set-up: my ntfs formated Disk1 is mounted at /home/me/dir.to.plex.library/Disk1.
now, plex can access the library if my home dir have chmod set to 777, but i want to change this to 770. but when i do that my plex library can’t load any movies when i want to watch a movie. now, I’m thinking it’s a permission issue and remember that i forgot to add the plex user to the groups “me” and “root”, (root because apparently ntfs mounted disks can’t have any other owner than root) so, I did that and tested it with
sudo -u plex ls /home/me/dir.to.plex.library/Disk1
and also
sudo -u plex mkdir /home/me/dir.to.plex.library/Disk1/test.
and it works, i can indeed list the content in Disk1 and i can make the dir “test”. so, fixed, right? nah, plex still cant load the movie. now, it shouldn’t matter but i also made sure that plex had x rights in the same folder that the movie that I’m trying to watch is in.
I’m clueless. is plex using some other user when reading movies? is this a plex issue or a disk issue? if it is a disk issue, why does it work with chmod 777 ?
absolutly brilliant. thank you for the speedy reply, i though i’d have to wait for tomorrow. but now that you are here:
bad news 1: but it does when i have chmod 777 on my home dir. explain?
bad news 2: same question, also i know. but you know, i was new back when i started this and right now I have far to many things pointing at this dir and would probably forget something resulting in all sort of mess. one day when i do an extream total server makeover I’ll fix it but not today thank you very much even though i know it’s ugly.
good news1 and 2. I know… I’ve had it working for a year now.
yeah i know, it’s just a pain in the b-hind to change all the configs and try and remember them all. but thanks for the quick answer
still dont understand how something can work when my home folder has chmod 777 while it dosen’t work when my home folder is chmod 770 with plex being in the group that owns my home folder. probably some weird interaction I suppose.
I’ll keep it working as it is until i have the time to move the disks from my home folder.
@esmarq yeah i know, but it’s only me who have access to the server atm so this is purely an academical question.
Distros do their own thing. Ubuntu, for example, is infamous for taking total, exclusive, control of /media . For as nice as that may seem, the file manager (nautilus) mounts everything with exclusive access to you and denies Plex. This is standard and default Linux security. No two users can see each others files or devices unless expressly managed.
This is why I have taken the time to provide the how-to for trouble-free operation.
If you’re thinking Windows, you will need to make the paradigm shift very quickly and understand Linux is a multi-user OS where multiple users may be signed in concurrently and still kept in complete isolation. It is not uncommon to have 500-1000 individual users signed into a Linux supercomputer simultaneously.
yes i know that… but please understand my confusion in that the the plex user can read my content in Disk1… but I can’t access the very same content when i’m in the plex program.
Ok… then perhaps we should just get the log files and see what errors are kicked up when you attempt to play.
Did you mount your NTFS disk via an entry in /etc/fstab or did you let Nautilus do the mount for you?
Try to play what is known to fail
Settings - Server - Help - Download Logs
Attach that ZIP file here
If that doesn’t work.
sudo tar cfz /tmp/PlexLogs.tar.gz "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Logs"
Attach /tmp/PlexLogs.tar.gz instead of the ZIP.
/etc/fstab indeed. and although I’ve tried everything I can’t change the owner from root to me, but it dosen’t matter since the entire disk is chmod 777 and can’t be modified in any way.
aright i tried to play a few movies before downloading the log. I’ll attach the log file.
and just a sanity check here. theoretically. if i run “sudo -u plex [commads]” the commands should be executed as if i was the plex user right? and if my plex user can see inside of my Disk1 then so should the program?
I just tried the sudo -u plex ls /home/me/path/Disk1 and i did indeed get a list of what was in that drive.
:EDIT:
this is my fstab line for Disk1:
/dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:00:1f.2-ata-2-part1 /home/me/path/Disk1 auto nosuid,nodev,nofail,x-gvfs-show 0 0
You’re correct, NTFS don’t have any concept of ownership in a way which can be mapped to Linux. Permissions in WIndows is done entirely by ACL so that means the ntfs-3g driver has no choice but to map everything to 777.
Finding a few things in your logs:
Indeed… Permission denied.
Sep 23, 2017 04:29:17.841 [0x7f2e41fff700] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file /home/karl/Plex library/Disk2/Filmer/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014)/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014) - [Bluray-1080p].mkv: boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/home/karl/Plex library/Disk2/Filmer/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014)/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014) - [Bluray-1080p].mkv"
Sep 23, 2017 04:29:17.841 [0x7f2e41fff700] ERROR - Couldn't check for the existence of file /home/karl/Plex library/Disk2/Filmer/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014)/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014) - [Bluray-1080p].mkv: boost::filesystem::status: Permission denied: "/home/karl/Plex library/Disk2/Filmer/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014)/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014) - [Bluray-1080p].mkv"
Sep 23, 2017 04:29:17.841 [0x7f2e41fff700] ERROR - Couldn't find the file to stream: /home/karl/Plex library/Disk2/Filmer/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014)/Captain America The Winter Soldier (2014) - [Bluray-1080p].mkv
You can see media from Disk1 but notDisk2
This is why the need to get disks out of a home directory., boost runtime libraries.
I know it doesn’t seem to make sense to read the directory and get the names but not have read permission to the file. Remember… the directory has read but the access for the file is denied.
in this case Disk2 is Disk1 i just renamed them in this post for the case of simplicity. my real Disk1 is actually in an identical situation, so it concerns them both actually.
It also dosen’t suprise me that i get permission denied in the loggs, what do supprise me is that i can access the files through the plex user in the console.
the real Disk1 is smaller and is therefore exclusively used for photos and videos for my family. the real Disk2 (which I’ve been calling for Disk1 in this thread) is used for movies.
Your disks are available as regular /dev/sd? entries. There is no need to do it by path. for disk2.
Your mount options are involking GVFS (gnome virtual file system). GVFS is what causes all the problems.
er, i can try that but I just found something when trying the chmod -u plex ls [dir to movie folder]
see when i do the normal “ls [dir to movie folder]” all the files light up in green. although when i do it through the plex user they all remain white. I’m not sure if this is relavant or if’s just the way that it lists stuff, but i though I’d mention it for you in case it is relevant.
