Plex picking up folders but not movies

Server Version#: 1.16.2.1321
Player Version#: 718.1.11300

Hi,
I am currently having trouble getting Plex to pick up all of my movies. I have Plex media server running in a container on Unraid. It is set up to point at my Media/Movies folder which contains a folder for each movie and inside each folder is the file. I only just set this up last weekend so only have 3 movies. Only one of which is actually being displayed by Plex.

I have Vice saved under Media/Movies/Vice (2018)/Vice (2018).mkv. I also have Shazam! saved under Media/Movies/Shazam! (2019)/Shazam! (2019).mkv and John Wick under Media/Movies/John Wick (2014)/John Wick (2014).mkv. Plex is successfully picking up Vice but neither of the other two. Originally when I switched to folder view it only showed the folder for Vice but then I ‘Refreshed all metadata’ and it suddenly picked up the other 2 folders but still not the actual movie files.

I have tried doing the ‘Plex Dance’, I have tried changing naming conventions on the files and I have tried moving them between different folders and libraries but to no avail. The funny thing I found was that when doing the ‘Plex Dance’ and I moved the movie Vice to a different folder that wasn’t being monitored by a library in Plex and rescanned library files, it still displayed the movie Vice when I would have expected it to be removed from the library. Is this normal functionality?

I’m at a bit of a loss with this so any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

The “Media” directory is exclusive-access to you alone in Ubuntu when the desktop is installed.

You must alter the permissions.
If no external drives are involved,

find /full/path/part/here/Movies -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
find /full/path/part/here/Movies -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;

Linux default security is what’s preventing user Plex from seeing your files.
It is very strict about that.

The full how-to is here.

Hello. I would do away with the idea of a folder for each movie. The only time you need this is when you have a movie with more than one part. I have all of my movies in a single folder (Movies) and I point the Plex media server at that folder. I have a separate folder for TV Shows. Naming convention should not stop you from seeing them, but could alter any meta data you might see if named properly. Also, either set your plex to scan your library automatically (to start), or force a scan after your make changes to the files/structure. That way you will see what your changes have done immediately.

Plex naming standard is a folder for each movie.
This allows extras to be placed WITH the movie and avoid interfering with other movies.

I have never had more than one folder for my movies. Movies CAN be put in their own folder, but it is NOT necessary unless they are Multi-Part movies. I have never had an issue and as you can see below, it is an acceptable best practice from PLEX.

It is true, if you never have extras, you can put them in one folder.
Most users eventually do end up with extras so it is best practice , hence the standard, to start this way from the beginning. Curating is much easier.

Returning to the OP now and the permissions issues.

Thank you for your response.

I have ran the commands on the relevant folders but it hasn’t made a difference. I had a look at the folder permissions through Krusader and found that the folder has R/W permissions for all users and all apps.

The Media shares security is also set to public so should be accessible to everything on the machine.

Verify: DEBUG logging enabled, VERBOSE logging disabled.

Now rescan the library again.

(this lets me look for any permission errors but doubt it’s permissions at this point).

No permissions errors showing, a proper Dance is needed:

  1. Move media out
  2. Scan files
  3. Empty Trash
  4. Clean Bundles
  5. Move back
  6. Scan files

This is necessary because PMS keeps the file’s checksum (fingerprint). Once incorrectly matched (based on the previous bad name), it must forget the file ever existed.

Settings - Server - Download Logs

I will inspect the ZIP file

I did the dance but still no difference. Since troubleshooting this, another download has finished for Alita Battle Angel and the folder is showing up in Plex but again, not the movie itself.

I have attached the log files for you.Plex Media Server Logs_2019-07-21_10-20-05.zip (1.0 MB)

Thank you for the logs but VERBOSE logging has flushed ALL the useful information.
With Verbose enabled, we see at most 2 minutes of elapsed time.
Please don’t use VERBOSE until requested.

DEBUG on, VERBOSE off (the defaults).

What is the file name (including extension) exactly as you have it please ?
If MP4, does it contain metadata? Most downloaded content does.
What does MediaInfo show?

If filename is ambiguous (resulting in less than 60% match probability),
or embedded metadata is ambiguous ,
It will fail to match.

Ah, sorry. I misread your previous message as VERBOSE enabled. With DEBUG on and VERBOSE off what actions would you like me to carry out?

One of the affected files is called “Shazam! (2019).mkv”. How do I view MediaInfo?

I have disabled VERBOSE logging, rescanned the library and then done the dance. Please find the logs below.

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-07-21_10-54-35.zip (1.1 MB)

Remove the !. Bounce (dance) the media file again (full sequence).

Please observe

[chuck@lizum Shazam (2019).253]$ ll
total 40
drwxrwxrwx   2 chuck chuck  4096 Jul 21 13:50 ./
drwxrwxrwx 505 chuck chuck 28672 Jul 21 13:49 ../
-rw-rw-rw-   1 chuck chuck   127 Jul 21 13:50 Shazam (2019).mkv
[chuck@lizum Shazam (2019).254]$ 

mediainfo filename.ext

or

ffmpeg -i filename.ext

I have removed the ! from both the folder name and file name and done the dance. However, I am still not seeing the movie in the library. Please see the logs attached.

Plex Media Server Logs_2019-07-21_11-02-11.zip (1.2 MB)

Just realized this is docker. It explains why I am not understanding.

Jul 21, 2019 09:56:31.394 [0x14d32c255700] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.16.2.1321-ad17d5f9e - Docker Docker Container (LinuxServer.io) x86_64 - build: linux-x86_64 debian - GMT -07:00
Jul 21, 2019 09:56:31.394 [0x14d32c255700] INFO - Linux version: 4.19.56-Unraid, language: en-US
Jul 21, 2019 09:56:31.394 [0x14d32c255700] INFO - Processor         Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz

I can’t get my head around it nor make it work right. my apologies.

Retagging for server-unraid and server-docker
They can help you out more than I can.

Ok, thank you for all your help so far.

Do check on the Unraid side (outside the container) at the permissions.
I don’t think Plex’s UID has appropriate permissions.
I don’t see Permission Denied errors (which I should be seeing).

If not permissions, maybe one more thing.

Which directories are you adding?

if /media/movies/Shazam is the path, Are you adding /media/movies as the top of the Movies library section?

The SMB share settings for the media share are set to public so I would have thought Plex has the correct permissions as it can see one of the movies on the media share, just not the other 3. Do I have to explicitly give Plex’s UID permission to something outside of the container?

The directory for the movies library is /media/movies.

SMB? does it have NFS? SMB on linux is PAINFUL and often fraught with problems.

SMB → Windows servers
NFS → Linux servers

SMB only supports one UID (you). It won’t support Plex’s UID.
NFS already is designed for multiple UIDs concurrently.

:slight_smile:

The file system type of the drive is XFS but I’ve just checked the user shares set up on the drive (which is where the media share is) and it only shows SMB security settings. Under the NFS security settings, there is just a dash. I can’t see anywhere to edit the NFS security settings for the share.