Server Version#: Windows Server 2025 Data Azure Edition
HI, we are migrating our plex server running on windows server 2022 to 2025.
We have backup the registry and also the app data folder of the old plex server. Hence, we have imported to the new server. Our media content is shared through the same google drive , which we have put in place in the new server as well.
We have a query, is it advisable for the both servers to be running at the same time with the exact same configurations? And also how do we know which server source we are playing the media from ? Because when we ran the new server and the old server concurrently, the plex app only showed 1 server, which make sense though as they have the same configuration, just that we do not know which one is running.
No, you must avoid that at all cost. Otherwise you will run into the issues you have already experienced, where clients cannot distinguish between servers and it is unclear which machine is accessed.
There is no way to perform load-balancing and/or automatic switch to another machine while using the same Plex server data.
If you want to transfer the shares to other plex users from the old to the new server, you must transfer the “identity” of the old machine to the new one. That is what is stored in the Registry.
(While you are in the registry editor: You might want to edit the “FriendlyName” string on the old or the new server, to make the two machines appear with different names in Plex clients. The FriendlyName is not the above mentioned server identity.)
If you want to keep the old machine running as a Plex server, you must give it a new identity. (But this means that all the shares with other plex users will be removed and have to be re-established per https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/manage-library-access )
