Server is unclaimed / Server settings unavailable

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.29.1.6276
Player Version#: 4.87.2

After having the issue of the server not starting on macOS 10.12.6 and installing the beta version above, I suddently have been caught by the “server settings unavailable” problem. I have tried installing the official Plex Pass build, but nothing changed. I ran repair on the databases. I tried the fix of deleting the appropriate entries in the Preferences file, and still no luck!

So far I think I have read and followed every tip and trick I could find, other than uninstalling and re-installing completely, though it seems like that has never worked for those who have been in this same place. My other server on 10.11.6 is still fine and didn’t suffer from this problem, but I didn’t install the beta version of PMS on that server.

Any new tips or is there something that can be done on the back-end side at Plex to get me back to normalcy?

Thanks in advance for any help.

2

Also, seeing these log entries when I try to claim the server:

Oct 05, 2022 16:06:33.762 [0x700005610000] ERROR - Got unknown exception from request handler
Oct 05, 2022 16:21:20.898 [0x700005610000] ERROR - Got unknown exception from request handler
Oct 05, 2022 16:21:20.914 [0x700005610000] ERROR - Got unknown exception from request handler
Oct 05, 2022 16:21:20.943 [0x700005610000] ERROR - Got unknown exception from request handler

3

Removed server from approved devices for my account. No change. Removed all networking equipment in front of server making direct connection to Internet. No change.

Please help?

4

I have this problem, too! All of a sudden I started seeing “Server settings are unavailable.” when logging in. I followed these instructions: https://support.plex.tv/articles/204281528-why-am-i-locked-out-of-server-settings-and-how-do-i-get-in/

But I fear this just made things worse. Now I am in a state where the server is unclaimed and clicking on claim server does nothing. It just redirects me to the server with the same “Server settings are unavailable.”

I am getting the same errors that @brainhig posted.

5

Well, I managed to get it working by restoring a copy of Plex from June from Time Machine. I was able to login and claim the server. So seems like a bug with a latest version of Plex? I did upgrade then and it seems to be ok, so I’m not sure what happened.

1 Like
6

Lucky you! I wish I had thought of that. I guess I can try to rollback the server, database and settings and see what happens. I ended up wiping everything and starting over, as this server only does OTA recording. But now, it won’t finish the setup process. I think, like you do, that there’s a new bug or conflict with existing config or software on my machine. I could try a really old version of Plex I suppose. I tried the last three release versions so far.

7

I took a cue from your post and did the same. I went back to version 1.23 0.4438 and sure enough, works like a charm when going through setup and claiming the server.

So, you’re saying that you then upgraded to the very latest build again, 6276? And you didn’t lose your server settings? I’m hesitant to update to that build again if it will just go offline.

8

Don’t upgrade! I just checked again tonight to confirm for you, and it’s back to the “Server settings are unavailable”. I guess I’m going to have to revert back to an older version, again, and hope it doesn’t break with the older version.

Now it’s going to be one of those things where you won’t ever know when it’s safe to upgrade.

1 Like
9

Thanks for letting me know! I’m going to leave it at 1.28.2.6151 for now. So it’s definitely a bug or some incompatibility.

The next version that comes out I’ll do a full backup of all databases and caches and settings beforehand and just revert if it fails again.

Yeah, it’s a bummer to be afraid to upgrade!

1 Like
10

Please keep us posted, here, in case I don’t get a chance to try the new version as well. It would be good to keep this thread active till this is resolved…assuming it is a new bug.

11

I moved back to 1.28.2.6151, and I’m back in. We’ll see if it stays that way with this version. I guess I’ll have to keep a lookout and try new releases selectively as they come out, too.

1 Like
12

I also have the issue with Server Settings are Unavailable, I’m running 1.29.1.6276 on my Mac mini version 10.13.5 High Sierra

13

Have you tried rolling back to version 1.28.2.6151? That seems to have fixed it for two of us.

14

I’m away for a week or so and don’t have access to my server. It’s not creating too much of an issue and I’ll probably wait for the next update.

Just thought I’d mention the issue as well, the more info the devs have the better I guess.

15

I’m having the same issue as well. How do we roll back to the prior version of Plex as I do not have a copy of it. I don’t have the full build name to fudge the download link either.

16

Doesn’t really seem to be documented super well, but I was able to find my prior version before upgrading and it is working. I am now running PlexMediaServer-1.28.2.6106-44a5bbd28-darwin-universal-standard-full and it is working again.

