I’ve seen a few similar topics on this forum but my problem seems to be different.
I’m not a noob with Windows, I’ve solved this kind of problem many times in the past but this one has beaten me so far.
The Plex server was working great until a Windows 11 update a few days ago. Since then the server refuses to run. Here’s what I’ve found so far:
If I try to start the server (from the start menu or directly selecting the .exe file) the cursor spins for a second suggesting that it’s busy, Plex Media Server.exe appears in Task Manager for a second then disappears. After that the server doesn’t appear in the system tray and does not show up in the list of running applications in Task Manager.
The Plex Update Service does remain in Task Manager (but not the server).
I tried uninstalling / re-installing - no fix.
I tried uninstalling / re-starting windows / re-installing - no fix.
I checked the logs, but there are no log files with a date beyond the date of the Windows update, so I don’t think the server is getting far enough to log anything. Without some form of diagnostic data I don’t really know where to go from here.
Is there anything else I can do to debug this problem?
I’m guessing that the problem is with a file or setting or registry entry that doesn’t get deleted/replaced during the uninstall/re-install process. Is there a way to totally uninstall everything and start again? I don’t want to re-install Windows if I can help it.
Without the server running there’s no ‘manage’ option in the menu (suggested by the help in the link you shared). The instructions there must assume that the server is actually running.
I can only find a ‘Plex Web Debug’ option which, I assume, is the debug output of the web app and nothing to do with the server.
There doesn’t appear to be any server logs since the Windows update, I can’t find any .log files with dates newer than 10th Feb.
If the database is corrupt, could that be one of the files that isn’t deleted during the uninstall process? Maybe I could manually delete it and try again?
Have you checked the link (server logs) and looked for the logs in the server’s data directory (as per the chapter on how to manually find the log files)?
I would suggest to first try the windows restore if by some chance you have never turned it on try uninstalling the update to see ifs the update or a file corruption during the update
To uninstall a Windows update in Windows 11, navigate to Settings > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates, then select the specific update (typically the latest) and click "Uninstall
Yes, I looked in the logs. The server hasn’t create anything new since the windows update, so there’s nothing in the logs pertaining to the failure to start.
I didn’t think of that before. I tried it with no luck. The server still fails silently.
I had a conversation with Google Gemini and it suggested a few things to try but none of these worked. I’m listing these here in case it helps someone else:
Move the database file into a different folder, if the server starts then it was a corrupt .db file.
Remove any files in the database folder that end with .db-shm or .db-wal. These might be ‘locked’ database files left after a crash and will fool plex server into thinking that another file has the database open.
In the registry key “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, [moderator edit: delete AI nonsense]
In the Details tab in Task Manager, look for any processes using the port 32400. If there are, kill them. Plex server uses this port and might not start if it’s already taken.
As I said, none of these worked for me. Any other ideas?
I found and fixed the problem. I’m adding this solution here in case it helps someone else.
After running the Event Viewer (Win+R → eventvwr) there were a bunch of Application Errors listed in the Windows Logs\Application section. These errors mentioned Plex Media Server and also showed that the faulting module was my Nvidia driver (nothing to do with Plex directly).
I used Device Manager to roll back the Nvidia driver to the previous version and Plex Media Server ran successfully after that.
It seems that the Plex server has no mechanism for reporting errors that prevent starting. I assume that the updated Nvidia driver made it incompatible with Plex server.
The Windows update must have also updated the Nvidia driver. This will be the first place I look if this ever happens again.
