Plex in Synology is not able to find Metadata until a Stop / Restart is undertaken

Server Version#: 1.41.9.9961.72009961
Player Version#: 4.147.1

Hello,
Currently, when I open the windows Plex player linked to the Plex Media Server in Synology, it is not able to find the metadata for recently added movies or shows. It is able to find the files but adds no details to them other than the title. Selecting “Fix Match” finds no details for anything - no options to select from at all.
Going back to the Synology Server and going to the Package Centre and then stopping and restarting Plex temporarily fixes the issue and the scan completes normally. If restarted more than a few minutes before scanning this fix does not work.
Any help on fixing this issue permanently will be very much appreciated.
Thank you

Can you post a copy of your server logs?

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Reboot your modem/router and everything connected to it. That should clear any corrupted DNS cache data that may be causing your issue.

Also, if you have not already done so, change the DNS server to a public DNS server, such as:

Google - 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4
Cloudflare - 1.1.1.1 or 1.0.0.1

There are others you may wish to try.

You will find the setting in DSM Control Panel > Network > Network Interface > LAN# or Bond# > Use Manual Configuration > DNS Server.

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Plex Media Server Logs_2025-07-23_11-43-32.zip (2.3 MB)

Not done this before - hope that works. Thank you

From your logs:

Jul 21, 2025 08:03:04.983 [140259718867768] WARN - PublicAddressManager: WAN IP on router does not match public IP from plex.tv
Jul 21, 2025 08:03:13.137 [140259752987448] ERROR - [EventSourceClient/pubsub/178.79.179.11:443] MyPlex: mapping failed due to potential double NAT configuration

The above suggests that you may have a Double NAT issue. Do you have a second router plugged into your ISP supplied router?

Is your Plex server Claimed in Plex Settings > Server > General?

Jul 22, 2025 11:09:12.161 [140590627302200] WARN - Scanner [Plex TV Series]: unable to find agent match for item file '/volume1/TV Series/The Gone/the.gone.s01e01.mkv'
Jul 22, 2025 11:09:12.165 [140590611241784] WARN - Scanner [Plex TV Series]: unable to find agent match for item file '/volume1/TV Series/The Gone/Season 02/the.gone.s02e01.mkv'

I also see some evidence of poor file naming. The above example should be named: The Gone - S02E01.mkv

I highly recommend using FileBot to automatically rename and organise your files.

It is well worth the money IMHO.

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Thank you for the reply. Yes I do have a repeater which the Synology Server is plugged into but that has been the case for about 18 months now. This is a very recent issue - last couple of weeks.
The TV series The Gone that you flagged illustrates the issue I am having very well. I added that yesterday and tried scanning TV series with no luck. Then went back to the Synology package centre, stopped Plex then started it again, then it successfully scanned and found the series with all synopsis and art-work added. All I need to do is that restart of Plex in Synology package centre - it’s not a biggie but it is a nuisance.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by a repeater please?

Device Make/Model etc…

Is your server Claimed?

Yes, it’s a TP Link RE650.
It is connected to my router wirelessly and connects to my Synology via Ethernet cable. Again, that has been the case for the last 18 months or so. It’s firmware is up to date but I just restarted it to see if that helps. It didn’t.

Thanks for that. That should not be an issue, but stranger things have happened. It probably does explain the Double NAT messages in the logs though.

It would be better if your NAS was plugged directly into your ISP modem/router though.

Again, is your server Claimed?

Are you using the old agent/scanner or the modern one? With the logs you posted can you provide an example file where metadata failed to load?

I have exactly the same issue. I notice at some point that matching doesn’t work. I try to “Fix Match” and nothing happens, not for a second. I stop and restart the server in Installed Packages and everything comes back. I noticed today that external SRT files where not detected either. This also gets fixed by stopping and restarting the server. The issue reappears after some time but I don’t know how soon. I had to restart it 4-5 times in the last month.

@exn

Your server DEBUG logs ZIP file which captures this (the scan failing) is required.

It isn’t possible to diagnose without more info

Here it is.
Thanks

What media failed to populate metadata? Can you please provide the full path?

I think it affects all files in all media libraries but for sure files the in the TV Show “Séries” library located in “/volume1/video/Series”.

Yesterday, I sae it affected these files:
/volume1/video/Series/Dexter Resurrection/dexter resurrection s01e04 - 2160.mkv and the related srt file dexter resurrection s01e04 - 2160.fre.srt
I changed filenames multiple times until I tried to stop and restart the server so you may find this episode under multiple different names and srt language (I tried eng, fre…)
Another one that I noticed was not working was in folder “/volume1/video/Series/Poker Face”: Poker Face 2023 S02E10 The Big Pump 2160p PCOK WEB-DL DDP5 1 HDR x265-NTb.mkv and the related srt files. After restarting the server, I saw the subtitles languages appearing in the episode screen.

