Why does it keep asking me to claim my server?

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

Hi, this is my first post in these forums. I am currently running Arch Linux with Budgie DE, and have decided to run Plex on it. I got everything working fine, although when I rebooted my computer and opened the app again, it tells me that there is an unclaimed server in my network, and it asks me to claim my own server. I have been doing this everytime I open Plex for a while now and it is becoming really annoying. Help would be appreciated.

2

The reason PMS makes you claim your server is because, for whatever reason, it could not write to /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml which is where your account name and PlexOnlineToken are stored.

PMS runs as user plex:plex . If this environment has been altered, the file permissions must also be altered so everything is in sync. PMS is intended to run on Linux as an unprivileged user

3

The path for Preferences.xml is slightly different for me:
/var/lib/plex/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml
What do I do for the Plex Server to be able to write to this file?

4

The ability for the plex user, whatever it is, is required to write to that file. If it doesn’t have permission, it will never be able to update that file nor will be able to correctly do anything else. Access to Preferences.xml is fundamental.

Because Arch is not a supported platform, clearly as shown by how it’s installed, I can only refer you back to the package creator for support. Only they know what they did to the Plex binaries.

5

Ah ok thanks for the help! Hopefully I can fix this.

6

Hi, this is my first post as well. I’ve been using Plex on MX Linux (Debian-based) for a while now. I have the same issue, the server asks me to claim it every time I turn on the computer. I checked the permissions on the file /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml as suggested. Indeed, it belongs to plex:plex.

Any other suggestion?

P.S: I don’t even know if it’s OK to reply to old threads but this one has my exact problem.

7
  1. Stop Plex
  2. sudo chown -R plex:plex /var/lib/plexmediaserver (this takes a bit to complete)
  3. Start Plex
  4. Don’t let anything other than Plex write in this area.
8

This thread should have been closed but somehow was opened by the forum.
Please feel free to create a new thread if additional help is needed.

I am closing this one now.