Plex 1.42 update installs on Ubuntu Linux but does not activate

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#:1.42.1.10060
Player Version#:
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>I had server 1.41 running but received notice to upgrade to 1.42 due to security issue. Downloaded from Plex site and installed. Received notification that install was successful but media server was not active. Manual attempts to activate repeatedly have failed. I have purged, re-downloaded, and reinstalled several times with no success. Any suggestions?

2

Please clarify the meaning of “does not activate” ?

  1. PMS processes do not start (the service doesn’t run)

  2. The server is not accessible via the Plex/web client

Please make a tar.gz of the “Logs” directory and attach it here.

3

Systemctl status plexmediaserver returns “failed” even though the installation process was successful. The full report is:

plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2025-08-23 05:53:01 EDT; 6h ago
Process: 1877 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d “${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}” || /bin/mkdir -p >
Process: 1879 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_VENDOR="$(grep ^NAME= /etc/os-release | awk -F= "{pri>
Main PID: 1879 (code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION)
CPU: 159ms

Aug 23 05:53:01 carl-Inspiron-3656 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 3.
Aug 23 05:53:01 carl-Inspiron-3656 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server.
Aug 23 05:53:01 carl-Inspiron-3656 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Aug 23 05:53:01 carl-Inspiron-3656 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Aug 23 05:53:01 carl-Inspiron-3656 systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server.

A tar.gz of the log files is attached.

plexlogs.tar.gz (88.4 KB)

Carl

4

There is something holding on to port 32400

ps -ef | grep -i plex then kill it and restart the service

3, 2025 05:52:56.169 [130372912270136] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.42.1.10060-4e8b05daf - Ubuntu Dell Inc. 0593VH x86_64 - build: linux-x86_64 debian - GMT -04:00
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.170 [130372912270136] INFO - Linux version: 22.04.5 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), language: en-US
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.170 [130372912270136] INFO - Processor: 4-core AMD FX-8800P Radeon R7, 12 Compute Cores 4C+8G
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.170 [130372912270136] INFO - Compiler is - Clang 11.0.1 (https://plex.tv 9b997da8e5b47bdb4a9425b3a3b290be393b4b1f)
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.170 [130372912270136] INFO - /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.169 [130373002570384] DEBUG - BPQ: [Idle] -> [Starting]
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.170 [130373002570384] DEBUG - FeatureManager: Using cached data for features list
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.175 [130373002570384] DEBUG - MyPlex: mapping state set to 'Unknown'.
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.175 [130373002570384] DEBUG - Relay: read 0 cached entries from hosts file
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.175 [130373002570384] DEBUG - Opening 20 database sessions to library (com.plexapp.plugins.library), SQLite 3.39.4, threadsafe=1
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.177 [130373002570384] INFO - SQLITE3:0x80000001, 283, recovered 863 frames from WAL file /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-wal
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.225 [130373002570384] DEBUG - MyPlex: no cached data to load for request for https://plex.tv/api/v2/server/users/features
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.252 [130373002570384] DEBUG - HttpServer: Listening on IPv6 as well as IPv4.
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.252 [130373002570384] ERROR - HttpServer: Error binding acceptor: Address in use
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.252 [130373002570384] ERROR - HttpServer: Error opening acceptor on IPv6, falling back to IPv4: Address in use
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.252 [130373002570384] ERROR - HttpServer: Error binding acceptor: Address in use
Aug 23, 2025 05:52:56.252 [130373002570384] DEBUG - Exiting due to bind address already in use
5

Thank you for trying to help - I am a noobie with linux.

I have attached what was returned by your suggested command. Not sure how to interpret it. I also ran netstat -ltup and 32400 show up as 1508/./Plex Media Server and 324xx showed up several times, all associated with PID 1508/Plex Media Server). Might this be residue from a failed start attempt? What is the best way to configure the kill command for this?

$ ps -ef | grep -1 plex

root 1307 1 0 05:52 ? 00:00:00 /bin/sh /snap/cups/1100/scripts/run-cupsd
root 1308 1 0 05:52 ? 00:00:00 /bin/bash /snap/plexmediaserver/500/wrapper.sh
root 1311 1 0 05:52 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/python3 /usr/share/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrade-shutdown --wait-for-signal

colord 1453 1 0 05:52 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/colord

root 1507 1308 0 05:52 ? 00:00:00 /bin/bash /snap/plexmediaserver/500/wrapper.sh
root 1508 1507 0 05:52 ? 00:01:13 ./Plex Media Server

rtkit 1646 1 0 05:52 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/rtkit-daemon

root 1696 1508 0 05:52 ? 00:00:40 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /snap/plexmediaserver/500/Resources/Plug-ins-4e8b05daf/Framework.bundle/Contents/Resources/Versions/2/Python/bootstrap.py --server-version 1.42.1.10060-4e8b05daf /snap/plexmediaserver/500/Resources/Plug-ins-4e8b05daf/System.bundle
root 1801 1508 0 05:52 ? 00:00:56 /snap/plexmediaserver/500/Plex Tuner Service /snap/plexmediaserver/500/Resources/Tuner/Private /snap/plexmediaserver/500/Resources/Tuner/Shared 1.42.1.10060-4e8b05daf 32600
root 1903 1 0 05:52 ? 00:00:00 /usr/libexec/upowerd

carl 7563 4873 0 14:34 pts/0 00:00:00 ps -ef
carl 7564 4873 0 14:34 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -1 plex

6

Thank you.. that’s a huge amount of info.

  1. you installed (accidentally?) the SNAP package (most of us prefer the native package to get all the features and non of the sandboxing which SNAP does

  2. To see what’s happening sudo snap list

  3. If you want to switch from SNAP to native,
    sudo snap remove --purge plexmediaserver
    Now you can continue with the native package.

The rest of the snap commands are listed in man snap

I suspect you somehow got the packages crossed.

If you’re looking for the native package:

  1. sudo snap remove --purge plexmediaserver (remove the package)
  2. Download the DEB file from https://plex.tv/downloads
  3. sudo dpkg -i /path/to/plexmediaserver-version.deb

Now you will get the native package and systemctl will show you what you’re looking for and allow you the control.

7

Thank you very much - that did it.

Explanation - After having done several updates manually, I added Plex Media Server to the Snap catalog on my server when I installed 1.41 in the (mistaken, apparently) belief that it would simplify updates. Obviously, it did not. I have now removed it from the catalog. That allowed me to restart the media server using the manual installation I had done after the Snap update failed. I had to redo the library setup as the previous one was wiped out when I purged files - a small price for having it working again.

Again, thank you for stepping in to help.