Issue with Plex Media Server not being able to see media

[Melvin_8910]

Hello everyone.

I am very new to FreeNAS and the forums, as I have just built my system and installed the OS not too long ago.

Ideally, this is what I would like to accomplish:
-Media Files in a dataset that is accessible through a share only by a group with approved users (not through guest access), and also accessible to Plex.

I understand that not having the share set as 'allowing guest access' creates some problems with Plex being able to see the media files. I have spent the better part of the past 6 hours reading all the forums I could find regarding Plex and share permissions, to no avail. But then, I realized that I did not even see if Plex could see the media files I had added with the guest access allowed.

So, I wiped the entire filesystem, created a main volume, created a media dataset, created the jails dataset, installed Plex, added the storage link in the jail to the media dataset, and created the windows smb share (with guest access allowed) with the media folder. I added some test video files via file explorer on a Windows machine. Refreshed and restarted the jail. And when I opened Plex Plugin through the FreeNAS gui, and I tried to "Add Library" and "Browse for Media Folder", no other drives besides the plex folder with the "Cache, Codecs, Logs, etc..." is showing. I followed the instructions on the YouTube video from the FreeNASTeam exactly, and the "/" folder with "bin, boot, media, etc.." is not there.

So again, ideally, I would like for my media folder to not have guest access and only be accessible through a group, but for now, I would just like to be able to get Plex working with the guest access to keep it as simple as possible, and then, once it is working, I'd like to tackle the permissions issue. I searched and did not find another thread with my exact problem where the media dataset is not even showing up at all with guest access, so I would really appreciate some help. Please let me know if there is any extra information I can provide you with to aid in the resolution of this issue.

 

[joeschmuck]

The first thing to do is list the following: What version of FreeNAS you are using and your system specs. I have no idea why the forum rules are constantly being violated but there must be a better way (not blaming you, this happens all the time). We need some of this information in order to properly give you good advice. As much as you would like a speedy fix, we too would like this, and for you to enjoy your experience with FreeNAS.

What video? Can you provide the link? It could be out of date.

As you are aware, permissions can be an issue, I like to have my shares at Unix 777 to start with for the dataset. This is different than the SMB. After setting the dataset permission, try Plex again and report back.

 

[IceBoosteR]

Hi,

maybe you want to have a look into this post:
https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...to-install-plex-in-a-freenas-9-10-jail.19412/

You can find a lot of similar questions & answers here. I am sure is only a permission problem. You need to be sure who and how your data can be accessed.
A jail/plugin is accessing the data with mount_nullfs which you can find here:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mount_nullfs
This is only a redirection to the jail, no "real" mountpoint, so you have the same permissions in the jail, so you need to have the same users and groups in the jail to access the data.

 

[Melvin_8910]

To 'joeschmuck':

I apologize, as I am new to the forums I am not fluent with posting procedures.

I am using version "FreeNAS-11.0-RC2"

System Specs:

• Motherboard: ASRock E3C226D2I Mini ITX
• RAM: 2 x Kingston 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 1333 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered
• CPU: Intel Pentium G3220 Haswel Dual-Core 3.0 GHz LGA 1150 54W Processor
• Storage: 6 x 8TB WD Reds Configured in RAID Z2 in FreeNAS

Here are the two videos I used to try and get Plex configured, both having a similar process:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DnUWTliaOY
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaiBWJ2r2Hg

However, both of the videos say to use a Windows CIFS share, but in my version of FreeNAS, the only Windows shares available, are 'Media Server Share' and 'Windows SMB Share'.

On the share, it does not allow me to edit specific permissions. It only has a box for 'apply default permissions', which i have tried both selected and unselected, still with no change in Plex. On my media dataset however, I have Unix permissions with all boxes ticked for read, write, execute for owner, group, and other.

I hope all of this information helps. Could this issue be because im using version 11 of FreeNAS, and all of these tutorials and forums are concerning FreeNAS 9?

Also, as I am new to FreeNAS, I understand basic concepts of things like Jails, etc, but I am not fully proficient in understanding how to 'have a user in a jail'. Please let me know if there is any more information

 

[joeschmuck]

You don't need to apologize, we just need to find a better way to ensure the new users read the rules (there isn't much in the rules) and hopefully adhere to them.

As for your problem, understanding that we are dealing with FreeNAS 11.0 RC2 is very helpful.

The video is out of date of course but it does provide some good setup info for the FreeNAS itself.

A few questions...
1) What is the format of your media?
2) Did you install the Plex plugin after you installed FreeNAS 11.0 RC2 or did you install it while running an earlier version of FreeNAS?
3)

And when I opened Plex Plugin through the FreeNAS gui, and I tried to "Add Library" and "Browse for Media Folder", no other drives besides the plex folder with the "Cache, Codecs, Logs, etc..." is showing. I followed the instructions on the YouTube video from the FreeNASTeam exactly, and the "/" folder with "bin, boot, media, etc.." is not there.

If you setup the plex

Just manually type in: /media

In my example I have a dataset called "Movies" and then I setup SMB (CIFS) shares but only so I could move a video into the dataset, you don't need the SMB share for Plex to work. Also notice that I reference /media for the location inside the jail (plugin).