For this post I will go over all the necessary steps to setup a Plex server.  In later posts I will discuss how to monitor with Tautulli and how to setup Sonar to dynamically add content.

This guide will run through the entire process of setting up a working Plex Media Server in Windows.  We will be using Windows 2019 Standard.  By default Plex runs in the profile of a logged in user.  We will configure the running of Plex as a Windows service later on.  A lot of the features in this guide make use of the Plex Pass which is a paid subscription.  If you are a free Plex user you can just skip any steps that don’t apply to you.

Installation

First you will need to download Plex Media Server from here. Once you have the installation file downloaded run the installer and click Install

Wait for the installer to finish and then click close

Plex as a service

I’ve had some feedback from the Plex community that this step will actually stop you from being able to use Hardware Transcoding.  If you need Hardware transcoding skip this step.  The only downside to skipping this step is that you will need to leave a user permanently logged in for Plex to work.

Open the Windows computer management console (compmgmt.msc) and create a user account to run the Plex service.  You can see my service account below named Plexsvc

You will need to login as this account to Windows and make sure that it has read access to your media files.  If it does not you will need to add the necessary credentials in the Windows Credential Manager

Download the Plex as a Service installer file from here.  Run the .msi installer and click Next

Choose the Plex Service account that you created earlier and enter the password.  Click Test Credentials an you should get a tick, then click Next and Install

Once complete Plex should now be started within the service using the account you created, click Finish

Basic Plex Configuration

If you open your browser you should now be able to see the Plex login page at http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/index.html This will redirect you to the plex.tv website where you can login with your Plex account.  If you do not have a Plex account go here and set one up

Once logged in you will see the How Plex Works screen, click GOT IT!

Give your Plex server a friendly name.  The next part is very important – you need to decide whether or not you want to access Plex outside of your network.  If you do you will need to ensure that the correct security precautions are taken, which we will discuss later on.   Click Next

Unless you want Plex to add media from your service account user’s Music and Photos folder click the red cross next to them to remove them, then click Next.  We will add libraries later on.

Click Done

Organising your media files

Before we proceed with adding a library let’s discuss how your media should be arranged.  You will need either different root folders or disks for your Movies, TV and Music.  I have separate disks and is laid out as below:

Movies

For the best success rate when scanning movies in Plex you should have all your movies named with the movie title within a folder that also matches the movie title.  You then place this in your root Movies folder as below

TV Shows

TV Shows are slightly different in that each media file is an episode that sits inside a Season folder.  You should name each episode like this:

Show Title – S01E01 – Episode Title.mp4

You can use a tool like Media Companion or Filebot to help you do this on a larger scale.

S01E01 = Season 1 Episode 1

Therefore you should number the above accordingly.  See below for an example of how this should look

Music

Music files such as .mp3 should be named like this:

1 – An Artist – An Album – A Track Title.mp3

There are many tools available to help you name your files if you have a lot to process – TagScanner and Tag & Rename to name a few.  See some examples below of how your files should look:

Library Configuration

Add a Movies library

Once we have our media arranged as above we can proceed with adding a library.   Click the + button next to Libraries

Click Movies to start with, choose a name for your movie library and click Next

Click Browse for a media folder

Select the drive or folder containing your movies and then click Add

Click Advanced, these settings are  a matter of personal preference really.  I disable cinema trailers and collections

I also set my ratings source to IMDB and the Country to UK.  Click Add Library when ready

Plex will then scan your new movie library and try and match it up with something in the movie database

I’m not sure about the movies Plex found but it did its best with my made-up movie titles!  In your library you should start seeing all your movies populate

Add a TV Shows library

Click the + button again to add a library

Select TV Shows and give your TV Show library a name, click Next

Click Browse for media folder

Select your TV Show drive or folder and click Add

Click Advanced, I set my options as below.  You may want to disable Enable video preview thumbnails for your Movie library.  The files are generally larger and more complex (especially with 4K HEVC).  This can send your CPU into a spin for days if not weeks.  I leave this off for movies and on for TV shows

When ready click Add Library, this will then add all your TV shows into Plex

Add a Music library

Click the + button next to Libraries

Select Music, give the Music library a name and click Next

Click Browse for media folder

Choose your Music drive or folder and click Add

Click options, if you have a Plex Pass you can benefit from some extra features as below otherwise you will only be able to create a basic Music library, click Next

Click Advanced and choose your Music library preferences, I leave mine set as below

Click Add Library when ready

General Settings

Click General under Settings and click the Show Advanced button at the top right, set your Server version update settings to Ask Me and make sure that the Server update channel is Public.  I like to keep all my Plex data on a separate fast SSD disk so configure the Path where local application data is stored to reflect this.  We also need this to be set so that Plex can run as a service independent of a user directory

Remote Access Settings

Click Remote Access under Settings and click the Show Advanced button at the top right.  If you want to be able to access your Plex media outside of your home make sure this is enabled.  For this to work you will have to allow port 32400 inbound on your router to your Plex server.  For this reason your Plex server should also have a static IP address.  See here for more help on the network setup

Agent Settings

Here you can specify which databases are used when trying to get a match for your media.  You can select a library, then choose an agent and then choose the order in which it searches for matches for your media

I like to add a plugin called XBMCnfoMoviesImporter and then use this agent as the Plex movie/tv show scanner for my libraries.  This means that I can prepare the metadata for my movie exactly as I like it in a tool like Media Companion and then import it with all the local metadata.  This is of course just the way I do it and not at all a necessary step

Library Settings

Click Library under Settings and click the Show Advanced button on the top right.  As below I prefer to scan my library every 6 hours and disable Allow media deletion.

