Hello,
So for some reason PlexScriptHost.exe is running many instances and is taking up 20%-25% of memory even when the Server is not trans-coding or being used at all. This screenshot I attached is with only the Plex server running on standby.
Windows 7 Desktop
Core i3
3.1ghz
4gb Ram
Any reason why this might be? If I end all the processes my server goes away until I close it out completely and relaunch it.
Thanks,
-Matt
Also, not sure why conhost.exe is running so many times either.
I'm having the same type of stuff happening on my computer too. I don't know if it used to be an issue. Also, I'm not sure if it's related or not but about 4-5 times a day I have to close all the processes for Plex because the main program closes on it's own while I'm streaming something and simply running it again does not allow me to connect to the server, even locally on the same machine.
There is obviously a correlation between the conhost.exe and PlexScriptHost.exe instances because if you close one instance PlexScriptHost.exe there is a corresponding close of an instance of conhost.exe simultaneously by Windows. This shows poor coding on someone’s part regarding the use of the API apparently. The hit on the resources and effect on the entire system is unacceptable. Then there’s the demise of Windows Media Center with Windows 10 which makes PLEX the only compatible media server available.
@KoloheWiz said:
There is obviously a correlation between the conhost.exe and PlexScriptHost.exe instances because if you close one instance PlexScriptHost.exe there is a corresponding close of an instance of conhost.exe simultaneously by Windows. This shows poor coding on someone’s part regarding the use of the API apparently. The hit on the resources and effect on the entire system is unacceptable. Then there’s the demise of Windows Media Center with Windows 10 which makes PLEX the only compatible media server available.
There is a new issue in Plex Media Server 0.9.12.6 and may be 0.9.12.5 as well where multiple instances are spawned under certain circumstances. This should be resolved in PlexPASS release 0.9.12.7
This is one recent topic
https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/175068/0-9-12-6-plex-server-python-overwhelming-my-memory-with-hundreds-of-instances/
This issue is getting out of hand! This morning when I started my system I noticed it was moving at a snail pace. Opening Task Manager revealed 20 instances of PlexHostScript.exe running which of course paired with an identical number of conhost.exe. This is completely unacceptable as it is more akin to virus and malware activity than anything else. There is no reason whatsoever for that many instances of ANY program to load at boot up.
@KoloheWiz said:
This issue is getting out of hand! This morning when I started my system I noticed it was moving at a snail pace. Opening Task Manager revealed 20 instances of PlexHostScript.exe running which of course paired with an identical number of conhost.exe. This is completely unacceptable as it is more akin to virus and malware activity than anything else. There is no reason whatsoever for that many instances of ANY program to load at boot up.
You were told the issue was resolved in 0.9.12.7. Obviously if you have evidence that shows it is not, then the thing to do is to get the server log files and screenshots as was investigated before in the linked forum topic
So enable debug logging on plex media server version 0.9.12.7
Settings: Server : General : Show Advanced - Enable Debug Logging. Save changes
Restart Plex Media Server
When you see 20+ processes and none of them get terminated within an hour of starting then get a screenshots of the task manager showing the processes and PIDs and you could help also by getting the open files as that would easily identify the bundles they relate to - there is a free tool here http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/opened_files_view.html
and the PlexScriptHost.exe processes export from this tool into csv file together with zip of the following log files :
Plex Media Server.log
com.plexapp.system.log and com.plexapp.system.log.x files (these are in the Logs\PMS Plugin Logs folder)
Please attach these and it will get passed to the development team
You keep saying I was told the problem was solved with plex media server version 0.9.12.7. First, I was NEVER told and, more importantly, that version is not the one I have installed. The ONLY Windows version available to the public is the same one I already have: Version 0.9.12.4.1192-9a47d21. No one ever told me I had to download the Plex Pass version and there shouldn’t be a reason to do so. All that tells me is that you really only care about people that pay for your Premium service. Otherwise, the download versions would be the same no matter what. They aren’t and that says a whole lot about your business model. I can sum up your business model In three simple words: Screw the public.
@KoloheWiz said:
You keep saying I was told the problem was solved with plex media server version 0.9.12.7. First, I was NEVER told
You are making me think i may have fouled up here and responded with that information to a different person. But my response here made a few days earlier :
There is a new issue in Plex Media Server 0.9.12.6 and may be 0.9.12.5 as well where multiple instances are spawned under certain circumstances. This should be resolved in PlexPASS release 0.9.12.7
So i was referring to a new issue that was brought in version 0.9.12.5 or 0.9.12.6.
There was no indication that you were running 0.9.12.4. In fact this topic was raised by PlexPASS user at a time when a PlexPASS release introduced a new issue like this
The current position is that it is fixed in 0.9.12.8 and the changes in 0.9.12.7 were not sufficient to resolve
I do not know if you were a PlexPASS subscriber or not when you raised your post above but you are now and you should download Plex Media Server 0.9.12.8 PlexPASS release and install that version.
We could check the Registry to see if you have some old webkit advanced settings set and see if that would explain the conHost.exe processes
So please export to text file this area
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server
and edit you online token string, email address and attach here
@KoloheWiz said:
more importantly, that version is not the one I have installed. The ONLY Windows version available to the public is the same one I already have: Version 0.9.12.4.1192-9a47d21. No one ever told me I had to download the Plex Pass version and there shouldn’t be a reason to do so. All that tells me is that you really only care about people that pay for your Premium service. Otherwise, the download versions would be the same no matter what. They aren’t and that says a whole lot about your business model. I can sum up your business model In three simple words: Screw the public.
