Server Version#: Latest or semi-latest
Player Version#: N/A
Hi - I have a Win10 Plex server running smoothly for years. Recently I noticed it wasn’t running anymore so decided to restart, reboot etc - but no matter what I do, it just stop again right away. The Plex app appears in the System tray but as soon as I hover my mouse over it, it’s alread gone. It just crashes right away,
Tried removing the %LocalAppData% folder but didn’t help. I’ve tried checking logs but they aren’t helping… How I can revive my server…? Should I just reinstall using the latest installer and hope it respects my library/settings…? How can I troubleshoot this one properly?
then you have already deleted all your library data.
Unless you have previously moved your Plex data folder to a different location/drive.
If you can’t remenber whether you did that, take a look into the windows registry.
See if the registry string mentioned in this post [HowTo] Plex database modification - Moving media the right/wrong way does exist.
If it does, inspect its content. Now verify that the location therein does indeed still exist and is accessible for reading and writing (and the storage volume it’s on has still plenty of free space).
I actually renamed the folder (and when the action didn’t work, I renamed it back). No data is lost so all good, but Plex Server is still not starting unfortunately
Take a look into the windows registry.
See if the registry string mentioned in this post [HowTo] Plex database modification - Moving media the right/wrong way does exist.
If it does, inspect its content. Now verify that the location therein does indeed still exist and is accessible for reading and writing (and the storage volume it’s on has still plenty of free space).
I checked the keys at this location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server
But I don’t see any containing a file/folder location. Just different settings. Note that I didn’t make any changes, nor moved anything. This problem seemingly started out of the blue - I only renamed the LocalAppData folder temporarily for troubleshooting, but wasn’t intending on moving DB files etc.
PS: I read there should be a key “LocalAppDataPath” but that doesn’t seem to exist in my registry. Also checked a reg backup file, but it too didn’t have this key…
It will only exist, if you moved the location of the plex data folder. Its absence means that you did not.
See if you find any fatal errors in the log files.
They are located inside the plex data folder, in the subfolder Logs.
Most important is Plex Media Server.log
Already checked those logs but they don’t contain anything special… Such a weird problem which seemingly started out of nowhere. No Windows errrors either, disk space OK. WIndows update complete etc… Very weird.
Log file is:
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.254 [8776] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.32.6.7557-1cf77d501 - Microsoft PC x64 - build: windows-x86 windows - GMT 02:00
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.254 [8776] INFO - Windows version: 10.0 (Build 19045), language en-US
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.254 [8776] INFO - 4 2893 MHz processor(s): Architecture=0, Level=6, Revision=14857 Processor Identifier=Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.254 [8776] INFO - Compiler is - MSVC 1929
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.254 [8776] DEBUG - “C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\Plex Media Server.exe” -noninteractive
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.291 [5444] INFO - Starting in noninteractive mode
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.294 [5444] DEBUG - Plex for Windows Store application is not installed
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.294 [5444] DEBUG - BPQ: [Idle] → [Starting]
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.297 [5444] DEBUG - FeatureManager: Using cached data for features list
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.380 [4868] DEBUG - [JobRunner] Job running: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Plex\Plex Media Server\CrashUploader.exe” “–directory=C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Crash Reports\1.32.6.7557-1cf77d501” --version=1.32.6.7557-1cf77d501 --platform=Windows “–platformVersion=10.0 (Build 19045)” --serverUuid=c8e0fe0cbf15b912c0805c7c6f222d8d2ba8ea51 --userId=a******.com --sentryUrl=https://o17675.ingest.sentry.io/api/12345/ --sentryKey=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --vendor=Microsoft --model=x64 --device=PC
Oct 23, 2023 13:15:45.385 [4868] DEBUG - [JobRunner] Jobs: Starting child process with pid 6724
OK, decided to riks it and just ran the latest WIndows installer. Next, next, Finish and it sems to be working OK again. Library unaffected…
BUT… when I run Plex again “as a service” (via NSSM) it breaks again… Looks like something changed on Plex side which gives issues when running as Windows Service…
Will investigate but if anyone has an idea, please let me know! Thanks!
OK, I wiped the original NSSM service and recreated that as well - all fixed now. Weird that the ‘broken NSSM service’ actually broke Plex. So running the broken NSSM service once, breaks Plex, and forced me to re-install. After re-install of Plex, I had to recreate NSSM and now all is fine again!
No idea what started this but glad it’s fixed. Thanks for the help all!
I am using NSSM as well, and it works for me.
Make sure that you let NSSM run as the same Windows user account, like as you were starting PMS regularly. Otherwise access permissions in the plexdata folder can get messed up. And never, ever let it run as user SYSTEM.
Verify that you added -noninteractive as a command line parameter when starting PMS per NSSM.
Thanks, will add that switch! It worked OK for me for years but when I ran “nssm edit psm”, I simply received a message that the service did not exist (anymore). Somehow NSSM could not see the existing setup anymore. I had to create it again from scratch (and used the Windows “sc” command to remove the existing remains of the previous setup.
Nssm is more basic. You have to perform updates manually, while the service wrapper can handle this for you.
The wrapper also comes with a replacement of the tray tool.
That being said, I for one am updating manually all the time when testing new dogfood versions.
I’m not missing the tray tool and am comfortable using the default Windows service control panel.
Nssm also provides a watchdog which can automatically restart PMS if it crashed.
Hardware acceleration in “service” mode is operational since a few PMS versions. At least when using Quicksync. I have no experience using an add-on Nvidia GPU for Plex.
I used to use the service wrapper but at that time hw transcoding was not possible so I have a setup now with autologon and re-autologon after disconnecting from an RDP session and it’s working fine.
I’ll probably wait to change things until Plex comes out with a native PMS service
Just to add - as this issue kept re-occurring: It turned out to be some kind of corrupted Crash Report which caused the application to stop right away. I manually cleared all folders within the “Crash Reports” folder and since then the app just starts as normal. I think it continuously tried to upload the corrupted report, which caused the app to crash.
All smooth again now - thanks @community for your prompt responses!!
