Plex Media Server 1.32.0.6865-ba892e5ce - Issues seeing folders of networked drives (NAS)

Plex Media Server Plex Pass Betas
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Server Version#: 1.32.0.6865-ba892e5ce (March 29, 2023)
Player Version#: 1.67.1.3665-771934d3

It seems that the latest Beta version of the Windows Plex server has broken the ability to see networked drives (NAS for example).

I named networked NAS drive V: (for Videos), when I click on V: I do not see the folders, and because of that, Plex Server doesn’t see anything too, so it can’t scan new movies or shows added.

When I rolled back to non-beta Plex Windows Server version# 1.31.3.6868-28fc46b27 (March 28, 2023) I was able to see the networked drive’s folders again and it was able to scan the latest videos added.

I’m hoping someone can look at this issue, even take a crack and comparing the two and you’ll see what I mean.

Instead of getting this when you want to add networked folders…

Folders1

You’ll get this instead…

Folders2

You’ll also get a red error message at the top right corner saying can’t read V: if you click the V: button a few times.

And before anyone asks “Why don’t you just put the full path in?”

This will not work either, Plex needs to be able to see those networked folders regardless if I put the full paths in or not, there’s just some bug preventing it from scanning folders properly.

That being said, movies or whatnot that was already scanned previously can still be accessed because Plex remembers the direct path to the file, but not being able to see the folders here seems to affect Plex’s ability to scan for new files.

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Is it only V that isn’t working? I see you have an S that is also a mapped drive.

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ALL Networked drives. I’m only using the V: one as an example.

I had to roll back a version and everything worked as normal again.

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FWIW, I’m also having this issue after the latest update, and suspect it’s more than just the two of us :slightly_smiling_face:

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MrGolden is correct, this bug would affect any PlexPass user who has a Windows based Plex server (in my case) that requires a networked connection to their media (like a NAS).

It won’t affect people who either built a Plex server computer which houses the hard drives or those people with a NAS powerful enough to run Plex Server as in both cases the hard drives are local relative to the server.

Now I can’t say if this issue is happening on Linux or Mac versions of Plex Server Beta 1.32.0.6865-ba892e5ce, but it’s possible and worth having a look.

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Seeing this on Plex machines with local drive pools. Might be all locations that have reparse points though…

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Not true. I’ve had to do this from day 1, because I’m running Plex as a system service which makes it very hard to use drive letters with network shares.
Just surf to the networked share and dive down into the required folder, then copy this path and paste it into Plex.
Still working that way over here, using Plex server 1.32.0.6865, 64bit on Windows 11.

If you can access the file share using the Windows file explorer, then Plex server can access it as well. It is the operating system’s (i.e. Windows’) task to manage this connection, not Plex’s.

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I don’t know about the iTrooper, but I -did- try the literal path and it wouldn’t work. I tried both adding a new folder (with the full path) to an existing library, and creating a new library with the full path only - neither worked.

However, both DID work after I rolled back to PMS version 1.31.

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I just updated to Version 1.32.0.6918 through the update prompt in Plex. Not a beta. I have the same issue now. My network folder for TV Shows is no longer seen for the purposes of updates. I can play media that is already recognized by plex, but no updates can get made.

I’m not sure how to roll back. Please tell me that there will be a fix for this.

Mike

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How did this make it out of beta?? Why is feedback being ignored?

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Could y’all take a look at UNC Path not working following update to 1.32.0.6918 - #6 by sa2000 and try to perform the dignostic steps described in there?
It would help greatly to diagnose the issue.
(Please do also respond in the linked thread and not in here)

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I have the same issue after upgrading to 1.32.0.6918 yesterday. I just added a new episode for a show, and the result was that the show disappeared completely from the library, even the previously working episodes. I have automatic scan when new content added on.

Other shows still work without problem.

I also have the same issue with no subdirectories showing when I go to manage a library and check the mapped device.

Guess I have to find out how to rollback for now…

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Some people are gonna reply to this topic mainly cuz the subject line is in laymen’s terms and not IT speech, but thanks for linking the OTHER topic in this thread so people can find their way over to the other one. But expect random replies to come in here from time to time.

And Luterin, yeah, it’s pretty frustrating, people think it might have something to do with older NAS units using SMB1, and not SMB2 or SMB3 which current ones use.

Having Plex updated to a point where SMB1 doesn’t play nice with it could be causing the problem, and not many Plex Pass owners are gonna have the time or money to drop down some $$$ to bump things up to a newer NAS that uses SMB2 or 3.

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Yeah, just reading through the other thread, and I know that my media server only supports SMB 1, using a VERY old version of OMV v1. I have a new server and am in the process of migrating to it, but it will be a couple of weeks until it’s ready, but as you say, Plex shouldn’t stop working because of this update. Obviously PMS still can talk with SMB, since streaming works fine, it’s just the update library that is completely broken in this case.

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Check if you can use NFS instead of SMB as a drop-in replacement. It should be available even on older *UX platforms.
Windows has support for NFS from version 10 on (it needs to be explicitly activated).

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Neither the media server or the plex server have NFS set up, configured or is even enabled, but if this issue persists maybe I can take some time to look into it. Don’t have the opportunity to do that right now though.

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As they say in the movie GREASE

“Tell me more, tell me more!”

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I’m not following.
More about what exactly?

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More info on this whole NFS thing, I mean it’s good for others to read here as well.

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Gotcha.
Whether the following will actually work as a fix for the current SMBv1-related issue in Plex hasn’t been confirmed yet.
If you are going to perform it, please share your experiences.
At least it will help you to avoid the old, proven unsecure SMBv1 protocol (which even Microsoft is disabling on fresh Windows installs now.)

Basically it works like this:

  • If the device which is acting as the file server doesn’t support any version of SMB other than v1, check if it can support NFS instead. Chances are good for any Linux-based NAS or other device.
  • If Plex server is running on Windows with at least Windows 10, you can teach it to use the NFS protocol. Thus it won’t need to use SMBv1 to get to the media files.

How to activate NFS support in your NAS, I cannot tell you. You’ll have to find out for yourself. Peruse its user manual or go to the techical support website of the manufacturer.
After enabling NFS, you may want to reboot the NAS device.

Open the Windows file explorer and note down the name under which your NAS device is appearing in the network neighborhood.
In my example screenshot, this is the device marked in red:
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To activate NFS support in Windows, go to the Windows control panel/Settings app and search for “windows feature”. Click on the search result “Turn Windows features on or off”.
Now you should see something like this
image
Activate “Client for NFS”.
Consider disabling support for SMB 1.0 (unless you use it for other old devices as well)
click OK and
Let it do whatever it must do (download/configuration etc.)
Reboot the Windows machine

After the restart, open the Windows file explorer again and click once into the address bar (marked by the red X)

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Now type 2 backslashes (\\) followed immediately by the device name of your NAS device.

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(instead of the device name, you can also use the local IP address of the NAS device)
Press Enter.

(If you are now prompted for access credentials, you should consider creating a user account on your NAS device, which uses the exact same username/password combination as you are using to log on to the Windows machine.)

If you can now see a list of the file shares on your NAS box, consider the operation a success.
(your NAS device may appear twice on the network neighborhood. Once per SMB, and once per NFS. You can tell the NFS variety by the backslashes in front of the share names)

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You can now dive down into the shares, to check access permissions
or make a right click on the share names to assign a local drive letter.

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