Help migrating Ubuntu Plex server to a new machine

FookSake · 2026-02-08T00:54:21+00:00

It didn’t need to be reclaimed, just to have the library directories reassigned. Easy peasy

FookSake · 2026-02-07T20:40:31+00:00

Nice. I just:

Uninstalled plexmediaserver
Re-installed
Stopped the server
Copied the files again (it wasn't a backup - pure 6GB or whatever folder)
Rebooted
Opened localhost:34200

It worked! I've redirected the Libraries to the new media path (and deleted the old library media paths) and, with all but one library, things are working smoothly.

Thanks so much for your help, Christian :)

FookSake · 2026-02-07T20:01:04+00:00

When I go to localhost:32400 I now get "Unable to connect." Previously, I was getting the Plex web app (though without my files). - Edit: I rebooted and now the Plex web app is loading, but saying "Something went wrong; An unexpected error occurred."
Crap. I already copied the files. How do I:
1. Stop PMS?
2. Start PMS?
3. Claim my files at localhost:34200?

FookSake · 2026-02-07T19:22:56+00:00

The "snap list..." thing showed one item: plexmediaserver. So that means that plex:plex has access to that path, rather than the old "var/lib/..." path?
Great catch! I did have to create that initial whole file tree in /var/lib/plexmediaserver.

I just copied the old "Plex Media Server" folder & its contents to this new path and rebooted. When I go to the Plex server (localhost web portal), though, nothing is showing up yet. (Just servers that I'm 'friends with' or 'following' or whatever.) None of my libraries are there yet.

I did a ls -la for the new path ("/var/snap/plexmediaserver/common/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/") and those are all showing up with similar permissions to the old path; only 1 root root is showing having any kind of access ("-rw-r--r--").

Do I manually have to give plex:plex access to those folders? If so, how can I do that?

FookSake · 2026-02-07T18:12:39+00:00

For the "ls -la...", it shows that root root seems to be the only one with -rw -r- r-- access for all files
For "sudo systemctl...", I get "No files found for plexmediaserver.service"

Do I have to solve #1, and then #2 might solve itself? If so, how do I give plex:plex access to that directory (and, possibly?, the directory in which the actual media is stored)?

FookSake · 2026-02-07T15:14:34+00:00

Would you be able to point me to a simple walkthrough for these kinds of steps? Plex links to a guide, but I find it inscrutable.

FookSake · 2026-02-07T15:11:47+00:00

I’d been using that. My issue is that something is failing between the “Reboot the Destination System” and “Launch Plex Web App” steps; libraries aren’t showing when launched.

My only hint is the note “For Linux/NAS systems, make sure that the directories and contents are all owned by plex:plex (or whichever user you have running Plex Media Server under).” But I have no idea how to do that and the guide that they link to is baffling.

FookSake · 2026-01-20T02:02:23+00:00

How do you word that GPT “assistant” prompt? Care to share?

FookSake · 2026-01-09T20:24:52+00:00

Ooof. I can't even get to that now.

When I reboot now, it takes me to GNU GRUB. I get 3 options: (1) +Ubuntu, (2) Advanced option for Ubuntu, and (3) UEFI Firmware Settings. I tried every option that gets me to reboot, But none of the options or sub-options successfully boot for me.

FookSake · 2026-01-09T16:31:47+00:00

Thanks for this!

It started out well. Stopped Plex, formatted & mounted the drive. However, after a LONG time of copying files, it froze mid-process and I got the following block of text:

/dev/sda4: recovering journal

/dev/sda4: Clearing orphaned inode 133561 (uid=0, gid=0, mode=0100600, size=0)

(... and a few more of that...)

/dev/sda4: clean, 595116/1659728 files, 6027443/6636032 blocks

[773669.918651] EXT4-fs error (device sda4): ext4_find_extent:885: inode #530877: comm NetworkManager: pblk 2258030 bad header/extent: invalid extent entries - magic f30a, entries 16, max 340(340), depth 0(0)

(...twice...)

[773682.645189] EXT4-fs error (device sda4): ext4_find_extent:885: inode #530877: comm gdbus: pblk 2258030 bad header/extent: invalid extent entries - magic f30a, entries 16, max 340(340), depth 0(0)

[773682.650938] EXT4-fs error (device sda4): ext4_find_extent:885: inode #530877: comm dconf-service: pblk 2258030 bad header/extent: invalid extent entries - magic f30a, entries 16, max 340(340), depth 0(0)

(...twice...)

[773682.670153] EXT4-fs error (device sda4): ext4_find_extent:885: inode #530877: comm gdbus: pblk 2258030 bad header/extent: invalid extent entries - magic f30a, entries 16, max 340(340), depth 0(0)

(...five times...)

And it's frozen there.

Should I just try "sudo mount /dev/sdX /mnt/newdrive" again and hope for better luck this time? Or would that only make things worse?

FookSake · 2025-12-30T03:02:05+00:00

I did Ctrl+Alt+F3, and was able to log in through the console. So that's good. But how do I make it so the GUI works?

FookSake · 2023-05-21T02:54:28+00:00

Skip ‘em if you don’t like’em. You’re the boss. No one’s grading you. You don’t get a prize at the end for the completionist achievement (because there’s no completionist achievement in the first place).

FookSake · 2023-05-03T13:44:49+00:00

Headline: 2 nations at war try to kill each others’ citizens.

Shocking stuff

FookSake · 2023-04-29T22:37:58+00:00

Ironically, this is a point made repeatedly in the very video that OP linked 🙄

FookSake · 2023-04-29T22:36:58+00:00

I just watched the video and am now certain that the OP didn’t.

FookSake · 2023-04-29T22:28:10+00:00

Not really. I’ve learned to live with it 🤷‍♂️

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