I set my DS-220+ about a month ago, loaded PlexMediaServer on it and have never been able to get it working correctly. At first, in PMS, I could see my movies, but not my TV shows. Then after fiddling around I got the TV shows to show but the movies stopped showing on the Plex screen. I can see both set of files in File Station so I know they are on the hard drive. I worked with several helpful people in Synology and Plex forums but we’ve not been able to resolve the issues. I probably made some initial mistakes in the set up of PMS, but no mistakes have been identified.
I’m considering going back to square one: uninstalling PMS then reinstalling it. All my media files are on a separate external HD so I can reload them if needed.
– If I do this unistall and fresh install, will it affect (delete or render unaccessable) the files I have on the HDs?
– Will uninstalling Plex from the NAS remove all of Plex’s components so I can do a fresh install?
– Would this type of uninstall and reinstall get reid the previous Plex configuration and be like a “brand new” “never had Plex” installation?
– Should I look at uninstalling DSM 7.1.1-42962 Update 1 and do a fresh install of DSM?
– Also would a factory reset of the NAS wipe out the files I have on the hds or have any negative affect on the extra RAM I installed when I set up the NAS?
I appreciate everyones’ thoughts and help. I just want to be able to enjoy my media on Plex.
Reinstalling / resetting would be a waste of time and only compound the problem.
This is a simple case of granting permission for “System Internal User” PlexMediaServer (which runs a service user) permission to see the shared folder and All subfolders and files everywhere you have media.
The How-To shows you how to set the top permission then propagate it down into all the subfolders and files (necessary)
Lastly, external drives appear as shared folders. It seems strange but doing it that way means one rule applies to everything
I just don’t get the problem. I’m sure it is something simple (probably that I did) but I just don’t see it. Please help I’ve spent over a month trying to work this out. I’m willing to go back to the beginning, I just want to get this problem resolved so I can enjoy all the capabilities of Plex.
You shouldn’t have to mess with the PlexMediaServer share. Plex is using that to store its database, media assets etc. – none of your media belongs there (last I checked there’s a lot of files with titles in different languages stating that).
Based on your initial post and ChuckPa’s link, you’ll need to fix permissions for the share that contains your media, e.g. Movies, Movies01, Movies03, TV and/or TVshows. You’ll need to add a permission for PlexMediaServer – that’s a system user and probably not listed under Local Users (see the support article posted by ChuckPa on the full procedure).
Chuck, can we work on this tomorrow my blood sugar and wife are demanding attention? I tend to have a narrow window to accomplish intricate actions. I really appreciate you patience.
The PlexMediaServer shared folder is for the app (me) to use.
You can put media anywhere else on the NAS you want except there.
If you try to play with the shared folder, DSM will slap you and PMS will fail.
DSM 7 took away all the privileges we used to have on DSM 6.
This means that if you break something, the app/installer is powerless to fix it (which it used to silently do for you)
ChuckPS I appeared to have had some success to my problems based on your last response, which pointed me to an area I had not even thought of investigating. I want to spend the next couple of days and see if what you pointed me is my problem. I’ll be back in touch as soon as I think I understand what happen and how to explain it to you, maybe a couple of days. Thanks so much. You are a real resource on this.
A lot of people use one shared folder, with subfolders, for their media
Create shared folder “Media”
Create sub-folders:
– Movies
– Televison
– Television (Comedy) ← if you want it broken out this way
– Music
– – Classical
– – 70’s
– Family Photos
– Vacation Photos
Now, they give “System Internal User” PlexMediaServer permission to read “Media” (and also check the box “Apply to this folder, sub-folders and files” as they do)
One this is done, they now have PMS point to /volume1/Media/Movies for their movies,
They repeat for their other library sections in turn.
At no point in time should anyone / anything be touching the “PlexMediaServer” shared folder.
IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE --or-- IF YOU WANT TO
You can create a “Plex” shared folder for your media
You create the desired folders underneath it.
do in the ‘Plex’ shared folder what you would have done in “Media”
