Plex Media Server won't run on Synology NAS DS918+

[Vbro]

So I recently moved my Plex onto a Synology NAS DS918+, and it was working perfectly on DSM 6.2.2-24922 and Plex Media Server version 1.16.5.1552. Then today I decided to update it to 1.17, after I manually installed the update PMS would fail to run. I’ve tried restarting the NAS, shutting down the NAS. Re-updating PMS by downloading the update from the official Plex media server downloads site. I even uninstalled Plex Media Server, then reinstalled it (it installed as version 1.16.5) and it still does not want to run… After doing some research online everyone says they have issues that are caused by permissions given to Plex within the NAS, I double checked that my PMS has admin permissions.

Any thoughts? Just seems odd that even on the same version that worked a day ago it doesn’t want to run.

Thanks for the help here,

Server Version#: DSM 6.2.2-24922
Player Version#: 1.16.5.1552

[ChuckPa]

The best way to find out is to manually make a ZIP file of the Plex Logs directory and attach it here

1. File Station
   2 Plex share
2. Library / Application Support / Plex Media Server
3. Right-click Logs and then Compress to Logs.zip (give yourself permission in control panel if needed)
4. Download and then upload that ZIP file here

[Vbro]

Ok, here are the logs.
Logs.zip (4.8 MB)

[ChuckPa]

There is no access since the old version.

Please go to:

Control Panel - Shared Folders - EDIT the Plex share - Permissions tab.

Make certain user Plex has R/W or Full Control access to the share.

Then restart DSM

Now remove and reinstall the Plex app itself. (I set permissions when PMS is installed for Library)

I suggest this because something in the transfer did not go correctly.

If the above fails, You might need to Right-Click on the Library folder in the Plex share and set those permissions to but we will wait.

[Vbro]

Ok, right now it has R/W for Admin, my synology user profile, and Plex. When you say Plex needs full access to “the share” is that a different folder than what it currently has access to?

Although looking through some of the other drop down locations I see another administrators that might need to be switched to R/W

I also see and option under “Advanced Permissions” to enable Advanced Share Permissions - is that what I need?

So here is what I just tried:
1- I enabled Advance Share Permissions for Plex (under advanced share permissions I selected Plex and admin)
2- I restarted DSM
3- I uninstalled then reinstalled Plex
When I tried to run it failed again…

I suppose another option could be to uninstall Plex, then delete the entire Plex folder? Then when I reinstall Plex it will completely redo and setup everything?

[ChuckPa]

User Plex must have Full Access (or Read/Write depending on which GUI you use) to access it.

In the update 1.15.4.994, I removed user ‘plex’ from the administrator’s group.
It no longer has free run of your NAS. It can only access what you give it in the Control Panel.

That as base rule; If it can’t access its own data in /volume1/Plex, it will never start

[Vbro]

Right, that makes sense. When I look at where my Plex movies are saved it looks like its under the “FileStation”. I just triple checked the Plex has R/W permissions for this folder and it does, I just did another restart and tried to run Plex and it still doesn’t want to run…

[ChuckPa]

When I create the Plex share, I set it up this way. No special / advanced permissions are required.

I use the local plex user (Local Users) and allow normal Linux permissions to do the job.
You see “custom” flagged because I set basic ACL’s. Those ACLs would allow you to backup the Plex share from a Windows computer if you really needed to (but not recommended).

[ChuckPa]

@Vbro

Uninstall PMS
Restart DSM
Reinstall the same package.

When it runs, I will go through and set permissions on the share and within the share itself.

If need be, we can make one more iteration without starting over by deleting user Plex and the reinstalling the package. It’s a bit harsher reset of the permissions but it will work.

[Vbro]

Ok I uninstalled PMS, restarted DSM, and reinstalled PMS.

I copied you’re screenshots of the permissions except my Plex still has R/W permissions, it still failed when I tried to run it

[Vbro]

@trumpy81

Thanks for the link, I’ve followed the instructions and have given Plex R/W permissions to admin as well as Plex. I also made sure Plex has R/W permissions under the User section and the Group section - although I’m not sure if that is necessary.

I restarted the NAS and tried to run PMS a couple of times with no success

Are there any other common problems that could be causing my issues?

I appreciate it

[Vbro]

Well I finally got it to work, I completely factory reset my NAS and reinstalled PMS and it worked the first time. I’m going to look through the permissions and see if something looks different then what I was doing before, but maybe something was just too broken…

Either way I really appreciate both of you helping!

[mbro95]

This is most definitely an issue with the updates. OP is absolutely correct and shouldn’t have had to nuke his entire machine to get this to run. We have the EXACT same issue: same problem, same hardware, same troubleshooting not working.

UPDATE: This same issue is occurring with the latest Plex Pass build (PlexMediaServer-1.18.0.1892-6887070bc-x86_64) on DSM 6.2.2-24922 Update 3. Had to uninstall after reinstalling the update and attempting to restart the service and NAS multiple times. Finally went to uninstall the app -> rebooted -> applied Plex Pass update - no dice, same issues.

Uninstalled PMS -> Rebooted -> installed public access version (PlexMediaServer-1.17.0.1841-d42cfa161-x86_64) and back up and running.

How do you explain this behavior?