Update for Plex Media Server appears FROZEN

General Discussions
1

Received message update available, clicked to download, lots of hard disk activity and a green check mark was added to the right of “Remote Access” - that was 10+ minutes ago. No sound from hard disk for that 10+ minutes and no requests from PLEX for inputs. The “SAVE CHANGES” button is grayed out.
I’m reluctant to refresh or close out while the update is incomplete.
Guidance and recommendations would be most appreciated!!!
The “What’s New” screen is pasted below
thanks,
Bob
What’s New:
Version 1.2.7.2987
New

(Web) Updated Plex Web to 2.10.10.
(Media Flags) Updated bundle.
Fixes

Playback issues on Roku, iOS and other platforms. (#5715)
Occasional server hangs during video playback. (#5505) (#5658)

2

Is your server running on Windows?
Which Plex server version did you run before?
Have you started the update while sitting on the Server machine?

3

My quick answer to your questions this morning would have been: Windows 10, I installed PLEX Media Server on my desktop (which I chose believing the i7 CPU would facilitate transcoding) about a week ago (I downloaded the latest stable version) and my desktop is where I was sitting when I clicked on the “update available” message. I delayed hitting “post comment” until I had time to recheck all the installation.

This evening I rechecked the installations on both my desktop and the HTPC (which has Kodi as the front end, the PLEX addon and NextPVR in the backend. I do not recall purposefully also installing Plex Media Server on the HTPC.
But when I checked “All Programs” on the HTPC I found Plex Media Center there as well with an install date of 11/5/16. This confuses me. I do not recall also installing the server there; I do recall signing in to Plex when I installed the Kodi Plex addon.

The install date I then found on my desktop for Plex Media Server this morning (11/10) which is when I observed the install appeared hung; it appears to have overwritten the original install of about a week ago. It remains in the same “hung” state this evening.

I am able to run Kodi on my HTPC and it picked up new recordings via NextPVR and organized by Plex.

So this leaves me with my first question still up in the air - should I just close the “hung” tab on my browser or take a different action?
And now I also have a second question: is my desktop serving its intended role as the host for the Plex Media Server or has it been rendered redundant because media server is also installed on my HTPC? Could installing the Plex addon to Kodi also install the media server on the host machine (my HTPC) or would I have had to (somehow) intentionally load the server on the HTPC as well?
Will having two servers install create conflicts?

I would very much appreciate any additional guidance and recommendations.
thanks,
bob

4

The last few versions of the plex pass version of the server installer seems to hang for a long time when updating it via the “install now” button on the dash. The process appears to be working but the installer never launches with progress (like it used to). I end up having to kill the processes via task manager.

My new method for updating is to download the latest version via the web and install it the traditional way. At some point the Install Now button within the Plex Dashboard stopped working. I’m not sure if this is a known issue but I would love to see it fixed.

5

@bickertn said:
But when I checked “All Programs” on the HTPC I found Plex Media Center

Plex Media Center ?
A blast from the past! :smiley: You sure mean Plex Media Server?

I do recall signing in to Plex when I installed the Kodi Plex addon.

When you Sign In, you are not signing in to a server. You are signing in to your Plex account at plex.tv - which then in turn delivers to you the collected information about all your servers and all that are shared with you.
So this is completely separate from a Plex server installation on the same (or any other) machine.

So this leaves me with my first question still up in the air - should I just close the “hung” tab on my browser or take a different action?

Yes.

And now I also have a second question: is my desktop serving its intended role as the host for the Plex Media Server or has it been rendered redundant because media server is also installed on my HTPC?

As long as the Plex installation on it was successfully, it will act as a Plex server.

Could installing the Plex addon to Kodi also install the media server on the host machine (my HTPC) or would I have had to (somehow) intentionally load the server on the HTPC as well?

Not to my knowledge, unless some third party came up with it.
There are to my knowledge at least 2 Plex addons for Kodi.
It is possible that someone created an installer for one of them which includes Plex Server, but I don’t know about it.

Will having two servers install create conflicts?

No, you can set up as many Plex servers as you like - as long as they are on different machines/IP addresses.
(although it will suck to ‘switch servers’ in your clients all the time, if you want to use several servers. :wink: )

If you are unsure if the Plex update was successful,

  • log in to the server machine directly
  • Quit Plex server using the tray icon (if present)
  • deinstall Plex server via the regular Windows Control Panel
  • download a fresh copy of the Plex Server installation program and install it

all your plex data will remain untouched by this

6

OttoKerner - thanks a bunch for the thoughtful and thorough response. I appreciate your patience with new users like me. (Which, BTW, is a bit embarrassing since I used to code in several languages - but that was 25+ years ago. I thought I’d be able to get up to speed faster and easier than is happening, but between building the HTPC and getting NextPVR, Plex, Kodi and apps to grad metadata to work properly, my head is spinning.)
SOLVED (I think): I logged out and back in again on my desktop, the version is 2.10.10 and all components appear to be working well.

One “final question” (famous last words) - at least for now. I will start a new post for it so other users won’t be mislead by the title of this thread: 2 of my Windows devices have Plex Media Server- how do I ensure my Android devices use the more powerful device?

Thanks again,
bob

7

@bickertn said:
2 of my Windows devices have Plex Media Server- how do I ensure my Android devices use the more powerful device?

There is no automatic selection based on cpu power.
Simply pick the better suited Plex server using the ‘Server selector’ in the mobile Plex app.

8

Thanks!!!
bob