Turning an OLD PC/Laptop into a Media Server! (Ubuntu/PLEX Guide)

[@TechHut]

If you're running Windows I made this video going over some options you have to connect to your new Linux server :D kzbin.info/www/bejne/iX-8n4KPjNSYd9k

[@NarpX]

You've been uploading for 9 years straight, you always made very helpful tips and you only have 20k subscribers. Hopefully you grow wayy more in these next few years.

[@mrdefaultynoob]

You called it he got 30k now

[@batmanasdasd]

Almost 40 now

[@prntm926]

67.8 now

[@Suresh21pariyar]

its 71k now

[@Dylan-zm3ht]

80k!

[@fawzanfawzi9993]

Finally, I can re-use my ancient laptop beside for seeing adult content.

[@therealslimaddy]

and use that to watch adult content using plex.. win:win (;

[@batmanasdasd]

Adult content 😏

[@nostalgia_junkie]

very in character for max

[@seanwatts392]

Lol I just use my phone for that. I never watched porn on a computer in my life. Idk what my wife uses to watch porn. I think her phone. You know what ima ask her I never thought about that lmao. She probably uses her phone tho but he I knows.

[@johndawson6057]

By adult content do you mean taxes and stuf???

[@ericleiteperuzzo6532]

Awesome tutorial! I really enjoy your videos. Here are some tips for those who bumped into some troubles along the way like me: Recent versions of Ubuntu Server have the UFW firewall activated by default, so in every step that you take, make sure that open the respective port for each application. e.g.: Opening ports in ufw for being able to ACCESS Plex web interface 🤣: [~/]$ sudo ufw allow 32400 Also, the SFTP protocol is very slow compared to samba transfers. I had much better results sharing the Plex media folder trough samba. Also make sure to allow samba 🤦‍♂: [~/]$ sudo ufw allow samba

[@Notyourbusinesschap]

It's crazy, i would never have done this without you. What an amazing tutorial! A few hickups these days, like plex user not having access to home subfolders, but nothing you can't google. Thank you!

[@thejeewee1910]

how did you fix this exactly? Same issue here...

[@Notyourbusinesschap]

@@thejeewee1910 Oof, I don't quite remember now, but I'm pretty sure it was the chmod command to modifify the permissions.

[@thejeewee1910]

@@Notyourbusinesschap thanks, that solved the issue indeed!

[@Notyourbusinesschap]

@@thejeewee1910 Glad to help!

[@GuitarPlaya2000]

Fantastic video, thank you! I REALLY appreciate the step by step instructions and the cut and paste commands and links. My current Plex server is on a Mac Mini, but I prefer to use Linux instead mainly for the low OS overhead alone!! Again, thank you and keep up the good work!

[@marcin6386]

I switched to linux around 5 years ago, I was using it mainly as developing machine. I was coding, playing with i3wm vim and other open source software. I get really comfy with linux ecosystem. And really really now I see when I created my own server how great that decision to move myself to linux was!

[@thebozzIDW]

Thank you @TechHut for recording and sharing this video, it was an incredibly valuable resource as I was setting up Ubuntu Server as a VM on my M1 Mac. Although it wasn't exactly 1:1 to my purposes (as I am not using Plex on my Ubuntu Server) your video helped me out greatly.

[@CharlesCollins]

Plex recognises my home folder but not the folders I created like you did.

[@Destide]

Thank you for adding the lid tips, just transitioning from a pi and that was my biggest concern.

[@srijan55]

Out of thousands of setup instruction videos out there, I think this one is the simplest and to the point. Thanks!

[@diacekey5959]

Thanks for this amazing guide. It feels super great to find interest in stuff like this old laptop sleeping in my desk which now is Plexing all my Chromecasts.

[@theproudlinuxer]

Oh yes Brandon!! This video is gonna be useful currently. Will DM you if I succeed :)

[@patricklindholm3603]

You just got me a 100 on my project! Thanks!

