Plex Server does not list the files that are in the folder

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 4.22.2
Player Version#: latest

I installed Plex Server on Linux Fedora and any way I add the movies and series folder to the library, Plex does not list them.

Finally, I added the Series folder and the files in /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Series and still don’t list anything, help!

2

May I make a suggestion?

Go back to the OS you know. This isn’t going to work out well for you.

3

Interesting, can you talk more about it?
Several tried?
Plex doesn’t run well on Fedora, what’s the problem?
I used Ubuntu.

4

The latest version of plex for Linux does not appear to look into sub directories, I recently updated versions and I went from nearly 2000 movies to under 200. I had been grouping some files in sub directories under main library since I started using Plex but those are not visible and if I have multiple directories for moves ie. /plex/movies and /plex2/movies it is only scanning the first folder in the list.

plexmediaserver-1.18.8.2527-740d4c206.x86_64
OS: CentOS Linux release 8.0.1905 (Core)

5

Plex runs fine on Fedora. I’ve been using Fedora for years.
I just switched to Ubuntu because I have other development needs.

I have multiple VMs for my development and Plex runs fine in every single one of them.

When someone says “Plex doesn’t see files” or “Doesn’t look in subdirectories”, the problem is always permissions.

Newcomers to Linux often don’t understand Linux supports multiple concurrent usernames simultaneously.

Plex is a user on the system just as you are.

Default Linux permission rules are very simple: Linux will not allow one user to see another user’s files unless that user has expressly granted permission to see them

This means:

  1. Just because you can see them, user “plex” can’t by default.
  2. You must grant permission for user “plex” to read them.

I strongly recommend reading up (google is your friend) on how Linux permissions work.

In the interrim, here is the easiest and safest way to make your files so “plex” can read them. ( Take pieces of this and apply to your needs as appropriate )

  1. Assume: /home/plexmedia is where I want to keep my movies.
  2. My linux username is: chuck and want full access to the media at all times.
  3. I want to give Plex permission to read everything I put there
  • Create the space
sudo sh
mkdir /home/plexmedia
chown chuck.chuck /home/plexmedia
chmod 755 /home/plexmedia

  • Move the media into /home/plexmedia
    (use whichever means you want to)

  • With the media all moved into this new area.

find /home/plexmedia -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
find /home/plexmedia -type f -exec chnod 644 {} \;
  • These last two find commands when applied to that directory tree (/home/plexdata) assigned permissions for everything. The result is: I, as owner have RWX/RW, Everything else has Read-Only.

When media suddenly goes ‘missing’, applying permission corrections will restore visibility.

6

Regarding my first comment:

  1. Anyone familar with Linux doesn’t put media in /var. It’s the smallest partition on the whole system.
  2. Further, /var/lib/plexmediaserver is the metadata. Media goes elsewhere. There are countless threads in this forum detailing precisely this point.

ps: I will apologize if i seem cranky… i feel like crap but am still trying to help.

9

There is a same problem on windows, server is looking offline, pms last version is a problem, please check the last version and check the forum complains you will see many users have server connections problems.
[/quote]

10

Thanks, I thought permission issues at first as well, but I have been running the same permissions Owner plex group plex and 644 for years and this appears to have started with the new release. For giggles I did change permissions to 755 on my /plex/movies and left /plex2/movies as 644 still was not ‘seeing’ /plex/movies in original library if I have multiple directories.

I created a 2nd movie library with just /plex/movies , it scanned without issues and files were visible.

As I was typing above, I noticed that the old library started showing the files again!?!?! Library corruption?

11

#1: Say it ain’t so, Chuck. I thought current thinking was to throw everything in the root partition (yes, that’s more than a little snarky, and NOT pointed at Chuck.)
#2: I have a funny feeling that there are a lot of Plex users who don’t really understand the difference between data (this would be all of your media files,) and metadata (the description of use of those files & PMS management data.)

Get better. There’s never really a good time to be under the weather, now is particularly bad.

12

Managing perms on Linux can be really problematic.

I have a couple How-To’s on this. The one I think of most help for folks is leveraging the setgid bit (inheritance)

This bad boy will leverage the directory perms, which leverages the file perms. everbody wins.

13

regarding distros and partition sizes.

There are some with as little as 16 GB for root (they autosize :roll_eyes:)
No way in hades will PMS run there very long.

There’s 3 types of data flying around here:

  1. PMS (the software) in /usr/lib/plexmediaserver
  2. The metadata which describes the media and storage for the posters which is in /var/lib/plexmediaserver
  3. The media files themselves.

I take care of the first two with my installation scripting.
Users only need make certain user plex has permission to read their media files - wherever they may be (usually on NAS or external storage)

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