Plex not working on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.13.5.5332-21ab172de

I was able to use my Plex server last week without any problems, but now something’s broken. I can’t access the server from any of my devices. I’m still not very good with Linux, so I have no idea what to try. I’m using Powershell on my Windows PC to SSH into the computer running Plex Media Server. When I go to http://localhost:8888/web/index.html after connecting to the server PC, I see the following output in Powershell:

channel 3: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused
channel 4: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused
channel 3: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused
channel 4: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused
channel 3: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused
channel 3: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused
channel 4: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused
channel 3: open failed: connect failed: Connection refused

I’ll gladly take any troubleshooting advice you can give me. Thanks in advance.

2

Not powershell. Putty

1 Like
3

Okay, I installed PuTTY and managed to SSH into the server that way. Now what?

4

What exactly are you asking?

You started by saying you can not connect to the server with Windows Powershell SSH.

Now you say you can connect to the server with PuTTY SSH.

So the problem is solved?

I have been running Plex server in an Linux machine for over 5 years. Maybe I can help. I use Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS right now.
I have never connected to it with PuTTY or Powershell.

What are you trying to do?
did you try: $sudo service plexmediaserver status

5

I guess I should have been more specific. If I open Plex on any of my devices (like my phone or my Xbox), I can’t connect to my server. I’m not talking about connecting to the actual PC that’s running the Plex Media Server software. I’ve always been able to connect to that using both Powershell and PuTTY. I ran the command you suggested and this was the output:


● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2018-09-14 17:30:48 CDT; 22h ago
  Process: 1527 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver "/
  Process: 1525 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_AP
 Main PID: 1527 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-o
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled rest
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with re
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for L
lines 1-13/13 (END)...skipping...
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2018-09-14 17:30:48 CDT; 22h ago
  Process: 1527 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/plexmediaserver "/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Me
  Process: 1525 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d "${PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin
 Main PID: 1527 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restar
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Sep 14 17:30:48 plex-MS-7891 systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
lines 1-13/13 (END)
6

Check firewall.

Also, check NIC. I tried 18.x about three months ago and the intel nic driver was bugged and would crash constantly dropping connection during playing/recording, so switch to something else. Maybe they’ve fixed it not (this is wired intel)

if already behind a firewall disable firewalld and iptables --flush and try again.

7 
sudo journalctl -xe | grep -i plex

will show you more detail from the system log.

8

OK well there you go.

“Active: failed”
“Failed to start Plex Media Server”

So Plex is not running.

try
$sudo service plexmediaserver stop
$sudo service plexmediaserver start
$sudo service plexmediaserver status

Will it start?

Maybe try to reinstall it.

There are a few errors there that I do not know.

But Plex is not running.

9

May I see the actual output?

Have you customized your PMS installation in any way?

10

Okay, I think this is what you’re asking for. I went over the character limit, so here’s a pastebin link. To the best of my knowledge I haven’t customized my PMS installation.

11

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