Updated from DSM 6.2 - DSM 7.1.1 Update 3 - reinstalled plex - issues

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
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Server Version#: 1.30.2.6563-7000
Player Version#:Version 1.62.2.3451-fb8ac0ae (windows)

Hi all,
just trying to work out what’s happened with my Plex install. Was running fine in DSM 6.2 but decided to move to DSM 7 as 6.2 is going EOL this summer. I attempted to follow the guide for updating and i uninstalled plex prior to updating DSM. Once DSM was updated to the 7.1.1 i attempted to reinstall plex.

I added the perms to my Plex library folder and my appropriate media folders for ‘InternalUser’ PlexMediaServer within the folder perms on the synology and started up Plex.

My ‘Plex’ Library metadata is about 17gb.

After a while i could still not see my Plex Server from the Plex client (no connection) however the server dropdown now revealed a duplicate plex server with the same name which WAS accessible and i could see all its version information. However it was seeing this as a NEW server which would mean adding back all my shares and rebuilding my metadata from scratch (something I would dearly like to avoid). I’ve obviously done something wrong but so far i’ve not been able to work out how to get this duplicate to go away and for plex to use my old instance.

I’ve attempted to de-install and re-install the plex package (as the internal PlexMediaServer user was now created) however I seem to be in the same position. It just seems to be ignoring my old /volume2/Plex folder (containing the old metadata) completely. Also I note the dialogue for setting the folder permissions only allows me to tick Read/Write rather than select ‘Custom’ which does not appear to be available… assuming this is normal?

< NB - think I’ve worked out why the folder has limited perms - it’s not using the Windows ACL permissions settings - it was created many moons ago along with the other shares and so is using Unix perms structure. I’ll convert it windows ACL and attempt the migration again (assuming I can then set the correct perms on the folder from the UI).

If this does not work I’m wondering if some command line intervention may be required. Would rather try and recover my old library as it’s organised after many years of experimenting and I’d rather not have to re-index the entire lot…

For reference, the NEW plex folders appear to be under

/volume2/PlexMediaServer/AppData/Plex\ Media\ Server/

and the original folders (under DSM 6.2) are located in

/volume2/Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server

although the perms are still for the ‘plex’ user - in fact the old ‘Plex’ folder appears to not have any perms on it all - maybe the migration did do something. Will set the directory back to read/write/execute for user group and other.

If it’s just a case of copying the contents of the Metadata and Media folders from the old place to the new and setting the ownership to the PlexMediaServer user I’m happy to do that myself but I don’t want to do anything without some guideance first. I’ll probably zip up the old ‘Plex’ folder for safety in case it gets whacked anyhow.

hopefully an easy fix.

Any advice appreciated on next steps.

thanks.

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Using Filestation - Do you still have Plex/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server ?

If so,

  1. Uninstall the DSM 7 package with ERASE option
  2. Install the package again

  • The install automatically will search for an existing PMS installation in the Plex shared folder.

  • If it finds one, and PlexMediaServer (the new internal user) has FULL CONTROL of all the files and folders (important), it will start processing.

  • Don’t refresh the browser page else you’ll lose where you’re at (DSM isn’t helpful here)

  • 17 GB of metadata will take some time to move over. Be patient.

  • Migration takes about 3 minutes for each 1000 items you have indexed in PMS.
    ( 5000 items => ~15 minutes dependent on disk speed )

  • If you want to follow the progress,
    – Open another browser tab to DSM
    – Look at file Plex/Migration.log (which will be created after 2-3 minutes)
    – You’ll see the different stages
    – The final stage is “Cleaning”

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Thanks Chuck. I’m going to archive off the meta data with tar first just in case things go south then i’ll try again. I think my issue is the various shares (Plex,video,music) pre date the use of Windows ACL so are only using basic Unix Perms therefore i’m unable to use the ‘custom’ setting from the UI to take full control of the Plex folder. Once I’ve got the metadata safely archived off I’ll try changing the ‘Plex’ share to use windows ACL. Alternatively if it’s ok to stick with Unix perms I could just chown the ownership of the entire /volume2/Plex folder to the PlexMediaServer user (which is what the UI would be doing anyhow if it was able to do so).

I’m slightly more reticent about doing that for my video and music folders as they are huge and i don’t want to lose any data (and i’m not entirely sure what turning on the ACL does anyhow). Assume as long as the PlexMediaUser has read/write perms on the actual media folders it should be ok.

Sadly no chance to back the stuff up…it’s just too big.

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@ChuckPa,
just to confirm you want me to choose option 3 ‘Erase All of Plex Media Server from this System (non recoverable)’ ?
Assume this WILL NOT impact my media? Just want to double check before proceeding?
I’ve manually changed the ownership of everything under the original ‘Plex’ folder to be accessible to the new installer… If the same can be achieved by simply performing uninstall and then manually removing the folder /volume2/PlexMediaServer/AppData/Plex\ Media\ Server/ I’m just as happy to do that.

