Plex Media Scanner returning nothing on "--list"

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

My plex is working normally with a tv section, and a movies section etc.

However, on running “/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Scanner --list” - it returns nothing, and doesn’t show my various sections; however the plex server proper still sees / serves content properly.

I’ve recently changed the ‘PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_USER’ account that the plex server runs under in /etc/default/plexmediaserver - would that be related?

How can i fix this (or debug it), so that i can manually update libraries when required? The log (cat ‘/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs/Plex\ Media\ Scanner.log’) does not show any errors that i can see, relating to having zero sections?

thank you

2

I too am having this issue. Running the following commands does nothing.

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver
/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Scanner --list

3

You may be running into the issue of needing a plex token.
Open a browser and try:
http://[PMS_IP_Address]:32400/library/sections
If you get 401 Unauthorized then you do indeed need your Plex Token

Then from the CLI use curl -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/sections?X-Plex-Token=XXXXXXXXXX"

REF: https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/204059436-Finding-your-account-token-X-Plex-Token

4

And if I don’t get the 401 Unauthorized?

5

This is what I get when trying to update from the CL

logged_in_user@MediaServer:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/usr/lib/plexmediaserver"
logged_in_user@MediaServer:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ export LANG=“en_US.UTF-8”
logged_in_user@MediaServer:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_MAX_PLUGIN_PROCS=“6”
logged_in_user@MediaServer:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_TMPDIR="/tmp"
logged_in_user@MediaServer:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_HOME="/usr/lib/plexmediaserver"
logged_in_user@MediaServer:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR="/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support"
logged_in_user@MediaServer:/usr/lib/plexmediaserver$ /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Scanner --scan --refresh --section 1
terminate called after throwing an instance of ‘std::runtime_error’
what(): Codecs: Initialize: ‘Failed to create UUID file’
****** PLEX MEDIA SCANNER CRASHED, CRASH REPORT WRITTEN: /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Crash Reports/2ff58c4b-ce26-74eb-487b1f4c-14ffe8f9-v-1.0.3.2461-35f0caa.dmp
Aborted (core dumped)

6

@TheCli3nt said:
And if I don’t get the 401 Unauthorized?

So entering that URL in a browser would return your library list if a plex token isn’t required.
Did you get the library list returned?

7

yes, I get the library list returned. But as you can see above, when I try to run the command from the terminal, it crashes

8

@TheCli3nt Did you ever get this resolved? I am stuck, same exact issue. Trying to update from linux command line.

9

Plex Media Scanner is UID sensitive.

It must be invoked as user plex
There are two libraries on this test server.

[chuck@lizum ~.68]$ su - plex
Password: 
-sh-4.4$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver
-sh-4.4$ export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR="/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support"
-sh-4.4$ cd /usr/lib/plexmediaserver
-sh-4.4$ ./Plex\ Media\ Scanner --list
  2: TV
  1: Movies
-sh-4.4$
1 Like
10

Another way is to run it with:

sudo su -l plex -s /bin/bash -c "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR='/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support' /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Scanner --list"
1 Like
11

fantastic thank you so much