Restoring PMS on the original computer

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.32.6.7557
Player Version#: 7.9 build 3 (Roku)

I recently transferred my server from a 2017 iMac to a 2014 Mac Mini, but am having playback issues locally and remotely. No one has responded to that post, but I’ve practically eliminated all possibilities other than the Mac Mini being the problem. So I’m thinking of switching back to the iMac.

When I did the transfer, I left PMS on the iMac. Empty Trash is still enabled and I removed Server from my startup items. Can I revert to the iMac by just reconnecting the external media drives, making PMS a startup item, enabling trash emptying, and just doing a library scan? Or are there some other critical steps, or is there some reason to do the software transfer in reverse? (I know that PMS won’t have any knowledge of what I’ve fully or partially watched on the Mac Mini, but don’t really care.)

Has anyone reverted to using PMS on their original computer?

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Easy way to move on a Mac

  1. make sure the server is not running on either computer

  2. Copy the Plex Media Server folder in ~/Library/Application Support to the same location. This is the database metadata, your local watch history and most of the stuff it needs to run

  3. Copy the com.plexapp.plexmediaserver.plist from ~/library/preferences to the same location on target computer. This is all the advanced settings and has what identifies that particular server so plex.tv thinks it is the same one and you won’t have to reshare with friends

  4. paths to media files need to be the same. If your media files are on external or network drives mount them on the new computer so the paths are the same. if it was /Volumes/USBMediaDrive/Movies then make it the same on target computer

  5. If you have port forwarding set up in router you will obviously need to set it up to the correct local IP the server is on now to have remote access work

  6. Start up the server from the Applications folder on target computer you want it on and it won’t know the difference. Do not start up server on other computer else it will think it is the same one and things will get wonky since they have the same .plist file

If you want to just start from scratch but transfer over watch states. Install on new computer as normal. There is info here on how to manually export the watch history from old server DB to a file and import to the new one just created. https://support.plex.tv/articles/201154527-move-viewstate-ratings-from-one-install-to-another/

I also used to run my PMS on a 2014 Mini but it crapped out on me about a couple years ago. whole system was getting corrupt and I had to restore from time machine like every other month.

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