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macOS Troubleshooting

macOS Troubleshooting

Section titled “macOS Troubleshooting”

Common issues and solutions for Plex on macOS.

Plex Won’t Start

Section titled “Plex Won’t Start”

Check Process

Section titled “Check Process”
Terminal window
pgrep -l "Plex Media Server"

View Logs

Section titled “View Logs”
Terminal window
tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plex\ Media\ Server.log

Reset Preferences

Section titled “Reset Preferences”
Terminal window
# Backup first
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Preferences.xml ~/Desktop/


# Remove to reset
rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Preferences.xml

Media Not Found

Section titled “Media Not Found”

Check Permissions

Section titled “Check Permissions”
Terminal window
ls -la /path/to/media

Grant Full Disk Access

Section titled “Grant Full Disk Access”
  1. System Preferences → Security & Privacy → Privacy
  2. Select Full Disk Access
  3. Add Plex Media Server

Transcoding Issues

Section titled “Transcoding Issues”

Check VideoToolbox

Section titled “Check VideoToolbox”
Terminal window
# Should show VideoToolbox info
system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType | grep -i "Metal"

Clear Transcoder Cache

Section titled “Clear Transcoder Cache”
Terminal window
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Cache/Transcode/*

Remote Access Problems

Section titled “Remote Access Problems”

Firewall Check

Section titled “Firewall Check”
Terminal window
sudo /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --listapps | grep -i plex

Port Test

Section titled “Port Test”
Terminal window
nc -zv localhost 32400

Database Issues

Section titled “Database Issues”

Repair

Section titled “Repair”
Terminal window
# Stop Plex
osascript -e 'quit app "Plex Media Server"'


# Repair database
sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plug-in\ Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db "VACUUM;"

Get Help

Section titled “Get Help”