Unable to install Plex (permissions issues?)

[jamesrayth]

I initially installed HexOS in February, the install went smoothly. I then installed Plex just to see how installing a supported app would go, and it installed fine and created the media folders fine. Just today, however, I have been adding backed up TV shows to my media folders and was trying to get Plex to work, and it wasn't working. It said there was a configuration update available for the Plex app, which asked for a claim ID and whether I have Plex Pass. I entered the claim ID and selected I have Plex Pass, but the update failed. After trying this a few times and getting the same results, I decided to uninstall Plex and try reinstalling it. Now when I try to install it I am getting this message:

Failed to install app. Job 453 failed: [EPERM] Filesystem permissions on path /mnt/HDDs/Applications prevent access for group "apps" to the path /mnt/HDDs/Applications/plex/logs. This may be fixed by granting the aforementioned group execute permissions on the path: /mnt/HDDs/Applications.

I don't even know where to begin to fix this. Can anyone give some guidance?

[Dylan]

Hi @jamesrayth Def sounds like a permissions issue. When you installed Plex 10 months ago, have you not uses/updated it since? That [EPERM] error typically means that filesystem permissions on that path won’t allow the installation to create read/write there and I'm wondering if there could be a versioning issue OR somehow the permissions might have been changed when you reinstalled.

 

[jamesrayth]

Yeah I just clicked the easy install button 10 months ago and it created all its folders successfully and installed successfully, but I never used it or connected any of the smart tv's to it. I haven't touched any of the HexOS stuff since the initial install, just have been using it as a NAS so there's plenty of files on my NAS. Today when I decided to actually use Plex I saw there was an update for Plex and tried to run that update, but that updated wanted the claim ID and when I put it in, the update would fail without creating any message in the notification. That's why I decided to uninstall Plex, which did create a notification that it was successful, and then tried to reinstall Plex, which is now giving those error messages.

I had thought to try and poke around TrueNAS to see if I could figure out how to give the group "Apps" permissions, but when I click TrueNAS and it goes to the IP of the server, that also comes up as can not connect in my browser... so that's another issue I'm trying to figure out. HexOS works fine though, and I'm able to access the NAS, just cant for some reason access TrueNAS either.

[jamesrayth]

Well connecting to TrueNAS just seemed to be my browser on my macbook not displaying it at all because it wasn't a secure connection. I tried on my PC and I was able to get into TrueNAS. @Dylan do you know if there is any guides on installing Plex through TrueNAS so that it doesn't mess up HexOS? If I can find a install video on youtube for installing Plex through TrueNAS, would that mess anything up through HexOS? 

[Dylan]

@jamesrayth Hmmm....this is a bit messy. I suspect that what you're encountering is both versioning mismatch AND, as a result, maybe permissions as well. I typically do not recommend attempting to configure Plex via TN particularly as Plex is a curated and a fully supported app. Doing that can easily create conflicts (this has happened to me) and can lead to exactly the kind of permissions drift I think is occurring. The error you’re getting suggests HexOS no longer has permission to write to its app storage location.

Wit that said, maybe the safest approach would be to use TN UI to repair permissions on the Applications dataset/folder ,making sure the application has write access and then go back to HexOS to install Plex normally. Hopefully, once HexOS can write to the apps a Plex re-install should behave again. 

PLEASE make sure you're data is backed up and good luck!!

[jamesrayth]

@Dylan I apologize if I have made anything confusing with my ramblings. To clarify, I installed HexOS following the standard install guide in February and it installed fine. I then used the HexOS Plex app install option, and it worked fine, but I never used it. Now just a couple days ago I try to use Plex and noticed it said there was an update available, but that update didn't work, so I uninstalled Plex through HexOS (which was successful) and tried reinstalling it through HexOS (which failed with the permissions error). I have never gone into TrueNAS for anything or modified any permissions. So I'm not sure how things got into this state, but I fully agree that this sounds like some kind of permissions issue.

Since I have never done anything inside of TrueNAS, do you know if there is a guide somewhere regarding setting permissions? And what would I be looking for on the applications dataset/folder? You suggest making sure the application has write access, would that be HexOS having write permissions? Like, am I looking to give HexOS write permissions or am I looking to give Plex write permissions? 

Sorry, I just want to make sure I know what I'm looking for before I go into TrueNAS so I don't mess anything up, because the NAS itself has more space used than I have backup storage available. Thank you for your help so far, I really appreciate it!

[jamesrayth]

@Dylan OMG OMG OMG I figured it out! 

I went into TrueNAS and found the Applications dataset, found the permissions and everything looked fine there, but I also noticed that under the Applications folder there was the Plex folder. Only the Plex folder. Because I had only installed Plex, nothing else. And since I uninstalled it, it shouldn't still be there. The fact it is still there, I reasoned, could be causing issues when it tries to install. I figured it must not have fully deleted the folder during the uninstall. So I deleted that folder and then tried to install Plex again through HexOS and IT WORKED! 

So happy! Thank you for pointing me in the right place!