Plex on my Nvidia Shield cannot access my media files on my NAS without the shared folder mounted within my laptop

[qatar777pilot_gmail_com]

Server Version#: 1.21.1.3830
Player Version#:

When I run Plex app on my Nvidia Shield, I can see the indexed catalogue of all my media, but trying to access each file I am met with “Unavailable”.

A little more detail:
Using Synology 1019+, Nvidia Shield Pro, Mac laptop with Plex Web App, all with latest updates, software versions and firmware.

I followed the setup guide shared by Plex on this forum, and I created a shared folder on my Synology nas using File Station, and confirmed permissions, and created four sub folders, and moved all photos, music, movies and video files to these sub folders.

I am pretty certain my devices are on the same subnet, but could be missing something here.

I confirmed I am logged into the same account on both Nvidia Plex and the Web App.

When I try to add media to my Libraries in Plex web app, I cannot see the locations of my created shared folder and its sub folders, unless that shared folder is “mounted” within the Mac laptop…meaning, using a finder window and connecting to the server.

This means that if the laptop is turned on, and the shared folder is mounted, then I can access all files from with the Plex server on my Nvidia Shield. But if the shared folder is not mounted, and/or the laptop is turned off, I cannot access my media files. I can still see the index of the folder and file structure, but selecting and trying to watch a movie for example ends with “unavailable”.

It seems like the Plex server on the Nvidia is not able to locate the files directly from the NAS independent of the laptop. I have spent countless hours trying to work this through, but each time I fail. Please point me to the topic where this is addressed. Thank you.

[qatar777pilot_gmail_com]

Thanks for your suggestion and speedy reply. I tried as you suggested and no luck. I did this with the main shared folder, and I noticed that after checking the box to enable “Apply to this folder, sub-folders and files”, and then clicking ok, then closing the box, then re-opening the same box, the check-box is empty. It’s not keeping the check I put in there. Does that seem normal?

[ChuckPa]

If I may add to Trumpy,

In light of it not working for the above level (user plex)

If I’m understanding correctly,

1. The server itself is on the Nvidia Shield
2. The files are on the Synology
3. The shield mounts the files directly from the Synology

What’s happening here is that your Windows machine is providing authentication between the two. The shield and Synology should , and can, work independently.

The easiest solution to this is to further relax the media permissons on the Synology.

1. “Everyone” gets Read-only
2. As detailed by Trumpy, make that apply to this folder, sub-folders and files
3. Repeat for each media share.

[qatar777pilot_gmail_com]

Yes, my trouble shooting included this and is something I tried. For my shared folder, I have given everyone at least read permission, and applied to all sub-folders and files. Still no luck. As soon as I take the laptop out of the equation, the Plex server on my Nvidia is unable to access the media files.

[qatar777pilot_gmail_com]

This is a good solution for not having to manually mount the NAS each time I open my MAC, but I want to remove my Mac from the equation all together. For example, I head out on the road with my laptop, and the family is at home and want to access the media files. If the laptop is not there with the NAS mounted, they cannot access the files (using the Plex server on the Nvidia).

[qatar777pilot_gmail_com]

Yes this is where I feel the problem is, but not sure where I have gone wrong. The Shield seems to see the NAS as a mounted storage, with a shared folder, and this doesn’t change whether the Mac is turned on or off. The only difference is when the Mac is on, I can access the media files.

Step 1) I turn on Shield, then; Settings-Device Preferences- Storage. At the bottom I have “Mount Network Storage - 1 mounted”. I click on that and I see my NAS name and its IP address. 111.22.3. 7

Step 2) I go to Synology Control Panel-Info Center-Network tab. The default gateway is same except for the last number; 111.22.3. 1 , but on this same tab, I can see “LAN 1” and its IP address is 111.22.3. 7

The IP address of my MAC is 111.22.3. 10

Step 3) Back to Shield, on the “Storage” page when I select the “Mount Network Storage - 1 mounted” it takes me to “Network Storage” page, and under “My Network Storage” I can see my NAS. I select that and on the next page I see “Mounted Shares” and I can see the shared folder I created back in Synology DSM, and that it is currently at 786 GB.

Does any of this info help?

[qatar777pilot_gmail_com]

Thank you for sticking with me and helping trouble shoot.
I am a bit confused by your first sentence: “Since your NAS is linked to the Shield, you open Plex/Web from your Shield” because as far as I know I cannot open Plex/Web from Shield, only from a browser in my Mac, but perhaps that is what you meant?
And unless I am missing something, I did this already. I followed the directions in your post just to check. The only additional step I had to perform was to sign into my account in order to access the “Add Library” section. Without signing in, I am unable to add a library. But once signed in, I can already see the previously created libraries, and the path for the files. Now, in the Movies library for example, I can see all my movies and play them, from either within the Plex/Web or from the Plex app in Shield, but only when my Mac is on.

[qatar777pilot_gmail_com]

Thank you Trumpy81 for your help. My problem was resolved by my many hours of nutting through this, getting educated, and finally with your simple question “where did you install the PMS”. Since my Shield app wasn’t able to work without my Mac, I knew that I had done something wrong, and after exhausting just about every possible cause, it was this simple question that led to the fix.

So I re-traced my install and setup back to the beginning.

The first thing I had done was install Plex app on my Shield. (The Shield is new in my system and to me).

After installing the app, it offered me to log in by using a Google account which seemed simple enough. Then it prompted me to go a specific web address which I followed…the Plex downloads page.
Once there I was shown this…

Which leads you, by it preselecting the sensed operating system, which in my case is the Mac. So I downloaded the preselected PMS on my Mac, followed the Plex app-led prompt on Shield to “Link” to the PMS. This led me down the path, and hours and hours of trouble-shooting and all your effort Trumpy81, which I believe could have been avoided, and I’ll explain how.

At some point I had downloaded and manually installed PMS on my Synology DSM and created an account using a hotmail email, and I had setup my media libraries within the default shared folder “Plex”.

Next day I opened my Mac and clicked on the Plex icon on my Dock which opened and logged in with my Google account. And since I knew this was linked to the Shield app, and being new to the Plex eco-system and unaware how the PMS crosstalk I assumed that since I had installed in on the Shield and the DSM they would be in tune.

It was only after I was retracing my steps, and uninstalled the PMS off of my Mac, that I discovered the problem. When I went to the PMS on the DSM, it wasn’t running, so I decided to open it, and when it opened it looked like a fresh instal without any of my previously created libraries, but instead, with a prompt on the screen to download PMS, which seemed odd since I was already inside the running PMS. And above the prompt button, was a note that you should download and install the PMS directly on the system where the media files are. (The prompt button simply leads back to the Plex download page).

The light was getting brighter but still I was perplexed as to why I couldn’t see my libraries. Then I noticed that I was currently signed in with my Google account that I had been signed into when using the Mac PMS. Once I logged out of that account and back into my hotmail account which I used when I downloaded PMS on DSM, the libraries I had previously created appeared, (but not the files). When I went to edit the libraries, the path to the media files was still the original ones to the Plex shared folder which had been replaced with the recommended (on the Plex forum) custom shared folder. This was the last step and once I sorted that out, finally everything works as it should. Case closed!

So what is very frustrating is that on the Plex download page, it does not mention to install PMS directly on the system that you want to use to access the media files, and choose that PMS. The only place anything like this was mentioned was on the DSM-installed PMS (the page I mentioned above). And I might never have seen this if I had simply uninstalled this instead of opening it.

An information window on the downloads page explaining which PMS you should choose and how the eco-system works would greatly help out new people, and avoid a lot of frustration.