# Plugin and file:/// URL - Error while opening file **URL:** \ **Category:** Dev/API Corner\ **Tags:** plugin-dev\ **Created:** [August 6, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plugin-and-file-url-error-while-opening-file/10341 "2011-08-06T17:14:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ajmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@ajmas](https://forums.plex.tv/u/ajmas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plugin-and-file-url-error-while-opening-file/10341/1 "2011-08-06T17:14:07Z")
I have a written a plugin to interface with a media server that I have written, but recently (maybe due to the latest Plex update? - using 0.9.3.4 ), it won’t open my media. The media is all accessible via “file:///” based URLs. I validated the URLs with Safari on the local machine and they open fine. All the files bring up the “error opening file” dialogue. Looking in /var/log/system.log I see nothing of note that could explain the error. I should not that changing the URL to be “http://” based, so that it used my Apache server, helped. The problem with that is that any file that is not really adapted for streaming is impacted. If this is due to some ‘security’ change, is there any way I can provided exceptions for specific plug-ins? ---
**Author:** ![qjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/838e76/32.png) [@qjones](https://forums.plex.tv/u/qjones)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plugin-and-file-url-error-while-opening-file/10341/2 "2012-12-18T14:18:22Z")
> [@](#): > > I have a written a plugin to interface with a media server that I have written, but recently (maybe due to the latest Plex update? - using 0.9.3.4 ), it won't open my media. The media is all accessible via "file:///" based URLs. I validated the URLs with Safari on the local machine and they open fine. > > All the files bring up the "error opening file" dialogue. Looking in /var/log/system.log I see nothing of note that could explain the error. I should not that changing the URL to be "http://" based, so that it used my Apache server, helped. The problem with that is that any file that is not really adapted for streaming is impacted. > > If this is due to some 'security' change, is there any way I can provided exceptions for specific plug-ins? Did you ever get this working? ---
**Author:** ![jam](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jam/32/186050_2.png) [@jam](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jam)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plugin-and-file-url-error-while-opening-file/10341/3 "2012-12-18T15:44:06Z")
File URLs are not supported for channels; they may work in a few cases (e.g with the Mac/Windows client only, and only if you have the server on the same machine) but they probably won’t work with network streaming or with any other Plex client. ---
**Author:** ![Murderous\_Moppet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@Murderous\_Moppet](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Murderous_Moppet)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plugin-and-file-url-error-while-opening-file/10341/4 "2012-12-18T17:05:12Z")
also examine the PMS log not the system log ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plugin-and-file-url-error-while-opening-file/10341/5 "2019-12-20T21:13:58Z")
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