Hello, I was getting the “server settings unavailable” message and found a Plex support document that had me throw out my plist and enter some terminal commands. Since doing that procedure all of my libraries have a yellow triangle with an exclamation point, and nothing is available. There is a message about “claiming” the server, but hitting that does nothing.
Any help to get me running again would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
You must tell us what macOS version you use and your last couple of PMS versions.
Do you have access to any previous versions of PMS, maybe in your downloads directory?
Do you have Time Machine running so you can restore your plist when PMS is quit?
Deleting a plist is not technically bad in macOS. It’s an expected situation to have no plist, for example on first running an app. So it will be generated automatically, but it will be lacking the four security login entries that exist when it’s claimed. The result at that point is total failure to come back again like before, as you say: a bunch of yellow exclamation points.
But it’s not fatal.
There are several ways to reclaim your server.
The Plex articles that refer to claiming a Mac server need to be refreshed.
There are easier ways to do this from a command line if necessary.
However, the common GUI way:
- Reboot the Mac.
- Start PMS.
- Start Safari on the Mac running PMS.
- Clear Safari History All Time including cache and cookies
- Quit Safari with Command+Q
- Start Safari and switch to Incognito Mode.
http://127.0.0.1:32400/web- sign in to plex with email and password (and maybe 2FA)
- Go to Settings → General for the server and use the Claim button.
- Once it does something, switch to Plex for Mac and see if you can admin your server and watch shows. You can also accomplish that level of secure admin using the hosted web app.
I realize you say the claiming button didn’t work, but I have to specify all the steps you need to use and the details you need to tell us. Certain hardware and software configs do not work recently.
Good luck!
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Thanks. I’m on Mojave and using latest Plex server. Doesn’t seem to matter now as things have gone from bad to worse. I just posted somewhere else. Looks like I’ll have to uninstall everything Plex and start from scratch.
I was running the latest version of Plex but was getting “server settings unavailable”. I found a plex support doc that instructed me to throw out the plist and enter some terminal commands. After following those instructions and re-launching Plex all of my libraries had a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark. When I hit “claim server” I’d get the same message that started this mess “server settings unavailable”
As per the instructions, I’d made a copy of the plist before throwing it out. I put the old plist back in place. Now when I launch Plex, it sill signs me in (select user), but at that point I get a splash page that reads “How Plex Works”, I hit “got it” and then next thing is “server set up”, I hit “next” and just get a spinning circle. None of my hard drives are moving. The circle just spins. I’m afraid at this point I’d better just throw everything off and start all over again. No idea how to move forward. Any ideas?
Please do not create duplicate posts for the same problem.
I’ve moved your new post to this thread.
Oh, it’s a new problem. But ok
Unless I misread, both posts refer to unavailable server settings and actions taken to resolve the problem.
Duplicate posts can lead to confusion, as not everyone will see both threads. You may receive incorrect or conflicting information, since someone may not be aware of information from the other thread.
That’s the reason I combined things. Let me know if I misunderstood.
Regarding claiming, make sure the Mac has a solid Internet connection. Part of the claiming process registers your Plex server with systems at plex.tv. Claiming will fail if your Mac cannot communicate with plex.tv.
Regarding the spinning circle during setup, Try clearing Safari cache/cookies as mentioned by @nibbles . You might try Firefox or Chrome as well. I’ve a 2011 MacBook (macOS 10.12) and sometimes Plex does not like Safari, but Chrome works OK.
Followed Nibbles advice, which I appreciate, but unfortunately I’m way past “claiming”. Which is why I said “new problem”
When I launch it simply welcomes me to Plex, describes all the things plex can do, then wants me to “set up”
This is all I get now. Nothing else. Been spinning for almost two hours
This why I think I just need to uninstall and begin again.
Try reloading the web page.
I just installed PMS 1.29.1.6316 on my 2011 MacBook Pro running macOS 10.13.
I never made it as far as you. It hung right after entering my username/password - a black page with an orange spinner.
I waited a couple of minutes then refreshed the web page.
It immediately went to the “How Plex Works” page and proceeded with the rest of the setup.
I reported that back when Universal was beta in the beta forum topic, and got a bit of help from bigwheel MovieFanPlex in PMs. nothing came of it. It keeps happening where the redirect doesn’t occur, so like you did you basically have to hit Enter or Go or → or Return because until you do that, it may be spinning but not actually loading a page (no X in safari)
This bug finally went away in the new transcoder preview. 
This bug being reported by the OP is what I reported in my own topic after seeing a dozen other reports on half as many topics. I couldn’t get anyone from the team to respond. AFAIK the solution for macOS <10.11 is to install 1.28.2 or older, but I never verified that. 
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Thanks for this. I’m on Mac OS 10.14 so I’ve downgraded to 1.29.0.
It’s working in the sense that it’ll load (no spinning circles), I have access to server settings, and can see my libraries. Unfortunately they’re all tagged with the yellow triangle/ exclamation point and greyed out. I’ve quit, restarted, rebooted computer, etc. still no luck. If I can just get over this last hump. Any ideas?
i gave a 10 step howto up there. Are you on step 10?
The yellow exclaim could mean the server is claimed by you and you are connected to it but not securely, which is why there’s a step 10 If it’s not working, then screenshot what you see and give more detail. I normally use Plex for Mac which connects smoothly and gets around me not knowing exactly what is going on with Safari and cookies and private browsing.
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Thanks for your help. There’s no “claim” option in step 9 for me. Doesn’t matter. 2 days gone by. I’m over it. Life goes on. Thanks again for your time and effort. Much appreciated.
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- You may need to drop back to 1.28.2-6151 or 1.27. There might be a bug in 1.29.x and your hardware.
or
- As far as trying to get 1.29 working and claimed, we tried claiming in a broswer and you’re stuck. Sorry about that. There’s another way to claim from the command line. Check the output when PMS is running and you type
http://127.0.0.1:32400/identity
Claimed=“1”
If it responds with claimed=“1” then there are two ways to sign out, in the gui or the command line.
- GUI way to sign out: go into Settings → Server → General and sign out.
Sign out button
- Command line way to sign out: good anytime or when the GUI didn’t work.
– Quit PMS
– issue these commands to remove the authentication info.
defaults delete com.plexapp.plexmediaserver PlexOnlineHome
defaults delete com.plexapp.plexmediaserver PlexOnlineMail
defaults delete com.plexapp.plexmediaserver PlexOnlineToken
defaults delete com.plexapp.plexmediaserver PlexOnlineUsername
Claimed=“0” or signed out like above
After sign out or If it responds with claimed=“0” we will claim from the command line:
- Plex claim token:
– With PMS started on the Mac
– In a new Safari tab, open Claim | Plex
– It will present you with a claim-xxx token
– COPY it - In a terminal on your Mac issue the claiming command:
curl -X POST 'http://127.0.0.1:32400/myplex/claim?token=PASTE_TOKEN_HERE'
(and confirm it works in Plex for Mac)
Finger’s crossed, and again very sorry that this has led you seemingly in circles. It’s not an easy thing when there are bugs in the setup with your hardware.
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