Unable to delete media from plex but ok from os

[Julianh]

Server Version#: Version 4.45.0
Ubuntu 18

Scenario;
3 SMB servers, Both windows and Linux storage media. VMware virtual machine running Plex on Ubuntu 18 which connects via CIFS to the SMB servers.

Everything plays and works fine, but…

I’ve checked from the OS console of the VM running Plex, I can both create and delete files from the servers console on the external SMB share. It seems not to be a rights issue, as a test I’ve set fstab to

//10.1.1.11/tv-shows /mnt/tvshows cifs username=xxx,password=xxx,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,_netdev 0 0
//10.1.1.12/films /mnt/films cifs username=xxx,password=xxx,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,_netdev 0 0
//10.1.1.13/musicfiles /mnt/music cifs username=xxx,password=xxx,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,_netdev 0 0

I know the rights are way too open.

Under library, I’ve set “Allow media deletion”, as I get the delete option available from within plex, on a media file.

However I get " There was a problem deleting this item."

I want to use Plex_dupefinder, https://github.com/l3uddz/plex_dupefinder, hence the requirement.

Does anyone have a suggestions, I’ve spent hours on this?

Thanks

[tom80H]

here’s your rulebook on mounting CIFS shares on a Linux server

Linux Tips

Mounting CIFS + SMB network shares for Plex use The basic checklist Prepare the NAS Create the CIFS/SMB credentials file for use in /etc/fstab Create a ‘mount point’ directory structure on your Linux machine which will be where all your media shares are grafted and made available for Plex use. Create an entry in /etc/fstab for each share you wish to mount. Mount and debug as needed A. Prepare the NAS. This is unique to each NAS. In general, you only need grant read permission. Should …

[Volts]

@Julianh

It seems not to be a rights issue

It’s ALWAYS a permissions issue.

@Julianh

I can both create and delete files from the servers console on the external SMB share.

But that’s as root, right?

Plex is running as a different user. You want to be able to delete files as the plex user. I don’t think file_mode= is totally sufficient for this.

If you navigate to one of the mounted media directories/files, can you ls -la and show the effective permissions?

Edit: the guide @tom80H linked addresses this by creating a “plex” user on the NAS and specifying uid=plex in the fstab mount.

[Julianh]

For reference I’ve put the solution down…
I was logging in to the console os, but the user I was logging in as was different to the one presented by plex to the cifs storage. Although plex was connecting with full rights, the cifs shares were Presented out and restricted to 755, as plex was connecting as a user in a group it didn’t have rights.

I hope this helps someone