Win 11 Server Version 1.40.3.8555 Update problems

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
1

I am currently running Version 1.40.3.8555. that moved Plex from “Program Files (x86)” to “Program Files” on a Windows 11 computer that we use as a home server.

As a result, I had to change the startup of Plex so that it would launch automatically a few minutes after the computer comes on in the morning. No problems there.

For about a half a day Plex could not find my Libraries until I tried adding one, then it started to scan. I do not seem to have lost any content.

Somewhere in all this my sync program stopped working, not sure why. But it is back.

My Remote status changed, but I have not played with that yet.

However, Plex did find some duplicate files that it had not found before. I have resolved that by manually removing the duplicate files.

Also, the meta data that I have corrected or changed seems to be gone, including the preferred posters and backgrounds. I found this article:

https://support.plex.tv/articles/202485658-restore-a-database-backed-up-via-scheduled-tasks/

And I did find the backup files from a couple days ago:

com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-2024-06-13

com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-2024-06-13

However, when I lookup the files I find

com.plexapp.plugins.library.db located in

C:\Program Files\Plex\Plex Media Server\Resources and

com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db (dated two years ago) located in

E:\Plex files - Move\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases

So. Are these the file to use to get my old meta data back? Will it come back? It is the two years ago date that is throwing me.

Any help is appreciated.

Best.

2

Don’t use this. It is the skeleton of the database for a completely new installation.

This could be the folder where you can find all the databases.
To verify, open the windows registry and look for the string that is mentioned in this post: [HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows
If it has the content of E:\Plex files - Move, then it is the location that is currently used as your Plex data folder.

However, if you cannot find the string LocalAppDataPath at all, then you should look for the Plex data folder in its default location.
If it’s pointing elsewhere, then your data should be in this location instead.
Keep in mind that while doing this, you should be logged in to the Windows user account under which you are also running Plex server. (Just in case that your scheduled task for starting Plex is running it under a different account)

If the folder E:\Plex files - Move is indeed the one that is used as your current Plex data folder, it should have both
com.plexapp.plugins.library.db and com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db
and a few backups of each (with added date in the file names).
If one or both of these files have an ancient file date, it means that they are either damaged or set as “read only”. Either way is bad.

3

Thanks for the reply.

In following the link to “[HowTo] An extended guide on how to move the Plex data folder on Windows” there is not a “LocalAppDataPath” string, however there is a “ButlerDatabaseBackupPath” string with a value of “E:\Plex Backup”.

In the default Plex Data Folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server) there are no database files.

The “E:\Plex files - Move\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases” folder there are database files, however the com.plexapp.plugins.library.db is dated 3/25/22 and the com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db is dated 3/3/22. There are also a couple -shm and a -wal file, but I think those are temp files.

4

If there is no LocalAppDataPath in the registry and also no files in the default location, then there are 3 possibilities:

  1. There never was Plex server running on this machine.
  2. The plex data folder has been eradicated. Either by the upgrade process from Win10 to Win11 or by a 3rd-party app, like certain “Uninstaller” or “Registry Optimizer/Cleaner” tools and similar snake oil.
  3. You are not logged into the Windows user account under which your Plex server is running. (Did you perhaps switch from a local to a Microsoft user account?)

E:\Plex Backup

Is there anything in there?

5

Plex is running on this machine, It still is running, now.
The Plex Data Folder ( %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server) has files in it, just not database files.
I am logged in.

Yes, there are files in E:\Plex Backup.

As stated above, there are these:
com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-2024-06-13
com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-2024-06-13

Also, now there are:
com.plexapp.plugins.library.blobs.db-2024-06-19
com.plexapp.plugins.library.db-2024-06-19

6

And these are larger than a few KB in size?
Then at least the backup appears to be working.
But it also means that there has to be a Plex data folder in the default location.
Are you aware that %LOCALAPPDATA%\Plex Media Server is just a placeholder which is resolved automatically if you paste the path into the address bar of the file explorer and press Enter?
It should take you straight to the right folder. Which is by default inside of C:\Users which itself is a hidden folder and maybe that’s why you didn’t find it?

