Plex is a client-server media player system, plus an ancillary software suite. The Plex Media Server desktop application runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Plex gives you one place to find and access all the media that matters to you. From personal media on your own server, to podcasts, web shows, and news, to streaming music, you can enjoy it all in one app, on any device. You can easily install Plex through Synology Package Center. In this step by step guide I will show you how to install Plex on your Synology NAS using Docker.
STEP 1
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STEP 2
Install Docker via Synology “Package Center”.
STEP 3
Open the Docker Package. From the Docker Console, go to Registry and search Plex. Look for plexinc/pms-docker and select it, then click Download or double click on it. You will be prompted to Choose Tag, select latest. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 4
After you click “Select”, the download process of the Plex docker container will start. You can click on Image on the Docker Console to see the download progress. The current container is about 421 MB. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 5
After the download is completed from the Docker Console, go to Image, then select the plexinc/pms-docker:latest container. Click Launch. Check “Execute container using high privilege”, then click Advanced Settings. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 6
Select Enable auto-restart. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 7
Go to File Station and open the docker folder. Inside the docker folder, create a new folder and name it plex. Follow the instructions in the images below.
Note: Be careful enter only lowercase, not uppercase letters.
STEP 8
Now create six new folders inside the plex folder that you created at STEP 7. Name them as follows: db, exercise, movies, music, photos, transcode. Follow the instructions in the image below.
Note: Be careful enter only lowercase, not uppercase letters.
STEP 9
Now go back to the Docker Package. Next tab – “Volume“. Select Add Folder. Choose the plex folder then click Select. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 10
After you click Select, type /data inside Mount path for the plex folder. Follow the instructions in the image below. Your Volume will look like this:
STEP 11
Do the same operation again. Select Add Folder then add the db folder inside the Plex folder then click Select. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 12
After you click Select, type /config inside Mount path for the db folder. Follow the instructions in the image below. Your Volume will look like this:
STEP 13
Do the same operation again. Select Add Folder then add the transcode folder inside the Plex folder then click Select. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 14
After you click Select, type /transcode inside Mount path for the transcode folder. Follow the instructions in the image below. Your Volume will look like this:
STEP 15
Next tab – “Network“ Check “Use the same network ad Docker Host”.
STEP 16
Next tab – “Port Settings“ move forward without doing anything (no action needed).
Next tab – “Links“ move forward without doing anything (no action needed).
Next tab – “Environment“ Click the + to add the variable and Value.
On the variable area type: TZ and on the Value Area add: Europe/Bucharest (Select your current Time Zone from this list).
STEP 17
Now go to plex.tv and login with your plex account. After that go to plex.tv/claim and Copy to Clipboard the claim code.
STEP 18
Go back to Environment. Click the + to add the variable and Value.
On the variable area type: PLEX_CLAIM and on the Value Area add: your claimed code without claim- at the beginning. Click Apply. Follow the instructions in the images below.
On the variable area type: PGID and on the Value Area add: your own PGID number.
On the variable area type: PUID and on the Value Area add: your own PUID number.
You can find your own PGID and PUID values by following my step by step guide.
So there is s total of 4 Environment variable to add. TZ, PLEX_CLAIM, PGID, PUID
Note: the PUID and PGID values in the screenshot above are mine. Your PUID and PGID values might be different.
Note: You should use a PUID and PGID values so that Plex can see the media.
STEP 19
After clicking “Apply“ on STEP 18, the screen below will open. Click “Next“. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 20
After clicking “Next“, the screen below will open. Select “Run this container after the wizard is finished” then click “Apply“. Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 21
Go back to STEP 1 or you will deal with karma 🙂
STEP 22
Now open your browser and type in http://Synology-ip-address:32400/web Follow the instructions in the image below.
STEP 23 Run Container via HTTPS
Read the step by step guide on How to Allow Plex to Work Over an HTTPS Connection. Method 1.
Read Synology: HTTPS-SSL to Your Docker Containers Without Port at The End. Method 2.
Note: How do you use HW ACC for encoding in PLEX via Docker? −−device=/dev/dri:/dev/dri
Note: Enable quicksync drivers if you want to do use h/w transcoding.
Note: Find out how to update Plex container with the latest image.
Note: I recommend you use Reverse Proxy to allow Plex to work over an HTTPS connection.
Note: Can I run Docker on my Synology NAS? See the supported models.
Note: What are the benefits for using Plex via Docker?
- Auto updates.
- Version will almost always be more up to date than Synology Package version.
- Can easily migrate installation to another server or OS in minutes.
- Not impacted by any other software installed or running on the NAS.
- Uses less CPU and RAM than the pkg version.
This post was updated on Thursday / August 25th, 2022 at 4:40 PM