[@keninthekitchen1562]

I think this is a great video. I recently build a new gaming/video editing rig, and haven't gotten rid of my old one yet because Im so partial to it, but this is a great use for it! Thanks for this video :)

[@itzcaseykc]

Nice. May do this with an older laptop just for grins & chuckles.

[@wendywinnard5628]

Did it! Now running my own moodle from my old laptop. Love Linux

[@elektron2kim666]

Just for cleaning up in my confusing file system, I made a server like this. Very helpful video.

[@glbong42]

was actually looking for something like this for my old desktop! good stuff!

[@auto117666]

Great video. I love your detailed step by step approach to this. I am curremtly app,ying this to my laptop with a jellyfin server.

[@edvigq]

Old HP probook 4340s laptops (Intel i3) are currently much cheaper than raspberry Pis (especially if you add screen and kboard. I got one for £25 with a missing battery. You can replace the DVD with a drive caddy too. The HP BIOS is great with loads of options. It does WoL and boot on detection of A/C, so I attached to a cheap smart plug so I can boot it from my phone. It now lives under the TV and does everything servery.

Thanks a lot for your guidance. 🔥 I skipped the Plex part because I will use the server as a lab for Docker / Kubernetes. ✌ The Ubuntu Server 22.04 has support for wifi config, as easy as it can get. I am using my cellphone as a Hotspot. 😅 Keep the good work. 🙏🏻

[@woodrochristopherwood1578]

Thanks, the best up-to-date video so far. Very informative and helpful. Might try setting up Ubuntu server again instead of freenas.

[@mogenicwolf]

Worked like a charm! Thank you!

[@jonspoonamore3721]

Good video!!!! For me.... I just use LMDE4 (Debian 10) as my server. I like Emby over Plex. I have enough Internet Bandwidth to share my media with family and friends. Something I do to help Emby run better is to pre-transcode all of my media to x264 in a mp4 container. I seldom have anyone needing to transcode video for playback when I do this. Just about every device on the planet will play x264 mp4 files. Only on slow family/friends Internet connections does transcoding need to be done. Pre-transcoding takes a lot of load off your CPU.

[@StephanRaabeVideos]

Thanks. Great video. Will definitely try it next weekend!!!

[@adyandrey23andrey]

Hi! First of all, thank you for all the explaining! Seccond, it would be so cool if you could do a Windoes version of main PC. Starting with SSH Into server from WINDOWS. It is not *that* different, but I had to search for this online. I am not running Ubuntu on any machine so there was some reverse engeneering from my part to be able to forward on your steps. I am now stumbling upon the SFTP step, because I do not know what is the equivalent of Nemo in Windows, so more research on that. Other than that, all the install and updating steps worked like a charm and it was of real help you showing this on actual video. Seems more organic than just copy-pasting some comands until you get it over with. Thank you once more!

[@slavamay6229]

Cyberduck works for me, looks similar to Nemo

[@salkban2066]

This was excellent!

[@guillerey502]

Thanks for this video, it help me so much to build my media server

[@markcopper1898]

Thank you 😊...I've been trying to figure out how to do this for sometime now. Your instruction simplified things.

[@EclecticLensYT]

Something possibly just as important as the server, is storage. I'm looking to upgrade in the near future and wondered what you would suggest for a home storage solution for my media which is mostly currently made up of 1080 content but I've been adding more and more 4K content all the time. Keep in mind this is for home use and only for me so I don't want to overspend but I also don't want to get something I regret buying. Data redundancy is important so something like a raid setup is what I'm looking at, I'm just not sure what to go with.

[@qani613]

the lid tips was awesome thank you

[@sanelhadzini6088]

Just what I was looking for! :)

[@MrReklez]

Very useful video & website, thank you

[@sprunt454]

This is an excellent guide! That being said I personally found it much easier to just run windows and remote desktop from my daily driver. I actually wanted to use Linux but the Linux remote desktop was so difficult to get working consistently that I abandoned it. Primary reason for this setup it is the same machine I rip and download on so I need full remote functionality. Are there alternatives to this, or something I'm missing?

