Synology installation changes for Plex Media Server

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Synology installation changes for Plex Media Server

TL;DR:

All Intel-based Synology models except DS415play and the DS214play now require:

  1. Running DSM 6.0 or newer
  2. Using the 64-bit version of Plex Media Server (PMS) which contains X86_64 in the SPK file name

Details:

Synology recently released their “DSM 6.2 Update 2” firmware. One change of the firmware is that 32-bit applications will no longer run correctly (we’re unclear if this was intended or not; we’re contacting Synology to gather more information). This means that anyone who previously either downloaded the 32-bit version of Plex Media Server or installed from Synology Package Center would see PMS fail to start.

In order to get a working installation, users should instead install the 64-bit version of Plex Media Server. To work around Synology’s DSM change, the following changes have been made for future PMS packages:

  • The DS415play and the DS214play will be the only two models which can utilize the 32-bit version
  • All other Intel-based Synology models will utilize the 64-bit version of Plex Media Server

If you aren’t sure which version you have installed, or haven’t installed “DSM 6.2 Update 2” yet, it is strongly advised you download and install the 64-bit version of PMS from https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/ now. We’re working with Synology to ensure the right version comes through to you in Package Center in the future.

To install the 64-bit version of Plex Media Server (don’t worry, your server/library data won’t be affected by following these instructions):

  1. Stop PMS
  2. Uninstall the unknown or 32-bit PMS
  3. Ensure that you are running DSM 6.0 or newer
  4. Download the 64-bit version of PMS (https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/)
  5. Install the server
  6. Restart / Reboot DSM

Please Note: Our 64-bit versions of Plex Media Server does require DSM 6.0 or newer. This means that if you’re currently running DSM 5.x and wish to install a new PMS build (v1.13.4 or newer), you will need to upgrade your NAS to DSM 6.0 or newer firmware. We apologies for the abruptness of this change.

As an alternative, you can continue to use PMS in Docker to whatever level Docker is supported in DSM 5.x and the official “plexinc/pms-docker” image is compatible.

TL;DR: 64-bit (X86_64) builds of PMS are no longer supported or installable on DSM 5.x

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