PMS Won't Starting After Following Migration Guide Ubuntu 18.04

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Server Version#: 1.15.3.835
Player Version#: Web 3.93.1

I just upgraded my main boot drive from a 256 SATA SSD to a 1TB NVMe drive. Other than that, I kept my OS configuration nearly the same on Linux Mint 19.1. Plex Media Server started successfully, then I started following this guide: https://support.plex.tv/articles/201370363-move-an-install-to-another-system/

I had the old SSD mounted so as soon as I ran sudo cp -a @/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application\ Support /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/ and then sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver it failed to work. I noticed that the folder wasn’t owned by plex:plex since the umask was from the old install, so I changed that with chown -R, tried restarting again, no luck.

I’d appreciate some help. At this point I might even settle for just getting it up and then letting it chug for a few hours rebuilding the metadata.

The error logs and super vague:

Mar 31 15:42:56 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Mar 31 15:42:56 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 2.
-- Subject: Automatic restarting of a unit has been scheduled
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Automatic restarting of the unit plexmediaserver.service has been scheduled, as the result for
-- the configured Restart= setting for the unit.
Mar 31 15:42:56 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Mar 31 15:42:56 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server...
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Mar 31 15:42:56 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: Started Plex Media Server.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished start-up
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished starting up.
-- 
-- The start-up result is RESULT.
Mar 31 15:42:56 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=255/n/a
Mar 31 15:42:56 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

...

Mar 31 15:43:01 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Mar 31 15:43:01 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Mar 31 15:43:01 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Mar 31 15:43:01 aaron-Mint-Rig systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server.
-- Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: http://www.ubuntu.com/support
-- 
-- Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
-- 
-- The result is RESULT.
2

Yeah… I tried everything, including going back to the old SSD for a quick boot, making sure I was updated to the latest server version there, signed out, etc etc. No luck.

It just didn’t like my old Application Support folder. I had tried removing plexmediaserver with dpkg but left the config files and no luck. So I ran sudo rm -rf /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/ to get rid of the folder, ran the install again and it starts fine in Systemd.

I guess I’ll just be mean to my new NVMe drive and let it create all the metadata again. All the actual content was on a separate RAID array so no big deal.

3

If you still have the original data (/var/lib/plexmediaserver directory) available, the process is simple on Linux.

  1. Mount that drive somewhere
sudo mount  /dev/xxxxx /mnt
  1. Create the backup image
sudo sh
cd /mnt/var/lib/plexmediaserver
tar cfz /home/PlexBackup.tar.gz  ./Library
  1. Go to the new location where you have Plex and restore the backup
cd /var/lib/plexmediaserver
mv Library Library.unused
tar xf /home/PlexBackup.tar.gz .
  1. Correct the permissions
sudo chown -R plex:plex ./Library

Did you have any customizations you wished to apply?

4

Hmmm. I wonder why it didn’t work then. Maybe it needs the entire directory structure from /var/lib/plexmediaserver/ up. The guide says to only move the /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/ folder.

I’ll have to try again some other time, I just wanted it up before the weekend was up and I only have a 2TB library.

5

It does need the directory structure. This is why the easiest way is to use tar

I have submitted changes to get the support page updated

6

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.