[@amirmukhlis4936]

Hey, this might not for me but probably I'm going to use this guide in future. Anyway, great content bro!😀👍

[@malanbandara]

Very informative. Thank you

[@aryanmishra7759]

I'd like to add that if you're a linux newbie who might try this on a laptop without a wifi adapter or ethernet connection, consider doing some research on your laptop's built in wifi adapter because you could face varying issues if your adapter uses proprietary drivers which could take from a few minutes to several hours to fix. Even after switching back to windows you could face some issues with wifi which are quite easy to fix but don't blindly go installing a server without some fixes already in hand.

[@BrucesWorldofStuff]

This is one reason I don't use PLEX. I Don't see the point of having to login to a internet account to view or manage my local media server. I use Emby which is better for me as I don't need accounts to get to my media on my server. That is just insane. Yes they offer a account if you want more stuff and access from the internet but NO. No outside connections... I use a old Dell laptop as my music server with a external USB drive as storage and I have a media/video server. Yes I know I can do both on one, I just like them separate... :-) Great video on how to set up a media server. It is really that simple... Lol LLAP P.S. the SFTP tip was golden!

[@fullnight]

Thanks, it was very helpful.

[@tye595]

lol love the thumbnail oooh looks so sophisticated.... na just htop

[@nojusticeanywhere]

Got a bit lost while using Nautilus as my file explorerer, but otherwise everything is really well explained, thank you!

[@dofist]

Hey! Can you please add "sudo service plexmediaserver stop" "sudo addgroup plex YOURUSERNAME" "sudo service plexmediaserver start" commands to your tutorial? I could not find any other folders except /home without these commands.

[@Johnyboy-wj6ls]

Did this fix plex not being able to see the movies and TV shows files for you?

[@dofist]

@@Johnyboy-wj6ls yes

[@Berzerkerhr]

worked for me thx @taman

[@johnf4828]

Worked for me too! Thank you so much!

[@MikeCurran-nf9ym]

I just posted a question on r/plex referencing this GREAT video, but asking for help for a recent video because it has been since 2018. Someone suggested I ask if you can make an updated one. I thought that was self-centered of me to ask, but some of the commenters said it's not uncommon for YTubers to post updates after commenters on the video asked for it.

[@ChrisD__]

Hehe, it's a bit funny seeing the T450 called old. People are still recommending T420's for daily use. (2012 laptop) I EDC a T450S and that's "new" to a lot of Thinkpad people.

[@rifle2563]

I use a t520 for daily use and i love it

[@CatTheRoundEarther]

T440p here!

[@shaneschwalger2482]

Thank you, I learnt a lot.

[@Datcyd3]

Dopeness.... Thank You!

[@xIndustrialShadoWx]

That was a great video! Any step by step follow up on how to upgrade to be able to connect from outside local network ?

[@gortizbaez]

Thank You. this video helped me a lot!!!!

[@titus95361]

Great video man

[@sbooder]

Top tutorial, many thanks.

[@UsmanTheDev]

Hey. Great Content, very impressive. Please suggest some tutorial related to port forwarding and access ubuntu server from other network. that server can also be used for hosting.

[@zameerpashablr]

Wonderful .......Thank you very much

[@aliferdi3822]

thanks best linux reviewer

[@melitgreybeardivey7436]

May I ask of you the model and specs of the Thinkpad? An old T400 of ours falters when running h.265 under Windows.

[@greytombstonesalman1938]

Hi TechHut. great video. Thank you! One of the challenges I keep facing with my old laptops is the hardware doesn't support 64 bit architecture, and It looks that Ubuntu Server only supports x64 architecture, so I couldn't install it on my old dell satellite laptop unfortunately.

[@gkazanjian5976]

Just go with debian instead of ubuntu.

