I have my old laptop running PMS, with the server name Lappy2k. Sadly, this laptop is on its last legs, so I’ve gotten a second one, and installed PMS on the second one with the intent to start migrating over. As part of the installation process, I signed into my Plex account and set up a server on the second laptop, with the name Mediarama. However, as soon as I did, Lappy2k stopped showing up, even on my original laptop. Even with PMS shut down on the second laptop, and running on the first, the only server listing on the original laptop is Mediarama. Have I somehow overwritten a server on a separate laptop, just by setting up one on the same network under the same account? If so, can I recover Lappy2k? Thanks in advance for the help!
Verify that Plex server is still running on the old machine. Start it, then watch the Plex task tray icon. If it vanishes when you mouse over it, the server is crashing.
If the icon stays, you can try to re-claim the old Plex server into your account. You need to reclaim your server, but don't dare to touch the Windows Registry
(you better shut down the new machine while trying this)
Thank you so much! My heart was in my throat for a minute there. Should I avoid running PMS on the new machine until I’ve copied over all the metadata, etc., from the old one?
That depends.
If you want to copy all data from the old to the new machine (including the registry data), you cannot run the old anymore.
There is a method to modify the old installation so it can continue to keep running independently from the new one. However, this should be done only after you’ve successfully copied over everything and verified that the new machine behaves as it should.
Furthermore, you want to ensure that both the new and the old server are shut down during the copy process, which can last for hours (believe me, I’ve done this several times).
OK, thanks for the advice. I have Plex installed to a non-default path on the old machine (D:\Plex\Data\Plex Media Server), as the old laptop had a secondary SATA drive that was larger than the SSD OS drive. However, the new laptop doesn’t have a secondary drive, so I’m planning on installing to the default path on the C drive of the new machine. Will this cause issues if I’m following the steps outlined in https://support.plex.tv/articles/201370363-move-an-install-to-another-system/ ? Or should I just go ahead and make a new topic entirely for questions on those details? Thanks again!
I’d use a more conveniently placed folder, like e.g. C:\Plexdata for the plex data folder on the new machine.
I consider the default location (inside a particular Windows user’s home folder) as too limiting, particularly should you later decide to run it under a “restricted” Windows user account, or as a Windows background service.
See if it has at least a second m2 SSD slot. You can never have too many of these.
OK, uninstalled PMS on the new machine and reinstalled it to the C:\Plex\Plex Media Server path, that’s a great point on the Windows permissions. Haven’t launched it yet, have PMS shut down on both machines. On the old machine, there’s no \Plex Media Server folder under AppData\Local, LocalLow, or Roaming. Does this imply that all the data I’ll need to recreate my old server on the new machine will be in my D:\Plex\Data\Plex Media Server\ path?
That’s not what I meant. Changing the installation folder only changes the location of the program folder, which is not necessary.
Uninstall it again, then reinstall it to the default path.
Only move the Plex data folder to the convenient location.
That’s just as expected, as you have previously moved it to D:\Plex\Data\Plex Media Server
Just copy old machine D:\Plex\Data\Plex Media Server to new machine C:\Plexdata\Plex Media Server.
Then import the registry backup.
Then edit the registry and change the LocalAppDataPath to point to C:\Plexdata
See [HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows for details about that.
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