Hope this helps

@exn

Plex DocumentationYour Media
Naming & Organizing Your TV Show Files
Naming & Organizing Your Movie Files

Jul 25, 2025 13:08:25.127 [139733151890232] DEBUG - LibraryUpdateManager will start watching /volume1/video/Series

Jul 31, 2025 21:30:05.271 [139975429770040] INFO - Library section 8 (Séries) will be updated because of a change in "/volume1/video/Series/Poker Face/x265/Poker.Face.2023.S02E11.720p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta[EZTVx.to].mkv"

Plex does not support sub-folders such as x265. The episodes must be in a Season folder directly below the show folder.

You should also clean up the file names so they better adhere to Plex guidelines.

  • Add the show year to the folder and file names.
  • Clear out the “extraneous information” in the file name. If you wish to keep information such as resolution & codec type, then place it in one set of square brackets at the end of the file name. Microsoft PowerRenamer makes this very easy (linked below).

Plex Dance the series after renaming/reorganizing. This clears incorrect information from the Plex Media Server database.

/series  <-- folder added to TV show library
  /Poker Face (2023) <-- show_name (intro_year)
    /Season 02 <-- "Season" in English, two digits for number
      /Poker Face (2023) s02e11.mkv
      /Poker Face (2023) s02e11.fre.srt
      /Poker Face (2023) s02e12 [extra stuff here].mkv
      /Poker Face (2023) s02e12 [extra stuff here].fre.srt

There are tools that can help with naming. Here’s a shortlist. The free version of Tiny Media Manager works for most people.

Many people use Filebot. It is quite powerful and can rename an entire library in minutes.

Tiny Media Manager is also very useful, and free.

Example TMM Renamer Patterns:

  • Show Name: ${showTitle} (${showYear})
  • Season: Season ${seasonNr2}
  • Episode Name: ${showTitle} (${showYear}) s${seasonNr2}e${episodeNr2} ${episode.title}
  • Movie Name: ${title} (${year}) {imdb-${imdb}}

PowerRenamer in Microsoft Power Tools is helpful for simple renaming with pattern matches or regular expressions. It makes quick work of tasks such as adding a year to file names, removing undesirable text from multiple files, etc


I’ve Poker Face on my system. This naming/organization works without issue:

/tv/Poker Face (2023)
├───Season 01 [1080p]
│       Poker Face (2023) s01e01 Dead Man's Hand [1080p.HEVC].mkv
│       Poker Face (2023) s01e02 The Night Shift [1080p.HEVC].mkv
│       Poker Face (2023) s01e03 The Stall [1080p.HEVC].mkv
│
└───Season 02
        Poker Face (2023) s02e01 The Game Is a Foot [2160p].eng.sdh.srt
        Poker Face (2023) s02e01 The Game Is a Foot [2160p].eng.srt
        Poker Face (2023) s02e01 The Game Is a Foot [2160p].mkv
        Poker Face (2023) s02e02 Last Looks [2160p].eng.sdh.srt
        Poker Face (2023) s02e02 Last Looks [2160p].eng.srt
        Poker Face (2023) s02e02 Last Looks [2160p].mkv
        Poker Face (2023) s02e03 Whack-A-Mole [2160p].eng.sdh.srt
        Poker Face (2023) s02e03 Whack-A-Mole [2160p].eng.srt
        Poker Face (2023) s02e03 Whack-A-Mole [2160p].mkv

I do not disagree with the above. My folder structure and file naming could be improved. However, can this cause the issue discussed in this thread? Probably not as restarting the server solves issues instantly, right? And I’ve been running Plex for 7+ years with more or less the same folders and filenames and this issue appeared only a few weeks ago.

If you don’t follow the documentation, then Plex may work, until it doesn’t.

Start by adding correctly named season folders for the show. That takes maybe two minutes.

Per the docs, . is a valid separator, so you don’t have to replace them with spaces.

Plex should ignore everything after sXXeYY (ex: it ignores episode names), so you may not have to remove the extra info.

Performing the Plex Dance, if needed, takes a few minutes.

You can also try resetting permissions. Synology will sometimes mess them up. See FAQ 29 - DSM 7 - Give PlexMediaServer access to your media. Follow the process even if they look OK in DSM.

using such file naming schemas is the number one reason things dont work. Before we go down the rabbit hole of trying to troubleshoot this, making sure your naming schema is correct is the first major step. Since this issue is isolated to you, we need to look at that is different about your setup vs everyone else.

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It isn’t isolated just him as I have exactly the same issue and I started the thread. Every time I add to my library, I do a scan and Plex finds no metadata. Attempts to fix match throws up no options and nothing to match to. A restart of the Plex server and all works perfectly! I read somewhere else of someone with the same issue and this was there suggested fix but it works…until the next time you add something. It’s an odd one and more a minor nuisance rather than a catastrophe but I’d be interested to know what was going on. Hopefully a new version will fix it but the last update didn’t. Been like this around 2 months now.

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