Setting up Plex on a NAS
WHILE DLNA PROVIDES BASIC MEDIA SERVICES, IF YOU WANT REAL CONTROL, AS WELL AS REMOTE ACCESS AND SIMPLIFIED SETUP, YOU’LL WANT TO GO WITH PLEX INSTEAD.
Plex comes in two parts: a server app, which shares the files and manages the media library; and a client media player app, which lets you browse and play media stored on your Plex server.
It’s available on pretty much every conceivable platform. The server app is available for nearly every NAS platform as well as PCs. The clients for media playback are available for PCs, mobiles, set-top boxes, game consoles and even many smart TV sets.
The setup process even on NAS boxes is straightforward. We’ll walk through it here.
COPY YOUR MEDIA TO YOUR NAS
The first thing to do is get the media you want to share onto the NAS. We’re going to assume here that you’ve gone through the basic NAS setup, created volumes and users and know how to access it from your PC through either a mapped drive or through Network in File Explorer.
It doesn’t matter where you copy the media to on the NAS. You can use the pre-made Videos/ Pictures/Music directories or make your own.
CREATE A PLEX ACCOUNT
The first thing you need to do is create a Plex account. In Plex, the account ties everything together. Among other things, it links your client devices with your servers, and allows them to access your media server from anywhere, not just your local network. With DLNA, you need to be on the same LAN to play media. With Plex, you can be anywhere (bandwidth permitting).
Head to plex.tv in your web browser. Click on the Sign Up button on the top right to create an account.
INSTALL PLEX ON YOUR NAS
Plex Server is available for every major NAS platform, and it’s usually found in the App/Package/Add-on Center of the NAS main interface. Just find it and click on Install.
If it’s not listed there, you can still install it by using a manual package install. Head to
and click on Download. Find your NAS model from the list and download the package for it.
Then go to your NAS interface and head to the App/Package centre and find the Upload or Manual installation button. Here, you can select the file you just downloaded and upload it to the NAS.
ACCESS THE INTERFACE AND SIGN IN
Once you’ve installed it, Plex will appear in your list of available installed apps on your NAS. Click on it to launch it.
Your browser should pop open a new tab showing the Plex interface. Like the NAS, Plex Server is managed entirely through a web browser interface. The page that opens can be bookmarked, allowing you to access the Plex interface directly in the future without having to go through the NAS admin.
The first thing to do is sign in. At the top right of the interface, you’ll see the account icon. Click on it, then select Sign in. Use your Plex account.
DESIGNATE DIRECTORIES FOR YOUR LIBRARY
The thing to do now is add your media directories to your Plex library. On the left-hand panel, click on Add Library.
You’ll first be asked what kind of library it is (in other words, what kind of media is stored in that directory), and then you’ll be asked to give it a name.
Now click on Add Folders, then on ‘Browse for Media Folder’. This might be a little confusing, since Plex will show you the full Linux directory structure of the NAS, and not just the shared directories. Don’t worry, you can navigate from root through the share directory, or the MD0_DATA directory to more quickly find the directories where you’ve stored your media. When you do, click Add.
Plex will now index the contents of the folder. This might take a while. While it’s doing that, you can add more libraries for your different media types.
VIEW MEDIA IN YOUR WEB BROWSER
At any time, you can view media in your web browser. Just log onto the Plex Server page and click on the library name on the left. You can browse the contents of the library and click on play to view it in your browser.
CONFIGURE SETTINGS
Click on the Settings button on the Plex Server home page. The most important thing
you need to set here is the library refresh function. You should automatically be in the Server tab, and from there, click on Library on the left. Check the box that says ‘Update my library automatically’. This means that, when you copy new files into the media directories, they’ll automatically be added to your library.
If you’re a Plex Pass subscriber, you can also create multiple user accounts in the User tab. This creates separate logins for different users, with unique playlists and Watch Later lists. Without it, every client device will be using the same login and see the same content.
INSTALL PLEX CLIENTS
Now that you’ve set up your libraries, you just need to set up your client devices. For whatever platform you want to view your library from, grab and install the Plex Media Player app. It’s available on PC, mobiles, Apple TV, Telstra TV, Xbox and Playstation and on pretty much every platform around. The mobile apps even support Chromecast. You can download it directly from plex.tv, or from the various stores for your chosen platform (Google Play, iTunes, Xbox Store and so on). Note that, on some platforms (like mobiles), the Plex Media player is not free. If you have a Plex Pass subscription, you’ll be able to use it, or you can unlock it with a one-time payment of around $6.
The rest is easy. Just install the Media Player app and run it. Log in with your Plex account. You’ll see any servers linked to your account, and the contents of the libraries can be browsed. You’ll also see that Plex has gone and automatically added metadata to movies and TV shows (posters, plot, actors and so on). It will add metadata for any media it can recognise based on the file name.
You can also view your content in a web browser from anywhere. If you go to plex.tv, log in, and click on Launch on the top right, you can view all your libraries, right in the web browser.