[@AndreBeukesZA]

Thanks. I am one who would much rather watch a long detailed video than 20 stupid linus tech tips videos that give no real description when it comes to software.

[@truthsayer9534]

Great video. For future reference this : is a colon. This ; is a semi-colon. You were calling colons semi-colons.

[@pierreosteil7005]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

[@mr-skorpion]

This is a very comprehensive guide, thanks a lot man

[@RuiNetoX]

Great help Thanks

[@98SE]

1:32 - "So enough f*ck*ng introduction lets go ahead and go onto our computer and burn the disk image of the ubuntu server installation". HAHA

[@sulaimandev]

😂

[@nithinbharathkumar7246]

please make a video with doing the same with jellyfin

[@trapOrdoom]

I just wanna watch whatever I want on VLC on mobile

[@ME-ov7vp]

thanks for this video

[@roottoot6028]

Those old Lenovos are rare as hen's teeth around here.

[@malikkemp7617]

I feel like im missing a step for Plex, for some reason my Media folder is not showing in Plex. It could have something to do with me using WinSCP when I was putting my movie files into the server but I can't figure it out

[@thejeewee1910]

Had the same issue. You have to set the folder permission.

[@usuariogenerico1561]

That's so cool, thanks! Quick question: I have an old laptop that I could use for this, do you think it is necessary to upgrade the disk to an SSD for this?

[@snakedude61]

Is there any chance you could show how to do this with a mini pc like a beelink and a synology for storage to offload the transcoding?

[@johnissa5268]

great video

[@talkintitles]

@TechHut I’d like to create a server with an unused laptop as well. Can you explain why this Ubuntu is necessary? As I understand it I can just install the Plex server file onto my computer, plug in some external hard drives for storage and manage it from there. Thanks for any help. I’m not well versed when it comes to some of the advanced computer knowledge.

[@twisttmannmickey]

This is great - I did this on an old laptop! However I have my media on a network hard drive - how do I get the laptop to show the media from there?

[@tordb]

Linux and Plex go brrrr. Linux is the best distro, hands down to run Plex.

[@enlightment4747]

Very useful thank you, but I have a question. I am using a NAS for picture andf videos from the phones, but I also want to use it as a file server. I tried to use it aas a Plex server and found its limits. How would I point Plex server to the NAS where the Movies files are located? TIA

[@boiledpotatos4828]

one minor detail. you may not have the same username in the server as your main machine. so you can use ssh usernameForServer@ip_address

[@ADDEM___]

i was so confused till i saw this lmaoo cheers 👍

[@heathensein6582]

Dude thank you so much I just couldn't get why it kept refusing my password

[@frankjuniorvl6775]

WOA THAT IS NOT A MINOR DETAIL, THAT IS A SUPER HUGE DETAIL, I WAS SEARCHING EVERYTHING BUT THAT and it worked like a charm

[@KB-ge4rn]

Ty

[@paulnortham]

Great video - I've been waiting for something like this. However, I'm stuck at the SSH login stage, which is giving me a 'permission denied' message. Do you have any suggestions, please?!

[@geirfammestaddonski4835]

Try: ssh username@ in front of the ip adress. Hope that might help :)

[@paulnortham]

@@geirfammestaddonski4835 You beauty! Result!

[@geirfammestaddonski4835]

Glad to hear it helped :)

[@kevinallister8373]

@@geirfammestaddonski4835 This also helped me. Thank you!

[@geirfammestaddonski4835]

@@kevinallister8373 glad it helped 👍

[@LuisHongo]

Amazing guide bro, just turned my old desktop in a media server. Quick question, I can turn it off and on and nothing will happen, just need to wait until services start to run again right?

[@parryhotter7036]

thank fo the video, should i remove the battery if i keep the laptop working 24/7, or keeping it just fine?

[@andreasbagus3866]

Awesome..!!!

