Plex Media Server is already running. Will not start

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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1

Server Version#: 160
Player Version#: N/A

I’ve done this before and there is some file to delete but I can’t find it now because it was a year ago. I have my media mounted from a file share. If I start my machine and the mount fails, plex fails and then can never start after that till I fix it. I’ve installed via the snap and I know no one knows how to use it but I don’t want to use the dpkg.

If I sudo snap start plexmedia I get this in journalctl -b
Jan 14 23:35:38 {machine} plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver[35766]: Plex Media Server is already running. Will not start…
Jan 14 23:35:38 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 14 23:35:38 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 1.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: Stopped Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: Started Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver[35849]: Plex Media Server is already running. Will not start…
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 2.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: Stopped Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: Started Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver[35921]: Plex Media Server is already running. Will not start…
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 3.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: Stopped Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: Started Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver[35995]: Plex Media Server is already running. Will not start…
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Jan 14 23:35:39 {machine} boinc[4904]: No protocol specified
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 4.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: Stopped Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: Started Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver[36064]: Plex Media Server is already running. Will not start…
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 5.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: Stopped Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: snap.plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Jan 14 23:35:40 {machine} systemd[1]: Failed to start Service for snap application plexmediaserver.plexmediaserver.

Help please.

2

It definitely looks like something happened to your SNAP package installation.

I would like to know if you intended to install the SNAP package (which is a container, like docker, and isolated) or if you wanted to install the main Plex package like you would from Plex.tv/downloads.

3

Same problem here.
Plex installed via snap on Ubuntu 20.04LTS.
After a reboot this morning the plexmediaserver did not start again, giving out the exact errors poehlert described above.

4

@t4nec0

Same question to you .

Do you intend / wish to run the SNAP package?

I’m asking this because there’s very little which can be done other than uninstall & reinstall the container — unless you want to dive in at the command line and start hacking away at it.

The question here is if there are two installations competing…

  1. the dpkg installed one from plex.tv
  2. the snap installed one from the Ubuntu app store.

There can be only one.

5

I chose the snap package probably because it was easy (“click and run”) and auto updating.
Don’t remember exactly where I found the instructions, but I remember it was the suggested way of running PMS. Now under “Downloads” I only can find the .deb package (what about updates?).

I have no problems in digging at the command line (it’s my job…) provided I know where to look.
The logs told nothing, for example.

I only have the snap package installed, absolutely not the deb one.

For you records, I rebooted the server and it worked again…
I’m also planning to move that installation to another machine with more memory (and CPU). Still an Atom, however.
I intend to follow these instructions:


Is this the correct way to do this?
6

You might want to look at

This is more Linux tailored than the generic instructions.

7

Seems to be a bug in the Snap. If you come across this, you can delete

/var/snap/plexmediaserver/common/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/plexmediaserver.pid

and restart the snap.

My total stab in the dark is that this isn’t being deleted on refresh.

8

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