I set Generate video preview thumbnails as a scheduled task.  As I mentioned earlier beware setting this on your movie library as it can cause high CPU usage

Plugins Settings

Click Plugins under Settings and click the Show Advanced button.  Set your region and configure iTunes if necessary

Network Settings

Click Network under Settings and click the Show Advanced button.  Set the secure connections drop down to Required.  This will ensure than any device connecting to your Plex server does so over an encrypted connection.  If you have multiple Network Interface Cards select which one you want to use with Plex

Select how many remote streams you want any of your users to have, I usually set this to 1.  If you want impose bandwidth restrictions in the Remote Access settings it is necessary to configure your LAN networks so Plex knows which networks are local and which are remote.  This is an advanced feature and generally left untouched, to learn more about it see here

Transcoder Settings

Click Transcoder under Settings and click Show Advanced.  I set my quality to Prefer higher speed encoding (as I just want to get the media files faster) and Transcoder directory to a separate fast SSD disk.  There is a full explanation of how this works here.  If you have compatible hardware you can make use of hardware acceleration.  Many users in the community have had issue with this though in terms of quality and stability, I prefer to leave it off

Languages Settings

Click Languages under Settings and click Show Advanced.  Unless you prefer audio tracks in a different language to English there should be no need to change anything here

Scheduled Tasks Settings

Click Scheduled Tasks under Settings and click Show Advanced.  Configure your Start and Stop times for your scheduled tasks.  You’ll want this to be at a time when no one wants to use the server.  Set your backup directory, I choose a separate disk for this.  I configure the rest of the settings as below

Home Users

Click on Home users under Family and Friends.  Home users are exactly that, they are users that will have direct access to your Plex Media Server (when on an authorised network).  You have direct control over these user accounts and can add and remove them as you wish.  You can see all the users I have setup within my household below

The great thing about the user management in Plex is that I can share particular libraries and hide others from certain users.  For example as below I choose to only share Movies with the Media Center Kids user

Click Restrictions, you can choose whether you want users to do any of the below.  I let all my home users have Allow Sync which enables them to take offline copies of Plex media to their phones/tablets

Under restrictions you can also select which ratings you will allow your users to watch.  For instance, for children you may only want to allow U or PG as below which means that they will not have access to 12, 15 or 18 rated content

Sharing

You may want to share your Plex Media Server content with other Plex users.    To do this click Sharing under Family & Friends and click Invite Friend, type the Plex username or email address of the user you want to share your library with

Once the user accepts they will be able to connect to your server from their device.  You can then manage the user’s access to your server the same way as a home user.

And that is it, your server is now fully configured and ready to use.

Hardware

Of course the more users you have simultaneously transcoding the more strain you will put on your hardware.  Hardware is of course a whole topic on its own but I feel that I should at least mention it here.  If you are only going to be using direct play – i.e. just playing the file direct from the local network and not making any attempt to downsize or make it compatible with certain devices, high spec equipment is not so important.  If you want to prepare a Plex Media Server for heavy transcoding you will need to give the hardware some consideration.

CPU

You will first need to make sure that the CPU scores highly enough on CPUbenchmark.net

The official suggestions from Plex are as below:

Plex also suggest the following guidelines using CPUbenchmark.net so be sure to head over there and check your CPU before starting any project

If you want to use hardware-accelerated streaming using your CPU you will need to make sure it is Quick Sync capable.  Below are some key facts from Plex about using your CPU for Hardware-accelerated decoding:

See below for key facts from Plex on dardware-accelerated encoding:

GPU

I’ve seen many users across various Plex communities have a lot of success with the Nvidia P2000.  With fairly modest processors such as an i5-3570, upwards of 15 simultaneous 1080p transcodes have been reported.  This makes it a cheap alternative to a whole new PC.

If your needs are very basic and you will only be serving a few clients on the local network then an old Dell OptiPlex with an embedded Intel HD card will probably suffice.  You just need to spec the Plex Media Server according to your needs

Take your Plex setup to the next level!

After setting up Plex you may want to setup Tautulli so that you can  monitor all your Plex Media Server activity.  To learn how too do that click here.

You may also want to fully automate the downloading of movie files using Radarr.  To learn how to set this up click here.

Privacy

You may want to check over what Plex is able see, store and use in regards to your personal data.  You can check this here and change your preferences to opt out of some things.