Server Version#: plexmediaserver_1.18.6.2368-97add474d_arm64
So the server is installed on Debian 10.
All the older install guides show changing the user the service runs as by setting
PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_USER
in /etc/default/plexmediaserver. But this file doesn’t seem to exist in this version.
The guides recommend setting it to the user on the server PC, in this case pi. (It’s a raspberry pi)
ps aux
shows it running as plex
I think (guessing really) that this setting is at least part of the reason I can’t turn off auto match and other info when I’m logged in from a web browser? (some of videos are matching to titles and thumbnails that happen to have similar words to my local file name. But have nothing to do with my personal files.) I suppose this may also be the way I’m logged in on the browser app and how it is connected to my local plex server?
Ok, so this system in the systemd category. I’ll check the link and have at it.
I moved the movies to “other videos”, now I’m waiting for it to refresh…I think it’s doing the music at the moment and there’s about 1000 music files and only about 10 videos. It had started the music earlier.
I modified the user and group in ovveride.conf as discussed in the link.
After that the service would not start.
The content of override.conf:
[Service]
User=pi
Group=pi
Umask=002
Results in:
sudo systemctl status plexmediaserver
● plexmediaserver.service - Plex Media Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
└─override.conf
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2020-02-15 09:27:20 EST; 4s ago
Process: 1595 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=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1597 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_VENDOR=“$(grep ^NAME= /etc/os-release | awk -F= “{print $2}” | tr -d " )”; export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_DEVICE=“PC”; export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_MODEL=“$(uname -m)”; export PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_INFO_PLATFORM_VERSION="$(grep ^VERSION
Main PID: 1597 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Feb 15 09:27:20 plexserver systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Service RestartSec=5s expired, scheduling restart.
Feb 15 09:27:20 plexserver systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 3.
Feb 15 09:27:20 plexserver systemd[1]: Stopped Plex Media Server.
Feb 15 09:27:20 plexserver systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Start request repeated too quickly.
Feb 15 09:27:20 plexserver systemd[1]: plexmediaserver.service: Failed with result ‘exit-code’.
Feb 15 09:27:20 plexserver systemd[1]: Failed to start Plex Media Server.
1. Create the ‘override’ file in directory /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
2. Move any files if needed
3. Change ownership if needed
4. Inform systemd of the changes
5. Start PMS
Step 3 - “Change ownership” means you change the ownership of all files in the metadata directory to match the username/group you’re now running under.
Sorry that I don’t understand the full scope of how plex is installed and works…
What defines the “metadata directory”? From the term “metadata” I assume this is where the plex server stores the data like images, dates, etc. associated with a media file?
I asked because I’m not in the habit of changing system directories to give users access (pi or plex for example)…so, I didn’t think it meant to change anything in /etc …but, the examples of setting the access rights show “find -R .” but there is no indication of where the current directory might be (the “.” indicates current directory, so if I happened to be cd’d to “/etc”, it would change everything under “/etc”)
What this implies may be obvious to plex guru’s, but not to me. What files might need to be moved? To where?
(I’m guessing it means media files and to the where ever the user specified in override.conf would store them?)
I wrote the How-To as a template to follow; to pick and choose as appropriate to the situation. It’s not meant to be a specific how-to for every possible usage case.
Um…I had plex running on my pi (running jessie) for a couple years. The SD card died so loaded the latest, Debian 10 Buster, then followed guides to install pms. Most always said to set the plex user to pi to avoid access issues. Later I found that the guide (and others) were for linux systems that did not use the system.d process.
I found out how to get pms going on Buster, but was unable to find how to set the user to pi or if it was even still needed.
I have a SSD mounted under /home/pi/media. My media is in /home/pi/media/Music and /home/pi/media/videos.
Initially, I could make no changes to the metadata on the files from the plex browser interface.
What I have now seems to be working…not sure it is the right way or if I’m going to find issues going forward.
