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Can't Find Where Metadata is Being Saved, No Metadata Images


gochiefs88842
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gochiefs88842

Hello and thanks in advance for any help,

 

This is somewhat of a piggybacked post from a recent question regarding the old ImagesByName folder for previous MB3 versions.  The abbreviated version is that I had a very large People folder within what used to be referred to as the ImagesByName folder that I wanted to migrate into a new install of Emby Server.  The hiccup was that I have limited space on my C: drive (the location of Emby Server) and wanted to instead have the People folder be indexed on another larger internal drive. I tried to find a way through path substitution and/or a legacy backdoor to have Emby Server reference the E: drive for the People folder, but I could not get this to work (either because I don't know how to properly edit the system.xml or because it just didn't work).  So my solution was to simply change the Metadata path to E:\ instead and then just migrate my previous People folder in manually and then do a full library scan/refresh.  This less elegant solution worked and now my People are indexed properly with my library.  

 

The problem, however, is that I recently added my first new movie ("Focus (2015)"). The good news is that the movie metadata is visible on the Server, including the indexed People images, but no artwork/images (Primary, Art, Backdrop, Banner, etc.) are scraped and none are visible within the directory folder in Windows Explorer.  These images and metadata used to save within my directory media folders (see attached image example for Donnie Darko).  The fact that the metadata file (movie.xml) isn't visible in the folder suggests to me that it's being saved somewhere else in the system, where exactly I have no idea.  And even though I can go into the Metadata Manager and manually pull up the images for Focus online, they will not download for me or show up on a manual refresh + save.  

 

I am curious if this phenomenon has to do with the fact that although I have my custom Metadata path set to E:\, could this somehow conflict with my other setting to "save artwork and metadata directly into media folders..."?   Ultimately, all I want is to have my metadata and folder images save into my media folders with the sole exception of my massive People image index.  This used to be achievable on the older version of the Server which allowed a unique ImagesByName path.  I will attach screenshots of my settings and can attach log files if appropriate/requested.  Any help will be greatly appreciated, I'm totally stumped!

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Edited by gochiefs88842
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gochiefs88842

Bump.  I'd really appreciate some input on this, I'm about at my wit's end and don't want to abandon Emby after multiple years of use.  I've tried editing the system.xml file (which seems like overkill and dangerous) to find a legacy option and trying all kinds of variations of metadata settings and nothing works.  I tried to give a thorough explanation in the post above, but it feels like a very simple question overall: can a custom metadata path be set to solely act as a location for people images, genre images and studio images while having all remaining metadata and images be saved directly in media folders?  This feature used to be available in older versions of the server and I'm not sure why it is no longer available, especially when many of us have large people folders with gigabytes worth of actor images.  I've found multiple posters asking questions along these lines, but no universal answers/solutions...

 

Luke? ebr? Anyone?

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The best thing to do is choose a custom metadata path, then put your People underneath there. I'm sorry we don't have separate settings for the various sub-paths, but having a separate metadata path and a separate ImagesByName path began to no longer make sense because over time they were starting to serve the same purpose. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of hidden xml config settings in the future, but having multiple similar settings in the web interface was beginning to cause confusion, requiring us to explain the differences repeatedly to new users. In the end, merging the two of them has been the only way to make it self-explanatory for the vast majority of users.

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gochiefs88842

Thanks for the reply, Luke.  My Server is on my C:\ drive and I was totally cool with assigning a custom metadata path for my E:\ drive, but the problem I'm experiencing now is that I can't get any of the artwork/posters/etc. to save or download at all, let alone into the specific media folders (see "Focus" example in the first post).  And even though the movie.xml files are definitely saving somewhere, I can't find where they're saving because they similarly aren't saving directly in the media folders.  As described in my second post in this thread, I *assume* that (1) I can have a custom path for my people images/genre images/studio images (formerly ImagesByName) AND (2) also have the 'metadata-basics' option enabled for "save artwork and metadata directly into media folders..." so that the folder images and movie.xml data are saved in the folders?  

