Why can't Plex Linux see my videos

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#:
Player Version#:

I had been using Plex Media Server for Linux on my Ubuntu server for years, then about a year ago, after some upgrade or another, Plex suddenly could not see a single video on my server. I have over 450 recorded videos and Plex Media Server cannot see a single one.
I have tried changing permissions, changing owners, changing groups. I have tried everything that I’ve been able to able to Google or read on forums.
What’s my problem ? and What’s the solution?
Thank you

2

Possible helpful suggestions. Forgive me if you’ve tried these already but do report what you tried and what result you observed.

  1. Fill in Server and Player versions
  2. Describe your operating environment. Linux yes but are you running PMS in a Docker container or just running it directly.
  3. Verify your files are actually there - can you ls them? Can you play them with say vlc?
  4. I’ve only run Plex on my Synology and now run it in a container but as I understand it PMS uses the user “plex” to operate under. Does that user have access to those files? Can the plex user play a video? sudo -u plex vlc /path/to/video.mp4.
  5. Have you tried rescanning your libraries?
  6. Have you tried other troubleshooting things like those under Settings > Manage > Troubleshooting?
  7. Check the plex log file for errors.
  8. Try adding a new library - perhaps take a few files, create a new directory and copy them into this new directory and then add it as a library
3

Where is the video stored?

Is the top of the path /media ?

In any desktop Linux where Gnome is running, the /media directory is reserved by Gnome’s Nautilus file manager.

This is where it places all temporary (USB) media and CD/DVDs you use.

It claims exclusive access to your username. The access is so exclusive it only allows your username. This means user plex is excluded.

The solution is to simply move (create a new mount point somewhere , with name(s) that don’t conflict with already existing directories, and mount the media there.

4

That did it, thank you everyone. As suspected, both the PlexMovies and PlexTV directories were mounted in /media. I made two new directories in /mnt using the mkdir command. Then I went into Disks and changed the mount points of the the directories to /mnt/plexmovies and /mnt/plextv. Both seem to be owned by Root despite attempting sudo chown plex -R /mnt/plextv. However PlexMediaServer seems to be OK with that and is busily scanning my media. Thanks again everybody. JH