Plex Files Unavailable but they’re not missing

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.41.0.8992-8463ad060

Having a very unusual situation that I hope someone can shed light on.

Updated to MacOS 15. I know. I know. Wait. But I ran a test on another machine to make sure everything worked. And it did. So I updated my main Plex Mac. For a few hours all was fine.

Then…

On my TV Shows library (which is on two Synology NAS devices) it sporadically stopped updating new files and said some files were unavailable but I could still play them. And when I clicked to see if the file was missing, it was still there. Remote users couldn’t access those files.

I also have a Movies library (which is on five Synology NAS devices) and that’s working as it had been. No issues.

It’s just the TV Shows library.

I can play everything internally. I use Infuse for playback and that plays everything that says Unavailable too.

I did remove the shares and re-add them. Some re-appeared. Then I began to try everything I could to jumpstart the rest from finding the Unavailable files that were clearly available. One time I got it so it cleared everything. And the next update it reverted back to showing those same files Unavailable even tho I could still internally play the files, remote users still can’t.

Some scan updates find the files and the next time they lose them again.

I don’t think the library is corrupt or they wouldn’t play. And I’m afraid to remove the missing files since it’s A LOT. Like tens of thousands. The rebuild would take months. It would be easier to revert back to MacOS 14.

I’m stumped. Any suggestions would be welcome.

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I need a Plex employee. This is a Plex issue. I’ve removed specific letters. Run a scan, the files show unavailable and then the file shows Unavailable in the Get Info screen. I add the files back and they’re found. Unavailable goes away, the files play. I run a scan again, and once again it shows the trashcan with Unavailable, but the file is present in the Get Info screen. I’m able to play those files thru the Plex Desktop app or a remote computer and thru Infuse on all their apps. It won’t play on iPhones, iPad or Apple TV’s and those files are not accessible to my remote users.

FYI: I will not post logs on a public forum page.

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Another possibility is if for some reason the scanner detects a different version of the same item but the original scanned version is missing. This would cause PMS to indicate the item as “unavailable” but the item would be playable.

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Playback is consistent. And I actually went about the process to fix that multiple times. Removing a TV show folder, doing a scan, so it’s both Unavailable with the trashcan on the main page, and Unavailable in the Get Info page. Then adding the folder back. BOTH Unavailable tags go away. I can play them everywhere. I do another scan and the file remains available and the trashcan reappears saying Unavailable. And it’s no longer playable. I have repeated this process multiple times. Even removing the share and adding it back. That tends to pick up some of the missing files and on the next scan they become Unavailable again.

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I have the same issue, and it’s only presenting itself since upgrading to macOS 15. I restored my Plex database from a version from a few days prior, and all of my items returned, were playable, but after my library scans, roughly 2/3 of my entire library is deleted.

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Thank you for that. It confirms there’s a compatibility bug with Plex and MacOS 15, which I suspected. I do wonder what’s causing this… and given the size of my library, I’m hesitant to risk losing anything.

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I’m having the same. Tried clearing cache, reinstalling, tinkering with permissions, nothing works. I don’t have access to 2/3 of my library

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What’s odd for me, it’s only my TV Shows library. My Movies library works perfectly and was unaffected.

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Same. For me, my TV Shows and 4K library are untouched … just my main movie folder? Definitely a macOS or Plex update bug here.

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I know Apple changed a lot of permissions, but this is inconsistent with those changes. And Infuse picks up everything, so it’s a Plex thing.

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Without logs its difficult (near impossible) to troubleshoot. The primary reason that plex marks things unavailable is either the network connection to that drive was down, the drive itself was spun down, and took too long to spin back up and start providing access, or it is a permissions issue.

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I thought of all of that, spent three days troubleshooting, and it’s none of those. Plus, others are reporting the same problem since upgrading to MacOS 15. This is going to require a staff member to request logs and send them to the development team.

PSA: Until Plex figures this out and releases a firmware update to fix this, be sure to UNCHECK “Empty trash automatically after every scan” in the Plex Settings under Library.

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Says who? most of these can be solved by people who know how to read logs. the number of times I’ve seen these sent to devs is less than 1%. If you would like PM me the server logs and I can take a look.

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I really appreciate the offer. The only success I’ve had in situations like this are thru a staff member who can directly deal with the development team.

It’s part of the problem with using forums to troubleshoot software problems. This is great for those who need guidance in something they’re missing or not understanding. But I’m well versed in all of this and the logs aren’t showing anything I recognize. The devs need to dig into their code, which none of us have access to.

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Thats kinda the point of having someone else look at the logs. If you are unwilling to let others help you, not sure what we can do for you.

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It’s not something you can help with. As I said it’s something a staff member needs to send to the dev team.

If it was only me experiencing this then I would scour the logs deeper. But since others are experiencing this, it’s not a settings issue of any kind, it’s a Plex issue.

But truly, thank you for offering your time.

There are at least two others here who have confirmed the same problem. See if they’re willing to have you look at their logs.

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@zachperry1 Thanks for the logs, looks like you are dealing with a cert issue:

Sep 18, 2024 17:53:32.835 [0x308087000] DEBUG - [HttpClient/HCl#31] HTTP/1.1 (0.2s) 422 response from POST https://plex.tv/servers.xml?auth_token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (reused)
Sep 18, 2024 20:09:42.446 [0x16b4ef000] WARN - [CERT] TLS connection from [::ffff:192.168.141.1]:58275 came in with unrecognized plex.direct SNI name '<censored>.plex.direct'; using installed plex.direct cert
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There may be a certificate warning but I am significantly skeptical that it’s related to this thread’s issue of disappearing items.

For me, it’s the movies library, and it seems to be the same set of items that are “not found”/unavailable.

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@dahveed311 can you send me your logs and a path/filename that is “unavailable”? With Zach’s issues, having a cert issue can cause a lot of problems, that excerpt was just 2 lines out of hundreds to thousands of similar errors. When troubleshooting you identify the obvious errors and fix those first, otherwise you will spend hours on a seemingly unrelated issue to later realize that it was related.

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Correct, I also don’t believe it’s a certification issue. It’s local. Seems to be something larger. Currently trying to backroll the version to see if that helps

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