If anyone needs help this is how I downgraded it:

Stop Plex Server

Click “Go” up time of Finder, select “Go to Folder”. Type ~/Library.

Click into Application Support, Plex Media Server, Updates.

Inside of that directory you will see the previous updates, I have 3 of them in there. I clicked on my next oldest one, 1.28.2.6106-44a5bbd28. Then go into packages, and you should see your installer. Mine is called PlexMediaServer-1.28.2.6106-44a5bbd28-darwin-universal-standard-full.zip.

Double click that to unzip it and you should get a Contents directory. This is the actual package that goes inside of your Plex Media Server.

Next, Go up to Finder, select New Finder Window. Go into Applications. Look for Plex Media Server. Right click Plex Media Server and click Show Package Contents.

Inside of there you should see a Contents directory. Rename that to Contents_old. Drag that other Contents directory into there. Close the Window and when you double click Plex Media Server, it should bring up the old version. Hope this helps someone until they fix this problem.

1 Like
17

Thank you @osxster for the tip. I hope that the Plex team will inform us when this issue will be solved :wink: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

18

Same problem here!
Cant run any version of 1.29.1.****. I had to revert to previous version.(PlexMediaServer-1.29.0.6244) Works fine!
So whatever Plex did in 1.29.1 its not working as intended. At least not on Mac OS 10.12.6, 10.13.5, 10.14.6

Im using Mac OS 10.14.6 (18G9323)

The release notes for 1.29.1 mentions " * (macOS) Plex Media Server now requires macOS 10.11 or newer to run" But no further information about why is available. Seems like the problems we’re seeing have to do with this.

19

Thanks for your post osxter.

I too had a similar issue with Server settings are unavailable, which I’m now convinced occurred after an automatic update to the latest server version. I subsequently changed the Server version updates option in each of my servers from Automatically during scheduled maintenance to Ask me.

For reference, here is a little background for my issue. I, too, am a long time Plex Pass user. My Plex setup, which I have used for years and am generally satisfied with, is quite massive and has been split into three servers: a Movie server, a Music server and a Photo Server. The Movie server runs on an older Windows 10 PC, while the Music and Photo servers run on a pair of similarly configured mid-2012 Mac Pros running macOS Mojave 10.14.6.

Curiously—although initially the server settings were also unavailable on the PC server—the issue apparently only affected the two Mac servers. I was able to recover the server settings on the PC server, 1.29.1.6316, with a minimum of fuss, and the remainder of this post only applies to the Mac servers.

The first thing I did was log out of all my Plex sessions. I then launched Activity Monitor and Force Quit the Plex Media Server, as well as any Plex Plug-ins as well as Plex Tuner Service. I’m never happy about force quitting apps, but I found that neither Plex Media Server nor any of the Plex Plug-ins would die using the Quit option in Activity Monitor. Subsequently I learned that it probably is not necessary to kill the Plex Plug-ins nor the Plex Tuner Service to recover the server settings.

As osxter described earlier, using Terminal I copied server version 1.29.0.6244 (PlexMediaServer-1.29.0.6244-819d3678c-darwin-universal-standard-full.zip) from ~/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Updates to my Downloads folder, unzipped it into a folder in Downloads named Plex Media Server, renamed the existing /Applications/Plex Media Server to Plex Media Server-NDG, and then copied the Plex Media Server folder from Downloads to /Applications/Plex Media Server. I then restarted Plex Media Server from the /Applications directory, and (the following step may not be necessary) launched http://127.0.0.1:32400/manage . After “claiming” the server, the server settings were available. Whew, thankfully!

I wanted to see if I could confirm if the newest server update was the issue, I ran Download Updates and Install on one of the Mac Pro servers. After installation, the server settings were again unavailable, so presumably this confirms the issue. Don’t forget to change the Server version updates option in each server from Automatically during scheduled maintenance to Ask me.

I hope there’s enough detail in this posting so that someone else can benefit.

<Set flame=ON>
I wish whomever oversees these server updates would more thoroughly test them so me and others wouldn’t have to spend sweat-filled hours searching as we try to troubleshoot this issue. Just sayin’…
<Set flame=OFF>

20

Sorry ya’ll are having trouble!

I have not tested the newly release build. I hope to do that this week to see if it’s still borked for us Mac users. I will report back with findings.