7

Those files in the backup folder are about 325mb each.

Yes, I am aware that it is a placeholder. Yes I can get that folder. Yes there are files in it. I tried to explain that above. However, I do not see any .db files. See here:

Screenshot 2024-06-19 145428
Screenshot 2024-06-19 145428786×636 62.3 KB

Maybe I am missing something. As you can tell this is not my “A” game.

8

Did you ever run Plex server with “Run as Administrator”, even if it was just once?

Could you make a similar screen shot of the subfolder Plug-in Support/Databases?

9

I may have started Plex with a “Run as Administrator” at some point over the last 5 or 6 years. Hard to tell.

Hmmm… I guess I should not read these things so literally. When is says to look here:
C:\Users\ADMIN\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server
I did not see anything there. However, when I look here:
C:\Users\ADMIN\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases

I see this:

Screenshot 2024-06-19 151659a
Screenshot 2024-06-19 151659a970×516 78.8 KB

I believe this is what we are looking for? Yes? No?

10

There is definitely something in there. You made a screenshot of that folder and posted it above.

That is the database folder. And it has database files in there.
With current date/time stamps on them.
So these are definitely the database files that your Plex server is currently using.

I can only assume that the folder E:\Plex files - Move was created by you a few years ago, either in preparation of a hard drive swap, or as a safety measure of some kind. The data/time stamps on the files in there show that the data in there appear to be several years old.

As a working theory, I’d say that the database in C:\Users\ADMIN\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server\Plug-in Support\Databases was just created from scratch after the server software update.
Did you have to create Plex libraries after the update?
Or were your previous libraries already there?

11

No idea of the origins of the e:\Plex files - Move folder.

After the update, Plex was having a hard time finding the Libraries even though they were shown as being there. I tried to add a folder to one Library that was already there and then Plex scanned all the media from all the folders and all the Libraries back in.

12

Can you describe that? What did/didn’t it do, and what did you do to resolve it?

13

All the movies showed in Plex, however trying to edit or play them they showed as unavailable.

To resolve it, I tried to re-add a folder to one Library that was already there. Add an existing folder. Not sure how else to say it. Then Plex started scanning all the media from all the folders and all the Libraries back in. None of the old artwork, fixed metadata, was there and all the Collections have nothing in them.

14

Ah, I see.
The right move to resolve it would have been a library scan right away.
Files are marked as unavailable if the server tries to access them, but the media file storage doesn’t react (fast enough).
If that is combined with the checkbox “Empty trash automatically after every scan”, then the “missing” items are ousted from the library right away.
Although a subsequent library scan will bring them in again, any manual metadata edits you may have done beforehand can be gone.
To resolve that, you could restore one of the database backups from before the incident. https://support.plex.tv/articles/202485658-restore-a-database-backed-up-via-scheduled-tasks/

Or just leave it as-is and live with the status quo.

(The general recommendation is to leave “Empty trash automatically after every scan” UNchecked, if your media files are on external hard drives or on network file shares [i.e. on a NAS].)

15

Well… that did not go as well as planned.

I renames and moved the files as described, The collections came back but it seems that the metadata was lost on maybe 1 in 5 movies…

I am assuming this means the file(s) are corrupt and I should go back to the files that were there and manually fix the metadata. It sucks, but it seems like less work.

Any thoughts before I head that direction?

16

Have considered going back another backup or even two?

17

Went back another few days. Same thing…

18

Then it most likely means that your data are toast. You will have to start over.

Unless you can arrange yourself with the current state of things. But it doesn’t work as expected because some metadata edits will not “stick”, if I understood you right?

19

It looks more like a number of partial metadatas had not stuck. Looking a little closer, it appears that the General info, Tags, and watched checkmarks are there, but the Posters and Backgrounds are not. Even under the Edit, only a picture (?) shows up for both the Poster or Background options, though either were not selected so neither show up.

Screenshot 2024-06-22 08222A8
Screenshot 2024-06-22 08222A8707×462 20 KB

20

Did you enable Windows Storage Spaces for your drive C:? i.e. pooling, mirroring or striping?