Forgive me if I’m having an incredibly slow moment, but I’m in the process of migrating my current Windows server to a new Synology DS423+ and running into issues reclaiming my server. I’ve followed guides in this forum by stopping the service on Windows, zipping the PMS folder, extracting it into my Synology with a given filepath etc, but this is where my problem begins.
The first time I followed these steps, I booted up PMS from my Synology after installation, hoping to be greeted with an option to reclaim my server. I wasn’t, and Plex subsequently created a new instance. I went into Settings on plex.tv to see my old Windows server (understandably) unavailable, with no option to reclaim.
I’ve tried uninstalling PMS from my Synology several times since, trying to use a reclaim token during install, but every time I do, I’m reclaiming this new instance rather than my existing Windows server. Am I missing something here, or is there a way to specify which server I’d like to reclaim during setup?
You still have the zip file from the Windows system, correct?
If so:
On the Synology NAS, uninstall Plex Media Server. Choose the Erase option to completely uninstall the application. This will remove the application and the contents of the Plex Data Folder for the new instance.
With File Station, check the /PlexMediaServer shared folder. If there is anything in there, delete it.
I do indeed - unfortunately, I’ve tried those steps and I still get the same outcome. I wasn’t originally clearing /PlexMediaServer so hoped that would fix it, but when I reclaim during installation, I still end up with the new instance rather than my existing one from Windows.
Could it be related to IP address? I’ve set up a static IP for the NAS which has created this new instance, would changing the IP force it to look elsewhere?
Edit: If it helps, I’m running the latest DSM (7.2) and installing the latest build of PMS from https://plex.tv/downloads natively.
The NAS must have a RFC-1918 compliant private network address. Other than that, changing the IP address will not matter.
Make sure the default gateway, netmask, and DNS server(s) are correctly configured.
Synchronize the NAS with an NTP server to make sure system time is correct. Control Panel → Regional Options → Time tab → Synchronize with NTP server. Pick a server then Update Now.
Now, back to the migration....
As a preparatory step, on the NAS, go to Control Panel → Security and change the logout timer to a high number, such as 3600 minutes. You can change it back after the migration.
Make sure the PlexMediaServer system internal user has access to the Plex shared folder. If it does not, the migration cannot proceed.
Move the Plex Data Folder files from the Windows system into the Plex (not PlexMediaServer) shared folder as mentioned in the FAQ.
In File Station, the path is /Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/, with Cache, Codecs, etc. folders in the Plex Media Server folder.
In Control Panel → Shared Folder, edit the Plex shared folder.
Permissions Tab, change Local Users to System Internal User.
Scroll down to the PlexMediaServer user and select Custom.
Select all permissions: Administration + Read + Write. Done.
IMPORTANT: You will be back at the Edit Shared folder Plex window. Check the box to Apply to this folder, sub-folders and files. Save.
You should now be able to proceed with the migration.
Uninstall Plex Media Server with the Erase option and clean out the PlexMediaServer shared folder if necessary.
Re-install Plex Media Server. It should see the files in /Plex and migrate them to /PlexMediaServer.
If the process works correctly, when complete, there will be a Migration.log file in /Plex.
Depending on how much data has to be moved, the migration may take some time. Do not interrupt it (or you will have to start over). If you logout, the process will still run, but you cannot track progress (hence increasing the logout timer).
EDIT: It the process fails, check the Plex shared folder for a migration.log file. If it exists, upload to the thread.
Well, now I feel like a total idiot! I checked my PMS export for the cache and codecs as you mentioned, and realised I’ve been migrating the wrong PMS folder. I’ve been exporting the one from Program Files, not the one in %localappdata% - you can tell it’s been a long day, I should’ve realised when the zip was only 90MB.
Will give this a try now and see how it goes.
Edit: With my correct PMS folder being almost 6GB, I’ve ran into the unzipping issue which appears to be quite common. Now using 7-zip instead of the native extract tool, which looks like it’ll take around 5 hours. I suspect the data migration on install will take a long time too so we’ll see the results tomorrow.
