Plex Permissions

[mrtepes2]

Hi Everyone,

Another newbie here and am hoping I am missing something really simple. I am unable to get Plex to recognize any files. Below is what I have done and verified based on other forum posts I was able to find. Massive wall of text and images incoming; I have been at this for a while.

1. Set up all my media folders in TrueNas. The only one that I will be focusing on here is Pictures since I am trying to see a photo file, but I tested this with Mp4 files in the TV folder and had the same unfortunate result.

2. Created a user for Plex in group plex with a UID and GID of 972.

3. Added permissions to the media folders to make Plex the owner of everything. When this did not work, I updated access permissions to everyone, so you will see both of them in this image. I attached an image of Main Data here, but the permissions for all folders under it were configured the same way.

4. Changed the mounting points of the Plex plugin.

5. Added the file into the Pictures folder via Windows Explorer. I also tried the file in just the Media folder as well, but this did not change anything.

6. Verified the folder permissions using the main shell.

7. Verified the file permissions in the main shell.

8. Verified the folder permissions in the jail shell. I did note that the owner was "plex" instead of "Plex" here. I did not create a plex user; only Plex. I would think this would still work since the group is plex. I also noted that I could not see the file here within the Pictures folder. I don't know if this is expected behavior or not.

9. Verified that the Photos folder in Plex is set to the same media folder I specified in the mount point.

10. Verified that the folders that I created under Main Data/Media were also seen here in the media folder and were selectable. I also tried selecting this Pictures folder instead of the main media folder and it made zero difference.

11. Verified that Plex could not see the file in the Pictures folder.

From what I can tell, Plex has permissions to all the folders and even the file itself, but only the folders will appear within Plex. Am I not supposed to add files via Windows or something? Am I missing some permissions? Where did I go wrong here?


Setup
OS: TrueNas Core version TrueNAS-13.0-U6.1

Plex Version: 1.40.0.7998

Computer: Dell Optiplex 3070 SFF
Intel Core i5 6 Core (i5-9500) 3.00 GHz
X1 8Gb DDR4 ram (another stick is on the way)
X1 256GB WD SSD (TrueNas installed here)
X1 12Tb 7200RPM HDD

 

[justdaboo]

Same issue here, can't find the solution....

Just did a post in topic:

Plex (new install, empty libraries)

My first SCALE host (TrueNAS-SCALE-22.12.3.2) and having problem getting the official Plex configured. Initial setup of the SCALE host is working well with local user and 112MB/s read/write on 1Gbps LAN. Redone the Plex app setup with many different variations and I'm sure I must be missing...

www.truenas.com

 

[victort]

Same issue here, can't find the solution....

Just did a post in topic:

Plex (new install, empty libraries)

My first SCALE host (TrueNAS-SCALE-22.12.3.2) and having problem getting the official Plex configured. Initial setup of the SCALE host is working well with local user and 112MB/s read/write on 1Gbps LAN. Redone the Plex app setup with many different variations and I'm sure I must be missing...

www.truenas.com

While the solution might be the same, you seem to be using SCALE in this case. This thread is using CORE.

 

[victort]

I just installed plex using this script, mounted some media into the jail under /mnt/media and it got picked up right away without me having to do any funny stuff with permissions.

Did you install via the plugin? You shouldn't be using plugins. They are deprecated.

 

[victort]

But I believe what is happening is that you cannot mount a parent dataset and have the files show up. You MUST mount the dataset in which the file are located apart from the parent dataset.

I noticed you that you mounted your main “Media” dataset only. You actually have to mount the child datasets as well, or mount the child datasets only, apart from the parent dataset.

Someone else might be able to explain why this is, but I’ve tried it in the past and it didn’t work.

 

[mrtepes2]

But I believe what is happening is that you cannot mount a parent dataset and have the files show up. You MUST mount the dataset in which the file are located apart from the parent dataset.

I noticed you that you mounted your main “Media” dataset only. You actually have to mount the child datasets as well, or mount the child datasets only, apart from the parent dataset.

Someone else might be able to explain why this is, but I’ve tried it in the past and it didn’t work.

You absolutely knocked it out of the park. Adding the child dataset mount points fixed the issue. It seems that I cannot mount different media to the same folder, however, as TV shows are appearing in my pictures section in Plex, and I may not have enough blank folders in the jail to mount TV, pictures, movies, and video to, but I will worry about that later. The media is still getting into Plex and I am thrilled.

You are also correct that I installed via the plugin. I will probably go back and redo everything using the script you provided since the permissions are all out of whack now which will likely cause future issues, but for now, thank you, thank you, a million times THANK YOU for your help!

 

[victort]

You absolutely knocked it out of the park. Adding the child dataset mount points fixed the issue. It seems that I cannot mount different media to the same folder, however, as TV shows are appearing in my pictures section in Plex, and I may not have enough blank folders in the jail to mount TV, pictures, movies, and video to, but I will worry about that later. The media is still getting into Plex and I am thrilled.

You are also correct that I installed via the plugin. I will probably go back and redo everything using the script you provided since the permissions are all out of whack now which will likely cause future issues, but for now, thank you, thank you, a million times THANK YOU for your help!

The folder doesn’t need to be present. But it does need to be empty. Best is to mount /mnt/media/pictures and /mnt/media/movies and /mnt/media/tvshows etc…

Just set the mount to /mnt/media/ or whatever, then type the rest. It will auto create the folder inside the jail.

 

[mrtepes2]

The folder doesn’t need to be present. But it does need to be empty. Best is to mount /mnt/media/pictures and /mnt/media/movies and /mnt/media/tvshows etc…

Just set the mount to /mnt/media/ or whatever, then type the rest. It will auto create the folder inside the jail.

Nailed it again. Didn't realize you could create folders in the jail that way. The learning curve has felt more like a straight vertical line to me . Thank you again!

 

[Sshiel]

I just wanted to clarify, will a folder inside /mnt/media/ be automatically created for each category, or do you still need to create them manually after mounting?

 

[victort]

I just wanted to clarify, will a folder inside /mnt/media/ be automatically created for each category, or do you still need to create them manually after mounting?

As long as you type the name, it will autocreate them. Then you just go find them in plex.

Is that what you’re asking, or are you referring to creating new folders inside the mount point to categorize your different media?

 

[mrtepes2]

I just wanted to clarify, will a folder inside /mnt/media/ be automatically created for each category, or do you still need to create them manually after mounting?

The entire process for me looked like this (per victort's advice)

1. Create the main media data set. Mine is called mnt/First Drive/Main Data/Media. This is what I was originally mounting to Plex, which was my main mistake.

2. Create child datasets under media. I have 4 currently: Pictures, Movies, TV, Music.

3. Create 4 separate mount points in the Plex jail (my jail is named plx, as shown in the file paths below) originating from your 4 child datasets in step 2 and have those mount points destination be a nonexistent folder inside of a folder that is empty, such as mnt/First Drive/iocage/jails/plx/root/media/Pictures for pictures. The "Pictures" folder inside of media does not exist initially, but navigating to iocage/jails/plx/root/media and then typing in /Pictures at the end of the path will create that folder automatically when you save the mount point.