How to stop plexserver from within container

[truthsword]

To perform maintenance on the Plex database, I must stop the plexserver, yet I am unable to do this. I began with various attempts after entering the running container with sudo docker exec -it plex bash

s6-svc -d /run/service/svc-plex

s6-svc -d /var/run/service/svc-plex

s6-svc -d /run/s6-rc/servicedirs/svc-plex

systemctl stop plexmediaserver

supervisorctl stop plexmediaserver

pkill -f "Plex Media Server"

pkill: killing pid 199 failed: Operation not permitted
pkill: killing pid 901 failed: Operation not permitted
pkill: killing pid 958 failed: Operation not permitted

Note: all commands run at container root.

How may I do this?

[j0nnymoe]

You could just run them directly on the host while the container is stopped.

[truthsword]

Thanks. I was hoping to use the DBRepair script. Otherwise, I'm unsure how I would deflate the database, as it requires use of Plex SQlite (which is inaccessible when the container is stopped).

I'm sure my ignorance is blinding me to see how to pull this off.

[truthsword]

That script does not stop the container. It times out when "stop" is invoked. Hence this thread.

[j0nnymoe]

Didn't time out for me when I just tested it.

[truthsword]

Your setup is not my setup. Script initialized as expected. Chose "1" (stop). Timed out after 60 seconds. Hence this thread.

[j0nnymoe]

Then redeploy the container in the same way our compose shows in the readme. This is a third party script, which they have tested against a default install of our container. If it's not working on you're specific setup which is different to what we show in the readme or you're over complicated setup, it's on you to diagnose.

[aptalca]

You need to give us more context here. Is the container running properly? Please post a container log and show us your compose yaml or docker run.

Also it would be helpful to provide a ps -ef output before and after running the s6-svc command

[truthsword]

Compose:

services:
  plex:
    # image: lscr.io/linuxserver/plex:latest
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/plex:1.42.2.10156-f737b826c-ls292
    container_name: plex
    # restart: unless-stopped
    devices:
      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri
    cap_drop:
      - ALL
    cap_add:
      - CHOWN
      - DAC_OVERRIDE
      - SETGID
      - SETUID
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - VERSION=docker
    network_mode: host
    volumes:
      - /home/alf/stacks/plex/config:/config
      - /mnt/media/movies:/movies:ro
      - /mnt/media/tv_shows:/tvshows:ro
      - /mnt/media/music:/music:ro
      - /mnt/media/temp:/others:ro
      - /mnt/media/optimize:/transcode

log:

plex  | [migrations] started
plex  | [migrations] no migrations found
plex  | ───────────────────────────────────────
plex  |
plex  |       ██╗     ███████╗██╗ ██████╗
plex  |       ██║     ██╔════╝██║██╔═══██╗
plex  |       ██║     ███████╗██║██║   ██║
plex  |       ██║     ╚════██║██║██║   ██║
plex  |       ███████╗███████║██║╚██████╔╝
plex  |       ╚══════╝╚══════╝╚═╝ ╚═════╝
plex  |
plex  |    Brought to you by linuxserver.io
plex  | ───────────────────────────────────────
plex  |
plex  | To support LSIO projects visit:
plex  | https://www.linuxserver.io/donate/
plex  |
plex  | ───────────────────────────────────────
plex  | GID/UID
plex  | ───────────────────────────────────────
plex  |
plex  | User UID:    1000
plex  | User GID:    1000
plex  | ───────────────────────────────────────
plex  | Linuxserver.io version: 1.42.2.10156-f737b826c-ls292
plex  | Build-date: 2026-02-09T10:09:32+00:00
plex  | ───────────────────────────────────────
plex  |
plex  | **** creating group groupyhxj with id 106 ****
plex  | **** adding /dev/dri/renderD128 to group groupyhxj with id 106 ****
plex  | **** adding /dev/dri/card0 to group video with id 44 ****
plex  | **** Server already claimed ****
plex  | Docker is used for versioning skip update check
plex  | [custom-init] No custom files found, skipping...
plex  | Starting Plex Media Server. . . (you can ignore the libusb_init error)
plex  | Connection to localhost (127.0.0.1) 32400 port [tcp/*] succeeded!
plex  | [ls.io-init] done.

ps -ef (prior to s6-svc comand)

UID          PID    PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
root           1       0  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /package/admin/s6/command/s6-svscan -d4 -- /run/service
root          17       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise s6-linux-init-shutdownd
root          19      17  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /package/admin/s6-linux-init/command/s6-linux-init-shutdownd -d3
root          36       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise svc-plex
root          37       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise s6rc-fdholder
root          38       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise svc-cron
root          39       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise s6rc-oneshot-runner
root          47      39  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /package/admin/s6/command/s6-ipcserverd -1 -- /package/admin/s6/c
abc          242      36  1 15:32 ?        00:00:01 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
root         243      38  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 bash ./run svc-cron
root         255     243  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 sleep infinity
abc          269     242  0 15:32 ?        00:00:01 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resour
abc          329     242  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaser
abc          368     242  0 15:32 ?        00:00:01 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.imdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/R
root         402       0  0 15:34 pts/0    00:00:00 bash
root         410     402  0 15:35 pts/0    00:00:00 ps -ef

ps -ef (prior to s6-svc comand)

UID          PID    PPID  C STIME TTY          TIME CMD
root           1       0  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /package/admin/s6/command/s6-svscan -d4 -- /run/service
root          17       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise s6-linux-init-shutdownd
root          19      17  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /package/admin/s6-linux-init/command/s6-linux-init-shutdownd -d3
root          36       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise svc-plex
root          37       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise s6rc-fdholder
root          38       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise svc-cron
root          39       1  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 s6-supervise s6rc-oneshot-runner
root          47      39  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /package/admin/s6/command/s6-ipcserverd -1 -- /package/admin/s6/c
abc          242      36  0 15:32 ?        00:00:01 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Media Server
root         243      38  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 bash ./run svc-cron
root         255     243  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 sleep infinity
abc          269     242  0 15:32 ?        00:00:01 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.system] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Resour
abc          329     242  0 15:32 ?        00:00:00 /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/Plex Tuner Service /usr/lib/plexmediaser
abc          368     242  0 15:32 ?        00:00:01 Plex Plug-in [com.plexapp.agents.imdb] /usr/lib/plexmediaserver/R
root         402       0  0 15:34 pts/0    00:00:00 bash
root         412     402  0 15:37 pts/0    00:00:00 ps -ef

[truthsword]

Done. Removed:

    cap_drop:
      - ALL
    cap_add:
      - CHOWN
      - DAC_OVERRIDE
      - SETGID
      - SETUID
    security_opt:
      - no-new-privileges:true

Ran DBRepair script. When complete, restored compose file with advanced security features.

[aptalca]

It looks like your messing with the caps prevents the container from being able to cleanly stop plex so it is killed every time. It's only a matter of time before your sqlite db corrupts.

[truthsword]

Good point. I should drop those.