Hi, I’m new to Plex and Plex Forums and couldn’t easily see how to ask questions. I’ve spent an afternoon trying to get Plex on my PC to see the existing music folder on my Synology DS216J. I have an existing folder called music on the NAS (which Windows and JRiver et al) can see. I have installed PMS on the NAS. I have installed Plex on my PC. I can watch TV on my PC in Plex. My Plex app can see the name of my NAS and I can browse in Plex to the correct folder on the NAS. But Plex will simply not add the music from it.
After a large amount of digging I find a ref that the existing shared default music folder in DSM can’t be used by Plex. Have I got that right? And if so, I have to move my entire collection from where it is to a different folder on the NAS?
The problem is Synology uses those for their own applications and has a nasty habit of resetting permissions on those folders. When that happens, Plex may not be able to see the media.
Many people create a new shared folder such as /media, then pace their files in that folder.
/media
../movies
../tv shows
../music
You need to give Plex permission to access the folders, sub-folders, and files. Read only is sufficient. Grant read-write if you want to create optimized versions, record live tv with a tuner, etc.
This varies slightly for DMS 6 vs DSM 7. On DSM 6 systems, Plex runs under the username “Plex.” On DSM 7 systems, Plex Media Server runs under the username “PlexMediaServer.”
Example using Video shared folder:
This is for DSM 7. DSM 6 should be similar, and will use local user “Plex” instead of PlexMediaServer.
Login to Synology NAS. User must have admin rights.
Control Panel → Shared Folders
Select the desired folder and Edit
Permissions Tab
Change Local Users to System Internal Users
For PlexMediaServer, select Custom.
Grant Read or Read/Write access (Admin not needed) + Done
IMPORTANT: You will be back at the Edit Shared Folder window. Check the box to Apply to This Folder, Sub-Folders, and Files, then save.