 

Can you confirm that these two settings can co-exist, and if so, can you help me diagnose why I can't download artwork anymore and where my movie metadata is being saved?

Edited by gochiefs88842
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gochiefs88842

Ok, thanks for confirming that the artwork/movie metadata can be saved directly in media folders separate from the People images and such.

 

I've attached a server log re: diagnosing my problem.  I also haven't re-installed any clients, yet.

server-63577496584.txt

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The server is trying to save files, your system is not allowing it

Error saving image to System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path '\\HTPC\F\Movies\Focus (2015)\poster.jpg' is denied.
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Happy2Play

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of hidden xml config settings in the future, but having multiple similar settings in the web interface was beginning to cause confusion

The previous Image by Name option does still exist.  Just removed for new install but still exists for legacy users.

 

http://emby.media/community/index.php?/topic/25207-server-re-install-custom-path-for-former-imagesbyname-folder/?p=245372

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gochiefs88842

Luke, I'm not sure how to unblock access/what would be blocking it in my system?  It's a fresh install of Windows 7 and a fresh install of the server.  And the movie metadata for Focus is saving...somewhere (did you see where, btw?).  It doesn't make sense to me why movie metadata will save but not artwork...unless those two settings mentioned in Post #4 really can't co-exist?  I never had this issue in the past. My movies are located on external hard drives, for what it's worth.

 

Happy2Play, I am only "legacy" in the sense that I had a prior install of the server and saved the ImagesByName folder on a thumb drive before doing a fresh install of Windows 7 and Emby within the last week.  As noted in the first post, I tried your system.xml edit and it didn't work.

Edited by gochiefs88842
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I can't really tell you about your own system, all I can tell you is what I'm seeing and how you can take action to correct it. You'll want to ensure the user account that runs the emby server process has write access to that location.

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Happy2Play

This is the only other difference I see comparing old install with new install.

 

  <EnableDebugLevelLogging>true</EnableDebugLevelLogging>
  <EnableAutoUpdate>false</EnableAutoUpdate>
  <SystemUpdateLevel>Release</SystemUpdateLevel>
  <LogFileRetentionDays>3</LogFileRetentionDays>
  <RunAtStartup>false</RunAtStartup>
  <IsStartupWizardCompleted>true</IsStartupWizardCompleted>
  <CachePath>Y:\Emby\Cache</CachePath>
  <EnableCustomPathSubFolders>false</EnableCustomPathSubFolders>
  <EnableUPnP>false</EnableUPnP>
  <PublicPort>8096</PublicPort>
  <PublicHttpsPort>8920</PublicHttpsPort>
  <HttpServerPortNumber>8096</HttpServerPortNumber>
  <HttpsPortNumber>8920</HttpsPortNumber>
  <EnableHttps>false</EnableHttps>
  <EnableUserSpecificUserViews>false</EnableUserSpecificUserViews>
  <EnableInternetProviders>true</EnableInternetProviders>
  <IsPortAuthorized>true</IsPortAuthorized>
  <ItemsByNamePath>Z:\ServerFolders\MediaBrowser\ImagesByName</ItemsByNamePath>
  <MetadataPath>Y:\Emby\Metadata</MetadataPath>
  <SeasonZeroDisplayName>Specials</SeasonZeroDisplayName>
  <SaveLocalMeta>true</SaveLocalMeta>
  <EnableLocalizedGuids>false</EnableLocalizedGuids>
  <DisableStartupScan>true</DisableStartupScan>
  <EnableLibraryMetadataSubFolder>true</EnableLibraryMetadataSubFolder>

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i really wouldn't suggest doing that. Those are designed to safely migrate people to new ways of doing things. Changing the on the fly based on personal preference hasn't been tested and is bound to cause problems.

