Server Version#: 1.32.8.7639
Player Version#: Multiple - Xbox One/One X/Series X
Operating System: Windows Server 2019.Standard
Recently Plex started spawning multiple and numerous “Plex Transcoder.exe” processes on the server. The last screenshot I was able to get shows a total of ~92 of these processes running each consuming 6.4 Mb of memory. I’ve attached a dump from Process Explorer showing all the processes running at the time. I don’t realize this until the server starts behaving weird (inability to Remote Desktop into the server, unable to open Task Manager from console, etc.). Essentially it consumes all resources on the server to the point where I have to hard power off the server because it’s not responding.
This happened on a previous version of Plex Media Server (unsure which version). This pushed me to update to the latest and current build, but this problem is still occurring on the version listed above.
Plex is not extended outside of the home. We use Plex sparingly and infrequently from 2 rooms for movie playback. So I’m not seeing how it’s possible for 92 processes to be running simultaneously.
Looking for input on how I can fix this problem. My server has locked up 3 times now and seems to be happening every 30 days or so at this point. This certainly sounds like a software issue, but perhaps there are settings I can tweak to lessen the severity or eliminate it altogether. After doing some research I decided to tweak the “Maximum simultaneous video transcode” located under Settings → Transcoder and today I’ve changed this from the default of “Unlimited” down to “2”. Will observe behavior from here.
Attached are 2 screenshots - 1st one of Task Manager showing 12 “Plex Transcoder.exe” processes running, and the 2nd of Plex showing Top Users and Play History. This is 5 days after a server reboot and ZERO Plex client usage in that timeframe, as shown in the 2nd screenshot. There’s no reason for the transcoder to even be running if there are no clients streaming from it. As a reminder, I already changed “Maximum simultaneous video transcode” from the default of “Unlimited” down to “2”, but that clearly has no effect here.
It figures the 64-bit release would come out a month after my server upgrade and Plex reinstall. I’ll do that next and observe behavior.
Setting that aside, why would I have all these Plex Transcoder processes when it’s not even transcoding anything? Is this a known issue with the 32-bit release? Does this not affect the 64-bit release? I have 2 more processes running now since I last checked yesterday.
It’s also worth noting that stopping all Plex services does not kill off any of the Plex Transcoder processes. I have to kill them all manually.
I run the 64-bit installer and point it to the same folder as where it’s currently installed. It detects the 32-bit installed and states it will uninstall it. Proceeds and everything completes as expected. I open Plex Media Server and I’m immediately greeted with a “Plex Media Server was unable to open its media database.”
I’ve had zero issues before the upgrade. I can only suspect it’s something to do with the uninstall/reinstall. Quick search shows there are no obvious causes from a 64-bit installation. I found the Plex article about database corruption and ran the first check for database integrity and that showed no issues. The command “PRAGMA integrity_check;” simply returns “ok”. I’m hesitant to run any of the following steps for repair as I’m not inclined to believe I actually have any database corruption. I’m halting where I am to see if anyone has any suggestions.
Any reason I would run into this specifically after a 32-bit to 64-bit upgrade? Any suggestions for troubleshooting or repair?
Problem solved…UAC issue. I ran Plex Media Server as administrator and it started up as expected without the database error. Closed it down and reinstalled the new version of PlexService that supports 64-bit PMS, got that reconfigured and running. Everything seems to be good now. I also rebooted the server once for good measure.
I’ll monitor this for the next week and see how it goes.
It’s not running as an admin. I created a dedicated serivce account for Plex, which only has access to the folders Plex is installed into.
Perhaps you or someone else more knowledgeable than I with Plex can explain why I needed to run it as admin perhaps just the first time after the install/upgrade, but without doing so it was erroring out with that message about the database. Again, likely because I was using a service account for the Plex service, and I do not login to the console of the server with that account…hence the need for UAC to kick in. Perhaps if I had went straight into installing PlexService with using my dedicated account I wouldn’t have run into that problem, but I wouldn’t have done that without verifying it was working properly first.
Regardless, I ran it once to verify it was working properly. Shut it down. Installed the PlexService app, pointed it to the Plex folder, and configured it to use my Plex service account, and everything started as expected.
Indications are nothing has changed and upgrading to 64-bit did not solve the problem.
Plex was upgraded on the evening of Tuesday 1/30. Went from 1.32.8.7639 (32-bit) to 1.32.8.7639 (64-bit). On the morning of Wednesday 1/31 I recorded that Task Manager was showing 3 x “Plex Transcoder.exe” processes running. I checked in the evening of Wednesday 1/31 before heading to bed and it was holding steady with the same 3 processes and the exact same amount of memory usage. On the morning of Thursday 2/1 I woke up and checked to find that Task Manager is now showing 8 x “Plex Transcoder.exe” processes. This time again there has been ZERO client usage of Plex Media Server since the upgrade. Aside from opening up the web interface on my PC to confirm it was working with my library intact, no media was accessed. Based on this I can only assume there is some automated process kicking in overnight that is triggering this usage??
Right, but isn’t that application only responsible for kicking off PMS as a service? I don’t believe it would have any bearing on the transcoder. Either way, it’s been updated to the newest version that supports 64-bit PMS, so we’re all good there.
I’ll try disabling DLNA. There was a reason I enabled that functionality but it escapes me at the moment. I’ll disable it and monitor the behavior, and if it does help then I’ll later just have to see if it broke something I was using.
Either he hasn’t changed the tag on that release to be “latest” or it’s considered a beta release, which is why I didn’t find that initially. I went ahead and upgraded to this newer version and will observe behavior.
Disabled DLNA server as suggested and also upgraded PlexService to the latest beta release. Did a full reboot of the server again. After the reboot and the Plex services started, there were no “Plex Transcoder.exe” processes. The next morning there were 3 processes, the following morning there were 4 processes, and just checking now we’re up to 8 processes.
The problem is still occurring. Is there anything else to troubleshoot, or is this considered a bug at this point?
Up to 12 processes when I checked again this morning. It is always, and only, incrementing overnight…I would say between 1-6 AM. I can only assume it’s some scheduled Plex task that’s running overnight. Thoughts?
Switch off the Lyrics download for your music library, for now. It has a known crash.
If you don’t have a music library, disable the nightly “analysis” activities. (“intro detection”, “credits detection”, “sonic analysis”, “loudness analysis” etc.)
Do it one by one, to find out which one is the likely culprit.
