# Plex Media Server not opening on Mac

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-opening-on-mac/920426>\
**Category:** Plex Media Server\
**Tags:** server-mac\
**Created:** [May 28, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-opening-on-mac/920426 "2025-05-28T15:22:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jonb827](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/da6949/32.png) [@jonb827](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jonb827)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-opening-on-mac/920426/1 "2025-05-28T15:22:58Z")

</div>

Hi ,  
Im no longer able to open the Plex Media Server app on my Mac. - I click the application and nothing happens . it doesn’t even try to open.  
Ive downloaded the latest version - my OS is up to date  
Im running an Intel Mac. This started a few weeks ago .  
Any help?  
thanks!  
J

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-opening-on-mac/920426/2 "2025-05-28T15:49:13Z")

</div>

If the Plex Media Server won’t start and doesn’t even get to the stage where it’ll be writing to the [server logs,](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) you can attempt the following procedure to see if there’s any error messages on the OS level:

1. Open Finder and navigate to `/Applications`
2. Select `Show Content` from the context menu of the `Plex Media Server.app` item
3. Navigate to `Contents/MacOS`
4. Open the `Terminal` app
5. Drag the `Plex Media Server` executable from the Finder window (#3) into the Terminal Window and press `Return` to execute it

This is no different from running the app, so it won’t succeed – but you should get a more specific error message about what’s causing it to fail starting.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jonb827](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/da6949/32.png) [@jonb827](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jonb827)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 4:12pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-opening-on-mac/920426/3 "2025-05-28T16:12:43Z")

</div>

hi thanks for the info - I got the following error:  
libc++abi: terminating due to uncaught exception of type soci::soci\_error: sqlite3\_statement\_backend::prepare: database disk image is malformed for SQL: PRAGMA cache\_size=2048  
\*\*\*\*\*\* PLEX MEDIA SERVER CRASHED, CRASH REPORT WRITTEN: 5B955300-9786-495F-8FD9-F2AEF7337208

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-opening-on-mac/920426/4 "2025-05-28T18:09:25Z")

</div>

You can attempt to repair your server’s database using this support article.  
[https://support.plex.tv/articles/repair-a-corrupted-database/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/repair-a-corrupted-database/)

Alternatively there’s a script based tool to do the same with some more advanced features (the repository also has extensive documentation and examples how to use it).

> **[GitHub - ChuckPa/DBRepair: Database repair utility for Plex Media Server...](https://github.com/ChuckPa/DBRepair/tree/master)**
>
> master

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server-not-opening-on-mac/920426/5 "2025-08-26T18:10:02Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.