[@zorabixun]

I am surprised how easily you did connect from the main computer to that new server 🙄 I connected my laptop desktop with a tower desktop, using a switch, I can not find any good tutorial how to make the setup on my LAN, something is visible on the 2 screens, but i can not access them to share files, printer, etc. I was doing some setup in Samba, Firewall, but still i am confused without proper effect .... i am watching your videos with big interest, if i could suggest to make a closer view of the terminal window to understand the commands and system answers 🥳 ..... thanks very much 👍

[@fourex59]

Brandon, thanks very much for the awesome tutorial. I have one question, I will be using an external hard drive for my media content with my laptop. How do I handle the mount points for that hard drive? I know if I use a GUI for the operating system it would automatically mount the hard drive. Is there any reason why I shouldn’t just use a GUI as opposed to manually changing the config lines?

[@yeoucheoub3535]

VERY nice! CAN I transfer files in bulk like not the sopranos 1080p this but something directly from external HD to laptop server?

[@mariocincu479]

Hi I know this video is old but, what kind of linux are you using? Is it light? And is it good for work purposes? I use ms office apps Thanks :)

[@snyluc13]

Awesome video, will do this on old tower, what OS are you using that you are sshing from? I am liking the UI

[@TechHut]

Awesome! And I'm running Arco Linux with Cinnamon atm. I usually run i3 or Plasma but I've been trying it out.

[@OvenBak3d360]

Once you actually add the library to plex is the process to add more moves just consist of adding them using the drag and drop method you used to add the movie? And does plex automatically update with the metadata for the new movies.

[@sholomperman9898]

Do you just keep it plugged in and have the battery at 100% will it be dangerous and bad for the batter? Or is there a way to make the batter start charging at 20 and stop at 80 or something like that?

[@steve4life8]

Very good video! Can I plug my external hard drive like 2tb to the server laptop and use the hard drive to store content ?

[@alx8439]

Why to opt for proprietary Plex and not the opensource Jellyfin?

[@gadooze]

this is what I did, hahaha, now I have media and file servers

[@jamiebishop9512]

Please tell me why whenever I reboot or shutdown this server, it never works afterwards? What needs to be done in addition to these steps? I can't even start the openssh service

[@DG-ks5wn]

One question...The email Registration thing, is it optional and if not why exactly is that needed? When only sharing the plex server on the lan it doesnt has anything to do with wan, right?

[@evanmarshall9498]

Did you ever make a video about securely connecting to the server outside local network?

[@YingzeHou]

If I move to another country and want to change my mirror, can I do that? Or will it be changed automatically? Thanks!

[@amirmukhlis4936]

I wonder if there's any great distro for servers. What's your choice and why you pick it?

[@cookie1218]

Try open media vault.

[@cookie1218]

It's based on Debian.

[@redeye619]

any chance you could give me some help. im stuck at ssh, the password I've set keeps saying incorrect, gone back onto the server pc and works fine

[@titopb]

Nice, waiting for more videos! How to backup files and system in ubuntu server?

[@Bradenxd12]

Hey I see this was a while ago. But if your still looking, I would suggest Duplicati.

[@DaddyOsDonuts]

Thank you for the video, it is very helpful. Using this exact setup, I have attached an external hard drive but Plex cannot access it. I know it's something with permissions but I cannot figure it out. Do you have a video for that? Thanks!

[@zaluq]

Thx for the video , i try to install plexmedia on Ubuntu Core , but have problems to map nfs drive to ubuntu core on Raspberry Pi 3 as everthing seems to be write protected and cant edit fstab

[@danchieev]

I have setup proxmox with several VMs running and plex server media virtualized in TrueNas VM. I have an issue with my zpool on Truenas VM with HDD pass through keeps on failing to mount after it running for a week. I have also had a HDD test on my drives and passed the test. Here is my setup HP z620 Dual xeon with two zpool ; one running proxmox running on 240gb SSD ; local storage configured in first zpool (three 500gb HDD) and the second zpool (two 4TB HDD mirrored) running on TrueNas VM through virtio SCSI HDD pass-through.Any advice will be appreciated