Windows 10 app how do I play files locally instead of streaming them?

Plex Players Desktop Players
1

My Plex Media Server and Windows 10 Plex app are located on the same PC. Is it normal for the Windows app to be streaming my content (passing it to the router and back again) even though the content is being stored on the same PC?

I see that I can select the ‘Local and Synced Content’ option but, when I do, I can’t see any of my films or music. Only local photos and local videos are available and I can’t find an option to add additional libraries or change the file location. (I’m assuming the Plex app uses the Windows default pictures, music, videos folders for this but I don’t have the space there).

I’m sure there’s something simple I’m missing but I can’t find the answer anywhere.

Thanks for your help.

2

Hello dastevo86,

The PLEX apps only know how to stream content, they do not look locally for the server. I have not yet played with the Win10 app, so I’m not sure if this can be done.

Look for a setting to manually set the PLEX server address. When there set the address to “127.0.0.1”. That is the loop-back address for the PC. That way the app looks to it’s own computer for the server. Technacly the data will still “stream” from server to app, but it never makes it to the hardware level, it is just looped to the local server.

I hope this helps.

3

Hi dot19408,

Thanks for the reply. I managed to find the option you were talking about in ‘app commands’. There are four available servers listed and 127.0.0.1 is one of them but I can’t figure out how to set it as the default. I will keep trying and post back if I manage to do it.

The reason I’d prefer not to stream is that a lot of my larger files are pausing during playback to buffer. I didn’t realise that the Windows Plex app only works for streaming. I’ll revert back to the web app for now although I would eventually like to get this working smoothly - the Windows 10 app looks amazing on the big screen.

4

I can’t find where this was answered. My Plex Media Server and Windows 10 Plex app are located on the same PC. Is it normal for the Windows app to be streaming my content (passing it to the router and back again) even though the content is being stored on the same PC. I want to play locally on the Windows app without streaming, to cut out the buffering.