< Edit - I’d just run a chown over the whole old ‘Plex’ folder to make it owned by PlexMediaServer internal user and now the installer is barfing saying to does not have control of the folder so I guess all this stuff has to be done VIA the UI and with windows ACL. - I will enable ACL on the folder and try setting the permissions again.>

in the meantime I just removed the plex install using option 1 and renamed the PlexMediaServer folder to PlexMediaServer.old which I guess is the same as option 3 - I can remove it once the dust has settled.

Just double checking anyhow.

thanks.

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chuck made that option look so scary no one wants to click it even when he tells you to ha! he gets asked to confirm if that’s what he meant basically every time he tells anyone to do it. Cracks me up.

1 Like
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As I said —

IF THE ABOVE :point_up: IS TRUE

THEN

  1. Yes, Uninstall with ERASE

Please don’t talk about my craziness. It’ll give me a complex.

:crazy_face:

As for not seeing the “Custom” button with which you gain full control,

  1. You will need ACLs.
  2. Rename the Plex shared folder to “Plex-Old”
  3. Create a new shared folder, which will have ACLs. named exactly ‘Plex’
  4. Assign full control to PlexMediaServer as you create it and this will be much easier as you move the server data back into it.
1 Like
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i think when i had an issue migrating that i made you log into my computer and click that big red button for me.

as a society we have stopped erasing anything once disk storage got so cheap! not even moving stuff to the recycle bin erases it!

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@ChuckPa
so I turned on windows ACL function for the old ‘Plex’ folder - applied full control to the folder for PlexMediaServer internal user but it still refuses to believe it has access…

ERROR: PlexMediaServer does not have full controlof the existing plex share

followed by 11 steps to follow… which I’ve already done.

I’ve gone back into check the perms and it’s showing as No Access even though it previously reported it had completed applying the permissions before. Beginning to wonder if the sheer number of files is causing a problem for the permissions tool. I will try setting the permissions once again… wonder if there’s a CLI version to do this…
:frowning:

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You forgot to check the box

Apply to this folder, sub-folders, and files

You can now update that in FileStation.

When you slick SAVE, it will propagate the permissions settings to every file in the Plex shared folder.

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@ChuckPa
For the record, I did select Apply to subfolders - it took about 7 or 8 mins to apply.
I’ve run it again and it says its done but when i run the installer again I get the message
Capture

I’ve gone back in to the file manager and it says Custom Full control is still applied.
Is there an installer log anywhere i can get a look at?

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Ok. So i worked out this is probably because somewhere it’s flagged that the install of plex should still be there - even though i’d renamed it and so it barfed when it got to this point. So i renamed the folder back to what it was, and reinstalled it. Removed it with option 3 (nuclear). And am now attempting to install again (this time hopefully with it realising it’s fresh install). So far it’s taking a lot longer so I’m hopeful it’s actually working (* running a script call dsm7_file_moving) so hopefully it’s finally doing something as expected. Apologies. I should have just followed your instructions… like so many others…

Will advise how it goes.

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Hi, just wanted to say it’s finally installed, completed the migration of the old Plex folder and come up just fine (after about 10 mins of database migration). I’ve cleared out the stuff i created and it’s all looking good. Hopefully no further issues to come.

thanks @ChuckPa for the assistance in getting me going again. Appreciated.

Adam.

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@unclebobuk

Adam,
As you’ve now learned, DSM 7 is a completely different animal than DSM 6.

Making PMS work on DSM 7 was a complete rewrite of all scripting to live in a 100% non-privileged environment.

The username was forcibly changed by DSM. Since I had to come up with a new name, and the structure was all different, I changed everything to be easier for everyone.

  • PlexMediaServer app
  • PlexMediaServer username
  • PlexMediaServer shared folder
  • Nice path name with no spaces (/volumeX/PlexMediaServer/AppData) so it was easier to know that PMS lived inside it.

Fortunately, waay back in PMS 1.15.4.994, I took Plex out of running as an administator. Doing that made it easier.

‘dsm7_file_moving’ was the nasty little scripting which pulled old PMS from “Plex” or “beta” versions into the PlexMediaServer shared folder (final configuration)

All that remained was what you saw adding the 8-language support, menus. and informative messages along the way. (FULL overhaul)

I hope you like the new app installation process?

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Yes, the only thing I would echo which I’ve read elsewhere would be to put a guide someplace (I didnt find one - maybe there is). I know there is a megathread for this which people have added to over time but it’s huge. I ended up going onto the internet when i hit issues as churning through this was so hard. The other thing which may be worth flagging is the requirement for Windows ACL to be turned on for the Plex (which is definitely an issue for owners of older NAS which pre-date this development where the shares are still on unix based perms). I think in my case it was just that combination of non ACL share and trying to overthink the process… being a tech myself that’s hard not to do sometimes.

Oh well. As usual we got there in the end.

thanks again.

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pin it for your next endeavor. the migration guide is in there.

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