DB.

13

I’m having the same issue on browsers, plex for windows.
Android seems to play items however. I’ve documented here:

14

Same issue here, the only thing I can think of is that I updated plex yesterday to 4.147.1 (running in a unraid docker). Playback works in Plex App from windows store. But not from the browser, android or LG TV Plex App :face_with_spiral_eyes:

1 Like
15

Scratch that, now I can no longer play the files via the Windows store app.

16

Yep this has been a frequent issue now. Plex server up to date on Synology, and have the same issue regardless of whether I’m playing on Xbox app or Roku.

17

Considering the silence from PLEX on the issue, and the responses on the other thread - I doubt they plan to resolve the issue anytime soon.

I was told to just make a new instance - I did; and it functions fine. I’m guessing there’s some bug somewhere that might eventually get discovered, otherwise we’re SOL

1 Like
18

I seem to be having the issue you’ve described on a Ubuntu install. For the first few weeks of having the issue, rolling back my database worked for a few hours at a time, but it would just break again. Now rolling back the database doesn’t even fix it. Looking at my logs, it looks like a codec issue, but I’ve removed the codecs directory in the plex install and still no bueno.

When you nuked your install and rebuilt it, were all your users still there or did you have to re-add everyone?

19

No - everything was reset. The only thing that remains is users’ watch history (if they have the option set to do so) from PLEX servers

Everything else is lost - users, permissions, play history and status, etc…

20

It’s been a while since I’ve had “proper” issues like this, does this process effectively create a new server that everyone has to navigate to again in their apps? And it has to re-match all your media?

I don’t want to do all this, scrolling through everything to fix the wrong matches only to have users get confused between the old server they always used and the new one that works. If it’s going to be that much work I’m just going to leave it until Plex fixes the problem. For some reason my SHIELD still works (albeit it’s not tracking watch history properly, and I have to manually go to the next episode).