This is absolutely untrue. Initially preview and beta releases are made to PlexPASS users. Once a release is considered stable and no showstoppers it is made public
I can sum up your business model In three simple words: Screw the public.
I’m not sure why you feel that way. What @sa2000 says is true:
Initially preview and beta releases are made to PlexPASS users. Once a release is considered stable and no showstoppers it is made public
Please let me know if I can clarify anything.
“Initially preview and beta releases are made to PlexPASS users. Once a release is considered stable and no showstoppers it is made public”.
Considering the fact that the UNSTABLE resource hog version is the ONLY one available to the public, I would have to say that the above statement is not true. Also, do you tell PlexPASS users that they are being used as “program guinea pigs” (AKA Beta testers)? No. Should you? Definitely YES! Why? Unstable beta software can have completely unintended detrimental effects on a system and its data.
As for running the latest version of the server, I am now and the problem STILL EXISTS as is evident in the attached screenshot! I haven’t opened PLEX on any machine and yet there are multiple instances of the aforementioned pair of PlexHostScript.exe and Conhost.exe
As an IT professional for far longer than I care to admit, I fail to understand why anyone would knowingly release unstable software to the general public without letting them know that there are issues even though the software technically works. If you were Microsoft, I’d expect such behavior as that is the way they have been doing things since Gates left. You’re not them and should be more forthcoming with the information. There is no way anyone would consider a self-replicating-for-no-explicable-reason program stable.
The reason for my three word summation is quite simple. It’s because Plex isn’t advising them of the known stability issues with the Plex Server that is available to them. I have a friend who’s entire system crashed due to the excessive PlexScriptHost/Conhost instances. Once he removed the Plex software the system worked fine.
I have already outlined what is needed in diagnostics to try and understand why this is so. I can assure you this does not arise on systems I have observed with version 0.9.12.8.
I have already asked for the registry export and and the debug log files. Arguing about release policies and such things does not help getting the problem resolved for you.
Here we go again. The new update was installed and the multiple instances of Conhost.exe and PlexScriptHost.exe are still there. Is anyone ever going to fix this problem? It’s getting really old to see the same issue repeat itself with every update that supposedly fixes it. How many times does a problem have to be “fixed” until it actually is?
FYI: Even after closing all but one of the instances of PlexScriptHost.exe (which also closes the Conhost.exe apparently associated with it) as soon as you open the Media Manager again the multiple instances of both executables return. For something that is supposed to be fixed and that you have not observed on any other system, this sure seems like deja vu. Closing the Media Manager browser window does nothing with regards to the multiple instances as they are all still there after the browser window for Media Manager is closed. I have no channels installed either so that isn’t causing the problem. Just once it would be nice to see a recurring issue actually fixed by a software company. Might the issue lie with the use of Python instead of another programming language?
Sorry I forgot to attach the registry section for Plex after the update was installed.
@KoloheWiz said:
Sorry I forgot to attach the registry section for Plex after the update was installed.
You can remove it now - or edit out the online token and email address
@KoloheWiz said:
FYI: Even after closing all but one of the instances of PlexScriptHost.exe (which also closes the Conhost.exe apparently associated with it) as soon as you open the Media Manager again the multiple instances of both executables return. For something that is supposed to be fixed and that you have not observed on any other system, this sure seems like deja vu. Closing the Media Manager browser window does nothing with regards to the multiple instances as they are all still there after the browser window for Media Manager is closed. I have no channels installed either so that isn’t causing the problem. Just once it would be nice to see a recurring issue actually fixed by a software company. Might the issue lie with the use of Python instead of another programming language?
Each of these is tied to one of the core bundles - but it is my understanding is that they get put to sleep after a while and you should be down to just a couple or so PlexScriptHost.exe python processes. It is possible that this is not working correctly.
Would you be able to get the Plex Media Server.log and continuation logs and PMS Plugin Logs log files after a restart of Plex Media Server and covering a period of 6 hours ? so may need to save the logs several times and provide a zip and also to help the output from OpenFilesViewer for these processes?
Someone seriously needs to rethink the way PlexScriptHost.exe works. After just updating the server software, there were 22 instances of PlexScriptHost.exe & Conhost.exe running as soon as the new version launched! WTF!?! Instead of fixing the problem it seems like it’s being made worse. Time to forget about a media server all together apparently since no one seems to be able to create one that actually functions properly without killing all the system resources.
Once again the PlexScriptHost.exe / Conhost.exe multiple instances are eating resources by creating multiple instances for no reason whatsoever. The web server just installed the latest version and as soon as it was launched there were 30 instances of both PlexScriptHost.exe and Conhost.exe running!!! I closed all but one and within two minutes there were 10 of them again. If you’re trying to make enemies of the black hat kind you’re succeeding. If my CPU fries because of your software overloading the system will your company replace it and the motherboard and any other system components that get damaged? I doubt it. The biggest problem I can see from reverse engineering the software is Python which IMHO is a piece of crap and a sorry excuse for a programming language. Why not use Java since it is much faster and doesn’t use nearly the resources.
