Server Version#: plexmediaserver_1.25.6.5577-c8bd13540_amd64.deb
Player Version#:
My Ubuntu server has been working fine for quite a while, but the other day I update both Ubuntu and Plex to the latest versions. Since then it stopped recognizing my server, and after adding it back in there is no media that it sees and the file system for my plex media can’t even be seen in the UI for me to add it. I can type the path to my Movies and TV, but it doesn’t find anything. I had this problem more than a year ago and it was a problem with the release. When they got it fixed the new server worked, sort of.
Does Plex not do regression testing to see if they’ve done the same dumb mistake again? They should. Perhaps this is a bit different, but it is causing the same problem.
I have /video as the mount point for the 4TB disk for my media. The directory under that for movies is /video/Movies and for TV it is /video/TV. It is as if plex can no longer see the file systems that are not the root file system. The permission on /video is rwxrwxrwx, so it is NOT a permission problem. I’ve even tried to use a symbolic link from /Video to /video, but that isn’t seen either. This should not be a difficult thing for it to do, and should not be screwed up in the code. Do I have to wait a long time for the fix to be put into the code and get a new version? The last time I this happened and the new version came out, they introduced another bug that I had to wait for the next release to come out to get fixed. I think that bug was that the metadata on all the media files didn’t work right so there were no longer any posters for the media. Let’s get things together, Plex!!!
That didn’t help. I stopped plex (had to kill the processes), unmounted the /video FS, check the permissions, remounted the FS, then checked plex. It still doesn’t show the /video FS/partition in the UI for selecting the location, nor work with the location typed into the field.
@ChuckPa you keep saying to fix permissions of a mounted filesystem before the mount occurs. In my experience & observation, that isn’t really what happens. As an example:
jkalchik@ceres:~> df -h /nas
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
therealm:/volume1/plex/plex 42T 23T 20T 53% /nas
jkalchik@ceres:~> ls -ld /nas
drwxrwxr-x 1 plex plex 104 Sep 12 10:59 /nas
jkalchik@ceres:~> sudo umount /nas
[sudo] password for jkalchik:
jkalchik@ceres:~> ls -ld /nas
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mar 7 2021 /nas
jkalchik@ceres:~> sudo mount /nas
That’s from my running PMS server. You need to establish the ownership and permissions after the mount occurs. If you establish it before the mount occurs, you run the risk of that account being able to write to that mountpoint without a mount behind it, leading to used disk blocks and hidden/unaccessible files. Okay, this is low risk on a home PMS host, in my day job, it’s lead to some serious heartburn. Still, even for a home user, you should establish filesystem ownership after the mount occurs. If you leave the mountpoint owned by root, it should be rather instantly apparent if a filesystem does not mount.
So, back to my question. I’m honestly interested in your reasoning behind your methodology, please.
Thanks for the logs. They have provided the answer.
You cite the DPKG version
You’ve installed the SNAP version.
Feb 23, 2022 16:11:31.241 [0x7f4fba21db38] INFO - Plex Media Server v1.25.6.5577-c8bd13540 - Ubuntu snap x86_64 - build: linux-x86_64 snap - GMT -07:00
Feb 23, 2022 16:11:31.241 [0x7f4fba21db38] INFO - Linux version: 20.04.4 LTS (Focal Fossa), language: en-US
Feb 23, 2022 16:11:31.241 [0x7f4fba21db38] INFO - Processor: 8-core Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz
Confirm by:
snap list | grep -i plexm
dpkg -l | grep plexm
If you installed using the Ubuntu GUI, you get the snap version.
The snap version is restricted in its scope.
When you install the dpkg version, you get access to the full machine.
I think you intended to use DPKG but accidentally went through the Ubuntu store and ended up with the SNAP version (which is their default since Ubuntu 20) ??
Yes, we do regression test.
Do folks read ?
Just poking a litle fun… I’ve done this too. It happens. No harm/ no foul.
Very interesting. I DID NOT install the snap version. And I did another dpkg with the new version when I was trying to make sure it was the latest and complete.
cary@mylinuxdesk:~$ snap list | grep -i plexm
plexmediaserver 1.25.6.5577-c8bd13540 260 latest/stable plexinc* -
cary@mylinuxdesk:~$ dpkg -l | grep plexm
ii plexmediaserver 1.25.6.5577-c8bd13540 amd64 Plex organizes all of your personal media so you can easily access and enjoy it.
So, SOMEHOW the snap version got installed. It has been working fine for at least a year when I upgraded my server last. I guess I need to uninstall the snap version and make sure I get the dpkg version installed again. I’ll let you know what it looks like afterwards.
I was (mostly) kidding too. You guys are great to have such an amazing product for us to use. I got the lifetime subscription because of that. Thanks so much!
I just got through removing the snap version and I had to reinstall the dpkg version, and then I had to start the plexmediaserver as well, which I thought would have started from the dkpg install.
BUT IT WORKED! I have no idea how the snap version got on there. I didn’t run a snap command. I wonder if in the OS update it thought that it should do the snap version even though it had not been installed that way. Now I can use my plex server again! Thank you so much for looking at my post and helping me out with this baffling problem!!!
Now I can use my plex server again! Thank you so much for looking at my post and helping me out with this baffling problem!!!