I thought I’d post this to help anyone who is/was pulling their hair out like me.
Issue: As of today, the most recent version of Plex Media Server fails to initialize on Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 environments due to the “Claim” functionality confusing things.
Symptoms: Once Plex is installed, it will hang on “Initializing Plex Media Server” for 5 minutes then go to “Something went wrong. Can’t locate server”. If you try to access it locally it will give a “Access Denied” error and link you to a FAQ on claims that does not work.
Fix:
Follow these steps (once installed and the above symptoms experienced)
Right click and exit Plex
Open Notepad as Administrator
Paste the below into the notepad
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineHome]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineMail]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineUsername]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineToken]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PreferredNetworkInterface]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server]
"PublishServerOnPlexOnlineKey"=dword:00000001
"ManualPortMappingMode"=dword:00000000
"LogVerbose"=dword:00000000
"secureConnections"=dword:00000001
Use notepad’s “Save As” function, change the file type to “All Files” (Not .txt), call the file “plex.reg” and it will save as a registry executable.
Right-click the file you just created and select “Merge”, when prompted hit yes
Once it says “Succesful”, open Plex Media Server app again
You forgot to (re-)start the server after merging the registry.
But I doubt this will help anyone who is performing a completely fresh installation.
All it does is to remove and reset preferences from prior installations of PMS.
It absolutely will, PMS does not function on fresh installs as of today, as I said.
I just lost a day trying to spin up a new server on Server 2016, 2019 and 2022. I tried the same account, new accounts, new IPs, fresh installs of Windows Server on totally isolated VMs. Fresh installs of Plex are totally borked on Windows Server without the above steps.
It seems to be making some form of registry error when initializing the first account, which completely locks you out then requires running the above to format and go again.
Yes, windows firewall doesn’t have anything to do with it, which is why editing the registry fixes it. If it was windows firewall the problem would persist after the registry adjustment, and it does not.
I’m certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert in my work, so reasonably technical. I checked all the obvious stuff and it’s definitely the registry entries not correctly generating upon initial install.
Try something:
after claiming the server (either after clicking the task tray icon or using the Setup Plex.html file) you should see the message: “Initializing Plex Media Server…” and a spinner
Here wait ~ 2 minutes.
Then Refresh the “web page” in your browser.
Now switch the side bar into the MORE… mode.
Inspect the side bar for any new arrivals.
Yeah, also tested that, and the server doesn’t show. The only time it shows is when you run the registry fix and it correctly starts the initial setup wizard.
I can give you a test VM with Server on it if you wish… But it’s a very common problem, it will not fresh install on any server environment since the introduction of the Claiming feature. Loads of posts about it on here and Reddit.
I run a 40-core, 128GB RAM, 256GB SSD + 64TB HDD server, Windows 11 isn’t appropriate for such a system.
Wasted 3 days trying to figure this out, Thank you, Same case scenario reinstalled windows server twice trying to fix this wish they would pin this post or something lol
Ok I tried the solution and it won’t let me merge the new PLEX.REG file. When looking at the file properties it shows as registration entries but when trying to merge I get the following:
Cannot import C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\plex.reg: The specified file is not a registry script. You can only import binary registry files from within the registry editor.
I checked and the file was saved as .reg and ANSI coded.
I finally hand coded the Keys and new values.
I verified the Keys and values but still doesn’t give me access.
Ok I checked my Plex.reg and saw that I didn’t have the first two lines
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
Add those and it merged successfully. I then removed the Plex server and deleted all Plex keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.
Rebooted the server
Reinstalled the Plex Server software
Merged the plex.reg successfully.
I noticed that the following subkeys of Plex Media Server are not there
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineHome]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineMail]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineUsername]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PlexOnlineToken]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server\PreferredNetworkInterface]
I did try raising it to them but could see no way to contact them, also it appears they had a large staff layoff recently so I’m not hopeful it’ll be fixed quickly…
