Recently upgraded to Raspbian 'stretch' and everything is broken

[brandonwiker]

Plex pro for lifer (~4 or 5 years now probably) and I’ve spent probably 8+ hours scouring forums and trying fixes for issues I’m having (I had a few issues with the OS upgrade in general, but resolving plex media server issue is by far giving me the hardest time,) and I’ve made some progress, but for a few hours now I cannot figure out why my plexmediaserver.service doesn’t run from my raspberry pi:

root@PiServer:~# sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver
Job for plexmediaserver.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See “systemctl status plexmediaserver.service” and “journalctl -xe” for details.

root@PiServer:~# systemctl status plexmediaserver.service
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server for Linux
Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; disabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2020-12-23 15:39:03 UTC; 821ms ago
Process: 4389 ExecStartPre=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/test -d “{PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}" || /bin/mkdir -p "{PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_APPLICATION_SUPPORT_DIR}” (code=exited, status=217/USER)

Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.

root@PiServer:~# sudo journalctl -xe | grep -i plex
Dec 23 05:16:26 PiServer kernel: smsc95xx 1-1.1:1.0 eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0xCDE1
Dec 23 09:00:46 PiServer kernel: smsc95xx 1-1.1:1.0 eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0xCDE1
Dec 23 09:01:00 PiServer kernel: smsc95xx 1-1.1:1.0 eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0xCDE1
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer sudo[4134]: root : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/root ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/systemctl restart plexmediaserver
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[1]: [/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service:27] Invalid escape sequences in line, correcting: “/bin/sh -c ‘/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Server’”
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun start-up
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[4140]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed at step USER spawning /bin/sh: No such process
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=217
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun start-up
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[4146]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed at step USER spawning /bin/sh: No such process
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=217
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:20:22 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun start-up
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[4149]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed at step USER spawning /bin/sh: No such process
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=217
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:20:27 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Dec 23 15:20:33 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Dec 23 15:20:33 PiServer systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Dec 23 15:20:33 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Dec 23 15:20:33 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:20:33 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:20:33 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Dec 23 15:28:37 PiServer sudo[4206]: root : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/root ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/chown -R root:root /var/lib/plexmediaserver
Dec 23 15:38:36 PiServer usermod[4359]: add ‘root’ to group ‘plex’
Dec 23 15:38:36 PiServer usermod[4359]: add ‘root’ to shadow group ‘plex’
Dec 23 15:38:58 PiServer sudo[4375]: root : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/root ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/systemctl restart plexmediaserver
Dec 23 15:38:58 PiServer systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun start-up
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Dec 23 15:38:58 PiServer systemd[4381]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed at step USER spawning /bin/sh: No such process
Dec 23 15:38:58 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=217
Dec 23 15:38:58 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:38:58 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:38:58 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun start-up
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[4389]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed at step USER spawning /bin/sh: No such process
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=217
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:39:03 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[1]: Starting Plex Media Server for Linux…
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun start-up
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has begun starting up.
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[4394]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed at step USER spawning /bin/sh: No such process
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=217
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Dec 23 15:39:14 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service hold-off time over, scheduling restart.
Dec 23 15:39:14 PiServer systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has finished shutting down.
Dec 23 15:39:14 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Dec 23 15:39:14 PiServer systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server for Linux.
– Subject: Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed
– Unit plexmediaserver.service has failed.
Dec 23 15:39:14 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Unit entered failed state.
Dec 23 15:39:14 PiServer systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.

I’ve tried renaming preferences file, making root the owner of var/lib/plexmediaserver, restarting… I’m no pro with unix/terminal, but this appears to be complaining about USER, which appears to be setup for my root account, failing to create some sort of file/folder/process?

Dec 23 15:39:09 PiServer systemd[4394]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed at step USER spawning /bin/sh: No such process

I’m not even sure if the is the actual reason for my issues, but I can’t figure it out. Please help?

