Plex Just Randomly Deleted My Server

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.23.3.4707
Player Version#: 1.33.0.2444-a220eae4 (Plex for Windows), 3.5.0 (Plexamp)

I was listening to music through Plexamp a few hours ago, and it randomly turned off. I thought nothing of it because I had other things to do, but I come back and my server is nowhere to be found.

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image928×539 61.9 KB

None of the content or libraries are present, and going into the server settings, it says my server’s name is the name of my desktop, and not my actual server’s name.

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I had hours worth of custom metadata content and can’t lose this server. Any idea what happened and how to get it back? I’m thinking it has something to do with this new “claim server” option, which I have never seen before.

I should also note that this cannot be a connection issue as the player is currently on the computer where the server and media is located.

Logs:

Plex Media Server.4.log (488.7 KB)
Plex Media Server.log (122.7 KB)
Plex Tuner Service.1.log (1.9 KB)
Plex Tuner Service.2.log (1.9 KB)
Plex Tuner Service.3.log (2.7 KB)
Plex Tuner Service.4.log (2.8 KB)
Plex Tuner Service.log (1.9 KB)
Plex Media Server.1.log (71.4 KB)
Plex Media Server.2.log (103.0 KB)
Plex Media Server.3.log (488.8 KB)

2

Another screenshot:

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As you can see, two different servers. It seems like Plex just deleted my old server and made a new one for no reason.

3

Are you using more than one Windows user accounts on your Windows machine?
Or did you switch the used user account recently?

The current Plex server is using C:\Users\aaron\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\ as the location for its data (which is the default location).
Do you remember previously moving the location of the data folder to someplace else, e.g. D:\ ?

How much free space is on C: ?

4

No, I don’t have multiple user accounts (that I know of). A few months ago I reinstalled Windows, but I copied the database over and had no issues. I also tried restoring the database from a backup I had a few days ago, but that did nothing (I assume it’s because the database doesn’t cover servers?).

I did move my database location when I first set my server up a few years ago, it must have reset when this happened. My C drive is an extremely limited SSD for boot only, so I try to relocate everything I can over to another drive. However, I should have enough space. Currently 12GB is free, but in the past my server has done fine with less than a gigabyte free.

I have a backup of my entire computer (including deleted files), so if there is a way to restore my server through restoring a backup, I just need to know what file and where.

5

Re-claim the server. Nothing should be gone.

6

Tread lightly. You should never let an SSD system drive run that full.
(Particularly if you haven’t applied an “over-provisioning” partitioning. https://www.seagate.com/de/de/tech-insights/ssd-over-provisioning-benefits-master-ti/ )

This appears to be the main issue.
Determine where your old Plex data are residing. (I suppose somewhere on D: )

  1. shut down the server using its tray icon
  2. delete the file Preferences.xml from this location: C:\Users\aaron\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server
  3. edit your registry and put in the LocalAppData key to point to your old plex data. See [HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows for a reminder how it’s done.
  4. while you are in the registry, edit the key ProcessedMachineIdentifier to the value of your old server. How to determine that value is covered in this post: Notice: Users running the Windows version of Plex Media Server
7

How do I do that?

8

This didn’t work for me unfortunately. I deleted the preferences file, and then pointed the local app data location to the “Plex” folder which contains “Plex Media Server”. I didn’t do your last step as there is no way for me to find my authentication token since I can’t access any of my library items.

9

Refer to the 3rd picture you posted up top and click claim server in that section of PMS…

10

Then perform this procedure to get access again: Why am I locked out of Server Settings and how do I get in? | Plex Support

11

I tried that, it doesn’t do anything. The server it claims is the new server.

12

So, how do I get the authentication token from that?

13

You won’t need it as you get a new one after this propcedure Why am I locked out of Server Settings and how do I get in? | Plex Support

14

Hmm, well that also did not seem to work. I still can’t access my original server’s settings (it says it’s unavailable), and it also did not restore my previous server’s library/metadata.

15

Could you make a directory listing (or screenshot) of your current plex data folder?

16

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