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gochiefs88842

Luke, you were correct re: my write permissions on disks.  I hadn't gone through the UNC shares process because I wasn't sure if this was necessary any longer on the new server iterations, so I did a shortcut and it seems to have allowed write access for artwork.  I may go through the entire UNC shares process later, but I'll save that headache for another day.

 

To clarify for those who plan on using both of these settings in conjunction (saving artwork and metadata to folders AND creating a custom metadata path): your artwork (poster, fanart, logo, banner, disc and extra fanart + extra thumbs folders) will save directly in your media folders, however your other metadata (movie.xml, dvdid.xml, etc) appears to save *somewhere* in your server directory. I assume this is somewhere in the <your Server drive letter>:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\metadata folder, but I have no idea how to track down this info now.

 

Luke, given that the text file for movie.xml metadata is so small in comparison to actor images, I personally would love an option that kept that specific movie's movie.xml metadata within its own library folder.  I would also think this would make user libraries more portable and safeguarded in the event that their operating system failed (as in my case) and they have to re-install the whole thing and the server.  If you think this would be too confusing to the novice user and thus prevent mass implementation, I'd still be interested in a system.xml mod that could accomplish this configuration.  Thanks for your help.

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gochiefs88842

I may not have been clear in the middle paragraph of Post #13, so I've attached a couple of screenshots comparing what the (1) old folder structure looked like with past server iterations using the legacy custom path + save artwork and metadata in folders vs. (2) the new folder structure (which as you'll see does not save the movie.xml metadata inside of the folder--I can only assume this data is saved within the Server directory somewhere).  

 

(1) The old structure

55f2f1c253072_OldFolderMetadataStyle.png

 

(2) The new structure:

55f2f2198f9e4_NewFolderMetadataStructure

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Oh, one more thing, since I forgot you're on a fresh new server install. Going forward the server will only have one built-in metadata saver per content type, to avoid confusion and people wondering what the difference is. So for any types with nfo, that means nfo is the core metadata saver. You'll need to install the Xml Metadata Saver plugin from the plugin catalog.

 

This is from the release notes of the last server release:

 

 

 

Existing Feature Changes

As we add new features, we constantly have to re-evaluate and look for ways to ensure the system continues to perform well and is easy to use. So to that end, here are a few changes that we've made:
  •  
  • For fresh new installs of the server, there will only be one supported metadata saving format per content type. If you need xml saving it is being moved to a plugin. Please note - the feature remains in the core server code for existing server installations. That means your existing install won't be disrupted at all. But the next time you install from scratch, you'll need the plugin if you want the alternative formats. Also, this doesn't affect xml reading, as we want the core server to be able read as many formats as possible to make it easy for new users to get up and running.

 

I apologize if this seems like a hassle but everytime I see a post from a new user who is confused about something, I really take that to heart, and yes, often the best way to avoid confusion is to ensure there is only one way of accomplishing any given objective. So in this case that means whatever is not the default is being moved out of the server core and into an external plugin.

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gochiefs88842

I fixed the write permissions already (the Focus folder was empty for artwork previously) and what you see in Post #15 is the final product.  I understand on multiple metadata savers, but I can't get any nfo or xml files to save in the media folders.  And to be clear, they are saving somewhere on the Server directory because the info shows up on the localhost server web interface.

 

Log attached.

server-63577564681.txt

Edited by gochiefs88842
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you'll need to refresh manually if it failed the first time. the server will not automatically retry at a later date. that is being improved for the next release, but be aware in the meantime.

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gochiefs88842

The server log should show a restart of the server and a manual refresh and save, but still no nfo or xml metadata in the folder.

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It saved an nfo

Saving \\HTPC\F\Movies\Focus (2015) to Nfo

Looks to have worked as expected based on default server settings. To save as movie.xml you need the new Xml metadata saver plugin.

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gochiefs88842

Nfo isn't a hidden file type, is it?  Because it doesn't show up in the folder.  And when I turn on 'View hidden files' in  Control Panel's folder options, it still doesn't show up.

Edited by gochiefs88842
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