[TeknoJunky]

Did you install, or reinstall pms after you installed or upgraded?

[brandonwiker]

As far as I can tell, yes, although some errors noted at the very end here:

root@PiServer:/# apt-get install plexmediaserver -y
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
plexmediaserver is already the newest version (1.21.1.3830-6c22540d5).
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
fonts-droid fonts-roboto g+±4.9 gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-omx gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad libalgorithm-c3-perl libarchive-extract-perl libasn1-8-heimdal libasprintf0c2 libavcodec56 libavformat56
libavresample2 libavutil54 libbind9-90 libcgi-fast-perl libcgi-pm-perl libchromaprint0 libclass-c3-perl libclass-c3-xs-perl libcloog-isl4 libcpan-meta-perl libdata-section-perl libdca0 libdns100
libdvdnav4 libdvdread4 libenca0 libfaad2 libfcgi-perl libfluidsynth1 libgeoclue0 libgif4 libgphoto2-port10 libgtkglext1 libgtop2-7 libhcrypto4-heimdal libhdb9-heimdal libheimbase1-heimdal
libhunspell-1.3-0 libhx509-5-heimdal libilmbase6 libimobiledevice4 libisc95 libisccc90 libisccfg90 libisl10 libjasper1 libjavascriptcoregtk-3.0-0 libjim0.75 libjpeg8 libjpeg9 libkate1 libkrb5-26-heimdal
liblog-message-perl liblog-message-simple-perl liblwres90 libmimic0 libmjpegutils-2.1-0 libmms0 libmodplug1 libmodule-build-perl libmodule-pluggable-perl libmodule-signature-perl libmpeg2encpp-2.1-0
libmplex2-2.1-0 libmro-compat-perl libntdb1 libofa0 libopenal-data libopenal1 libopenexr6 libopenjpeg5 libpackage-constants-perl libplist2 libpng12-dev libpod-latex-perl libpod-readme-perl
libregexp-common-perl libroken18-heimdal libschroedinger-1.0-0 libsoftware-license-perl libsoundtouch0 libspandsp2 libsrtp0 libstdc+±4.9-dev libswscale3 libterm-ui-perl libtext-soundex-perl
libtext-template-perl libusbmuxd2 libvo-aacenc0 libvo-amrwbenc0 libvpx1 libwebkitgtk-3.0-0 libwebkitgtk-3.0-common libwebp5 libwebrtc-audio-processing-0 libwildmidi1 libwind0-heimdal libx264-142
libxfce4util6 libxkbcommon0 libzbar0 python-ntdb python-support vnc4server xbase-clients zlib1g-dev
Use ‘apt autoremove’ to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up plexmediaserver (1.21.1.3830-6c22540d5) …
dpkg: error processing package plexmediaserver (–configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
plexmediaserver
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[TeknoJunky]

Well there you go at the end of the log, plex isn’t installed correctly, so it’s not gonna run correctly.

You may also want to consider doing the apt auto remove to clear out all those old/unneeded packages.

[brandonwiker]

I ran apt autoremove now, thanks. Now I removed plexmedia server and tried reinstalling but it is failing… I guess I go to plex support?

[ChuckPa]

Or Plex Support comes here

Obvious questions:

1. grep plex /etc/passwd
2. ls -la /var/lib/plexmediaserver

These two must resolve correctly for systemd to start Plex.

I do suspect a username/permission problem on the Plex $HOME (/var/lib/plexmediaserver) directory.

case & point:

WTHeck ?

Dec 23 15:28:37 PiServer sudo[4206]: root : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/root ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/chown -R root:root /var/lib/plexmediaserver

If looking to change the user Plex runs as , this isn’t how it’s done

Dec 23 15:20:17 PiServer systemd[1]: [/etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service:27] Invalid escape sequences in line, correcting: “/bin/sh -c ‘/usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex\ Media\ Server’”

This is not how to override a service. It’s using a very old service file from when initially broken by Debian/Ubuntu 16.