TrueNAS Scale: Plex and Jellyfin Setup with SMB

Updated guide for TrueNAS 23 or newer can be found here.

After hours of searching and finding countless threads and posts about how Plex won't see media after enabling SMB. I took it upon myself to get it working and made this video to show you how if you're having a similar issue.
The same solution also applied to Jellyfin or other services.

Right after I made this video, Jellyfin updated and no longer works with this. You MUST install Jellyfin to the default ix-applications directory or you will get transcoding issues and it will make you set the entire thing up from scratch.

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[laurelhardymarx]

You're a lifesaver. After banging my head against a wall for most of the day trying to get Jellyfin to see my files correctly, I restarted installation using this video and everything works perfectly. Thank you!! EDIT: Like some others have commented, the latest Jellyfin update seems to create a "server not available" error when you try to log in again. The solution is to reinstall Jellyfin, but leave Config, Cache and Transcode paths as ixVolume defaults (part at 9:31). Additional Storage paths should be as per the video. You don't have to change any other TrueNAS settings outlined in the video, and don't forget to clear your browser/phone app cache to log in to Jellyfin after you reinstall.

[_EleventHour]

This is by far the only video or walkthrough that has actually worked for me setting this up on my old gaming pc/new home server! Thank you for this as others have not really explained things and all ended up not working, but this worked right away and with absolutely ZERO hassle!! Kudos to you sir!

[prestonmoline]

I tried like 3 or 4 guides before finding this video. Your guide was 100% the easiest to follow AND what you show actually works. Thanks!

[colinbrown]

FOR ANYONE DOING JELLYFIN
This video was ALMOST everything I needed, but I was stuck on a really annoying problem I finally figured out thanks to trial and error.
I fixed it with the following: As you are setting your host paths for Jellyfin, make sure to click "Enable ACL", and for each one select the path, and add a USER rule, and paste the user id you can find at the top of the page giving it full read write access. I spent literally 10 hours on this as a NAS illiterate so I hope this helps someone else.

[GuyaneseRasTa]

This is the true guide to making plex work on truenas. thank you.

[MrHakisak]

okay this did work and helped me figure things out. BUT:
the folders you created are "POSIX" but I want to use "NFSv4" the media would not show up with NFSv4. after fiddling for a very long time (at least 20 hours total) I understand.
I made a user "plex" with a certain UID and group and set permission of data set to allow it, and also set apps user and group, BUT it would still not show video files in plex app.

What I did:
start plex app
go to TrueNAS console and type "ps aux"
in the list find plex words
on the very left will be its User
for me plex was user "1000"
I made a new user called plex with UID 1000
gave it permission to dataset and it now works.

owner can stay as root

I hope this helps future strugglers.

[rambrostbud]

Holy crap. Straightfoward, accurate info. I've been struggling to get Plex running on my NAS for HOURS. I watched at least four other videos and read countless forum threads. This is the only info that actually helped. Thank you! Now, I just have to repeat those same steps with all the Servarr apps I need. :)

EDIT: I just discovered that Jellyfin, unlike Plex, requires its files in the ix-application folder. If you try to direct all the application files to a "jellyfin" folder, it will hang at the "Deploying" phase and refuse to start up.

[certifiedpossum]

my media server would not have been running if not for this video. same tutorial works in TrueNAS 23.10 if you give "full control" instead of "read, write, execute". thank you SO much.

[soeasyastonercoulddoit]

This is by far the most straight forward, concise, and informative videos on the subject. THANK YOU!!!!

[WebVid]

Thank you VERY much for this. Enormously helpful for someone new to TrueNAS Scale!

[bluesunsxiv]

You sir are a gentleman and a scholar. I can finally go to sleep now, thank you!!!

[kiranyarlagadda]

Great vid worked perfectly. Looking forward to that Nextcloud video.

[luxemier]

crazy how this has a significant amount of dislikes but its the only guide that hasnt given me any errors on setup. and im even running truenas as a proxmox vm and everything including the shares is working flawlessly

[alecjahn]

Hey, thanks for this. I knew I had some permissions issues and this straightened it all out.

[TheDock_]

Dude, thank you. ive been trying to get plex to work on truenas for the longest time.

[NSvideo]

This is an amazing video and the only way that I could get Plex running on TrueNas Scale despite watching other "tutorials"/etc--keep up the great work!

[slayercft]

HUGE THANK YOU. Other youtubes make this look so simple, but they use dumbed down-prone to breaking ACL/permissions. This is the one that finally worked for me, and seems like it will continue to in the future. Thanks for this video, which quickly shows what to do, instead of those click-baity BS videos. Really appreciate it @Frozen North Galaxy

[RobberClobber]

Literally the best video out there on this! Thank you so much!!!

This is so useful for me, successfully installed and setup the Plex on my NAS. Thanks!

[CVB]

Great vid, bringing a great insight of the system and install the apps easily and with understanding.