Hi Team,
Every time I restart my server, or close the Plex service and restart it, all shared library info is lost.
I am then forced to go back through my users and select the libraries I am sharing with them for each user.
This is getting to be very frustrating.
Please help!
OS? External drives?
We need more information to help you. Please explain as much as you can.
Hi @ChuckPA
OS: Windows Server 2012 R2 x64
Plex Release: 1.7.6.4058
Storage drives are shared over the network on a file server that is always on.
This installation has been rock solid for months, and only began exhibiting this issue in the last couple weeks.
Libraries can be shared with all users, however upon restarting the server (or if Plex updates and restarts the application) all shares are lost and must be re-established by checking them all on the User page.
It sounds like PMS is attempting to connect to Plex.tv but can’t.
Your log files will be needed to see what is actually happening. ( Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs about 30 seconds after you’ve recreated the problem… VERBOSE logging OFF)
Because Windows is not my general area, I can look at your logs and point out what PMS isn’t liking. If my analysis makes sense to you and you can resolve it, great. If not, I’ll need to get some proper Windows expertise to take over from me.
@ChuckPA
That is fine by me
Here are the PMS logs immediately after a reboot (after the shares have been lost).
https://pastebin.com/SGMFRG9W
You can delete those logs I can’t see enough
Please attach the ZIP file it gives you (Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs ) here with your next reply. You can drag & drop or attach document. Please remember to let it upload fully before clicking ‘post comment’
How is this?
Let me know if you’d like me to re–run them once more (if these don’t work).
I can reproduce and then export again.
That’s what I need. Thank you. Reading now.
Are you running an anti-virus & firewall ? I suspect yes.
PMS starts. It opens the initial connection and updates Plex.tv. Just as quickly, it gets shut down until you manually kick it.
Here is the automatic connection being shut down. Here you can see where the connection is cut and PMS is still trying to settle in and make your shares available. Reachability=1 means “Yes”
Jul 19, 2017 09:53:36.590 [8632] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.1.84:43508 (Subnet)] GET /library/sections (5 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (alternativesurfer)
Jul 19, 2017 09:53:36.606 [8700] ERROR - CERT: Error in TLS handshake: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine
Jul 19, 2017 09:53:36.606 [8684] DEBUG - Auth: We found auth token (xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx), enabling token-based authentication.
.
.
.
Jul 19, 2017 09:53:51.057 [10444] DEBUG - PubSub: Got notified of reachability: 1 for xx.xxx.xx.xxx:32400
.
it doesn’t regain actual until much later… probably when you manually kick it.
Please look at your local software rules / config first. If that doesn’t resolve it, we’ll get more skilled Windows help
Hi @ChuckPA
I did have AV installed, uninstalled to rule it out, restarted everything, same issue.
Here are the new logs after a reboot.
Thank you… I do not see the root problem here. It is now above my skill level.
@OttoKerner can you help?
Not really. I only know so much about the server versions of Windows that I avoid it.
Are you using any kind of virtualisation?
Are you using some kind of protection against configuration changes?
Because, the shares are connected to the server ID number. This is stored in the registry. If somehow this server ID goes missing, you get a new one - once the server contacts plex.tv. This then makes all your shares disappear because they were connected to the old server ID.
@alternativesurfer said:
Every time I restart my server, or close the Plex service and restart it, all shared library info is lost.
Are you running PMS as a service? If so, what Windows user are you running under?
@OttoKerner said:
Because, the shares are connected to the server ID number. This is stored in the registry. If somehow this server ID goes missing, you get a new one - once the server contacts plex.tv. This then makes all your shares disappear because they were connected to the old server ID.
That’s not it. The ID isn’t changing but something is not getting saved.
Hi all,
Not vitualized.
No protection against changes.
And not running as a service.
Any other logs I could pull to help?
I pretty much use this machine as a Pro install of Windows 8, just went with server because I like to test bed things for work at home in VMs (Plex is not included in this, it runs on the bare metal).
I’ve had this setup for over a year now without any complaints, this only began occurring a few weeks ago.
I would check that the permissions on that registry key is correct (so that the username that runs Plex has full access to it). You can do that by going through regedit. While you’re at it, check permissions on the actual folder that Plex has been installed to too.
For testing sake, opened permissions up to Everyone, full access on the Plex folder and registry folders.
Restarted.
No change. =(
Here are the Plex logs:
Are you experimenting with Jumbo Frames?
The ‘shares’ settings need to get posted to plex.tv.
If communication doesn’t work right (Jumbo Frames or generally packet fragmentation caused by incorrect MTU) it might not reach plex.tv.
No jumbo frames currently.
Standard MTU of 1497.
Are you running PMS as a System Service?
If so, you might want to add a parameter to the ‘run’ command line
Jul 21, 2017 09:57:51.441 [5544] WARN - Shell_NotifyIcon(NIM_ADD) failed: 0x0
The task tray notifier icon doesn’t exist when running as a service. So we should disable any attempts to communicate with it.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Server.exe -noninteractive
Use the ‘delayed’ start for this service, to make sure all other subsystems are running like networking and storage, Infiniband etc.
Which helper software are you using for the ‘service’? I recommend nssm.exe
Your drive P: is out of order:
ERROR - Error creating directory P:\PlexTranscode: boost::filesystem::create_directories: The system cannot find the path specified: "P:\"
Hi @OttoKerner
I am not running it as a service, and i adjusted Plex to use C as temp for the time being.
Let me restart and report back.
