Webinterface not starting anymore

[barrystaes]

I have a situation where Plex is running but the webserver is not.

I previously used Limetech Plex docker on Unraid for a while, but wanted to use the latest plex pass version so i switched to Linuxserver Plex. Odd thing is, it ran OK for a few hours before the issue appeared.

I document it here with all specifics i can find, it may be of use to others.

The conversion was simple:
I removed the old docker, then installed this one.
Set the config and media directories, and launched it.
For a few hours the webinterface was working fine. Now a day later i find that its offline.

Browser (Chrome) says:

The 192.168.2.30 page isn’t working
192.168.2.30 didn’t send any data.
ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE

The Linuxserver Plex docker settings in Unraid 6.1.7:

edit: replaced screenshot, no plexpass version

The docker log in Unraid:

-------------------------------------
_ _ _
| |___| (_) ___
| / __| | |/ _ \ 
| \__ \ | | (_) |
|_|___/ |_|\___/
|_|

Brought to you by linuxserver.io
We do accept donations at:
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-------------------------------------
GID/UID
-------------------------------------
User uid: 99
User gid: 100
-------------------------------------

[cont-init.d] 10-adduser: exited 0.
[cont-init.d] 30-dbus: executing... 
[cont-init.d] 30-dbus: exited 0.
[cont-init.d] 40-chown-files: executing... 
[cont-init.d] 40-chown-files: exited 0.
[cont-init.d] 50-plex-update: executing... 
No update required
[cont-init.d] 50-plex-update: exited 0.
[cont-init.d] done.
[services.d] starting services
Starting Plex Media Server.
Starting dbus-daemon
6 3000 /config/Library/Application Support
unlimited
[services.d] done.
Starting Avahi daemon

Yep, that log just ends there when i reboot it. At this point the Plex server is usable via Android app (browsing and streaming) but not via a webinterface.

I once found some avahi errors via a ssh session somewhere, but right now cant find it anymore.

No symlinks involved that i am aware of, i didnt make any for sure.

I'm going to update this issue with my findings. I do this here instead of on the Limetech forum because i use this docker, i followed all instructions available that i am aware of, and because i saw avahi errors for this docker.

[barrystaes]

First it looks like avahi-daemon is running in the docker instance. How do i restart it?
(reason is https://github.com/timhaak/docker-plex/issues/22 )

top - 18:40:23 up  4:30,  0 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.04, 0.11
Tasks:  12 total,   1 running,  11 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
%Cpu(s):  0.3 us,  0.0 sy,  0.0 ni, 99.6 id,  0.0 wa,  0.0 hi,  0.0 si,  0.0 st
KiB Mem :  6172632 total,    44412 free,   641272 used,  5486948 buff/cache
KiB Swap:        0 total,        0 free,        0 used.  4923132 avail Mem

  PID USER      PR  NI    VIRT    RES    SHR S  %CPU %MEM     TIME+ COMMAND
  297 abc       35  15 1776384  60120  11008 S   0.7  1.0   0:09.45 Plex Script Hos
    1 root      20   0     192      4      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.02 s6-svscan
   32 root      20   0     192      4      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 s6-supervise
  260 root      20   0     192      4      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 s6-supervise
  261 root      20   0     192      4      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 s6-supervise
  262 root      20   0     192      4      0 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 s6-supervise
  264 avahi     20   0   44920   2876   2548 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.08 avahi-daemon
  266 abc       20   0    4504    680    604 S   0.0  0.0   0:00.00 start_pms
  268 message+  20   0   42888   3548   3140 S   0.0  0.1   0:00.00 dbus-daemon
  286 abc       20   0  457368  69264  37628 S   0.0  1.1   0:18.08 Plex Media Serv
  398 root      20   0   18236   3328   2856 S   0.0  0.1   0:00.08 bash
 1141 root      20   0   36668   3184   2684 R   0.0  0.1   0:00.00 top

[barrystaes]

Some more info i should add - the port forwards seem to be fine since the webinterface worked before in this very docker instance. And all other networking is working as mentioned earlyer.

And the UID and GID where checked and they comply with https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/plex/

[tobbenb]

Plexpass is not a valid variable for version as far as I know. Its only latest, public or a specific version.
If that doesn't work, then try with a fresh config.

[CHBMB]

https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-plex

Version variables are here, @tobbenb is right.

[barrystaes]

Yeah sorry its latest but apparently i took that screenshot when i tried plexpass to resolve this because i read it somewhere. Its set back latest now, like it was before.

[tobbenb]

And what happens with a fresh config?

[barrystaes]

Ok did a fresh config: I removed that docker + image. I reinstalled it again and only set the /config and /media settings. Then started it. My Android App can browse and stream, but the webinterface still is not working.

[tobbenb]

You still used the config from the old container?

[barrystaes]

Yup. I dont want to lose my Plex watch history..

[tobbenb]

You don't loose them by trying a fresh config. This is for troubleshooting.

[CHBMB]

can you try navigating to /mnt/cache/appdata/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server and change the name of Preferences.xml or move it somewhere.

It will reset Plex to default but not cause you to lose your library database.

[barrystaes]

Ok thats good to know. I made a tar.gz backup anyway so i'll try this now.

[barrystaes]

Should i also NOT use the same /config value then.. for a fresh config? Or are you both referring to Preferences.xml only.

[tobbenb]

For testing a fresh config you need to use another folder. Just call it pmstest. That will be in your appdata folder.
If you want to do what chbmb suggest, its the same config.

[barrystaes]

Ok i just tried with just renaming Preferences.xml in that /config folder and the webinterface is showing now! Must be something in there.

Thanks! I would never have tried this otherwise. 🎱 😄

I wonder what might have caused that. I'll see if i can post it here (without some sensitive values if any)

[tobbenb]

Most likely a setting from that old version (limetech) that our version liked. Or a corrupt file.
Good you got it sorted.

[barrystaes]

Thanks to @tobbenb and @CHBMB.

So my take from this is when upgrading from limetech to linuxserver Plex docker, it might be wise to rename Preferences.xml. Is this documented somewhere for people that convert?

I logged in and can confirm the watch history is still there. I'll post the contents from Preferences below and close this ticket.

[CHBMB]

I don't think it's a common issue, I know others that have migrated without problems so don't think we need to add it to the readme.

Don't post anything from preferences, it's got lots of stuff in it you don't want to publish on the internet.

[sparklyballs]

i think it's something to do with one of the tokens in the preferences.xml file, had a user some months ago with a similar issue.

[Teggles]

Hey just wanted to chime in on this. I had this happen to me and the setting I changed to cause it was to tell my server to require secure connections. I assumed this would be streaming via the plex central server, not internally for the web based management UI.

[maxbbender]

Hey, +1 for Teggles, same thing happened to me. Changed the value of secure connections backed to true and all good!

[Teggles]

Or just tell your browser to connect via HTTPS and accept the unsigned certificate.

[maxbbender]

@Teggles, this might work for a direct connection but at least for me the indirect (through plex.tv) was still broken.