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Help! Emby Server is stuck in "Ready to Transfer" to my Android phone


drsalzman
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drsalzman

I've been using Emby Server (4.0.1.0) on a PC (Windows 10 Pro 1809) and Emby for Android Mobile (3.0.33) on two Samsung 9+ (Android 8.0?) phones successfully for many months. I recently upgraded both phones to Android 9.0. Now, one phone works fine. The other phone cannot download recordings. The "Download & Sync" tab on the server shows "Queued", "Converting" then "Ready to Transfer", but never progresses to "Transferring" or "Downloaded".

 

There are no log files on either phone, but the proper folders are created in .../android/data/com.mb.android/files/sync. In one case, the recording is found in the folder. In the other case, the folder is empty.

 

I have tried deleting the phone device from the server, rebooting the server, PC, phones, and even performed a factory reset (!) on the offending phone with no improvement.

 

I have tried comparing the server logs (short and long versions attached) for a successful download on one phone (http://192.168.1.9) at 15:09:31 and an unsuccessful download on the other phone (http://192.168.1.13) at 15:11:19, but I cannot see any reason for no transfer.

 

Please help ASAP. I leave for a long cruise on 5-Feb and can't stand the thought of not taking my recordings with me.

 

embyserver - short.txt

embyserver - long.txt

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revengineer

It's not you, it's the app. Reported this 2 months ago. Status is investigating. No real update in a month. Don't hold your breath. I had to learn to travel without emby. It sucks!

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PastyPilgrim

I'm having the same issue getting sync to work at all.

 

If I select one album to download, it will properly go through the convert and remain stuck on "Ready to Transfer". From there, I either get spammed with "Download unsuccessful" toast messages multiple times per minute until I cancel the sync, or I get the "Download Manager -- Waiting for Wi-Fi" message. However, I'm certainly on wi-fi and my server isn't even accessible remotely so if I wasn't on wi-fi there wouldn't be any server connection at all.

 

I tried a few things that I found while searching around (like disabling battery optimization and starting the sync from the app instead of the server) but nothing works. I've just switched from Plex to hopefully have a better offline experience so I'm pretty disappointed that I can't get even a single piece of media to sync.

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Same boat as PastyPilgrim, verbatim. At least Plex did (eventually) sync my music. I didn't think it would be this hard to find a media center app that would sync my music to my phone - and be usable - but here we are. 

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KarlDag

I'm having the same issue getting sync to work at all.

 

If I select one album to download, it will properly go through the convert and remain stuck on "Ready to Transfer". From there, I either get spammed with "Download unsuccessful" toast messages multiple times per minute until I cancel the sync, or I get the "Download Manager -- Waiting for Wi-Fi" message. However, I'm certainly on wi-fi and my server isn't even accessible remotely so if I wasn't on wi-fi there wouldn't be any server connection at all.

 

I tried a few things that I found while searching around (like disabling battery optimization and starting the sync from the app instead of the server) but nothing works. I've just switched from Plex to hopefully have a better offline experience so I'm pretty disappointed that I can't get even a single piece of media to sync.

@@Luke @@softworkz sounds like the issue I pinged you about a few weeks back. Edited by KarlDag
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I'm now using MediaMonkey, strictly for music syncing. It's the only solution I've come across (aside from a personal FTP server) that works reliably. 

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  • Solution
drsalzman

Solved !!!   :D  :D  :D

 

The working phone doesn't have a storage card while the (formerly) non-working phone does have a storage card. When I switched the phone's download settings from "External" storage" to "Internal storage", the downloads started working. 

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Solved !!!   :D  :D  :D

 

The working phone doesn't have a storage card while the (formerly) non-working phone does have a storage card. When I switched the phone's download settings from "External" storage" to "Internal storage", the downloads started working. 

 

Glad you got it working. Changing that setting on my phone didn't make any difference (and it does have a storage card). 

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drsalzman

Changing the storage locations was one of the first things I tried and it didn't help. I tried again this morning and it seems to have fixed the issue. Perhaps it didn't "take" the first time? I've noticed that it is difficult to change the "Download only on Wifi" setting. I had to enable the setting, log off, and log back in for the change to persist.

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drsalzman

Unfortunately, this is not a universal solution. There is an issue with the app that goes beyond PEBKAC.

 

Downloading to "External storage" is definitely not a PEBKAC (user error). It is most likely a subtle timing bug because external storage is slightly slower than internal storage.

 

The log entries of "SessionManager: Reissuing access token" (e.g. 15:11:02.613) may be a clue...

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PastyPilgrim

Unfortunately, this is not a universal solution. There is an issue with the app that goes beyond PEBKAC.

 

Yup. I'm using a Pixel 2 so I don't even have the option to change storage locations.

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Detail4687

FYI, I had the same problem, downloading movie via Android app wouldn't not work (stuck in "Ready to Transfer" forever), and after much troubleshooting I found the solution that worked for me... turn off my VPN(s).

 

I am on Pixel 3 XL and Google Fi....

 

by turning off the Google Fi "Enhanced Network VPN" in the Google Fi App, the transfers would begin downloading.  

 

Same for PIA VPN.  If on, no download. The moment I turn it off, the downloads resume.

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revengineer

FYI, I had the same problem, downloading movie via Android app wouldn't not work (stuck in "Ready to Transfer" forever), and after much troubleshooting I found the solution that worked for me... turn off my VPN(s).

 

I am on Pixel 3 XL and Google Fi....

 

by turning off the Google Fi "Enhanced Network VPN" in the Google Fi App, the transfers would begin downloading.  

 

Same for PIA VPN.  If on, no download. The moment I turn it off, the downloads resume.

 

This is not a general solution. I don't use VPN and my Android Fire device is on the same local subnet. The devs have acknowledged that there is an issue with some devices. So the question is not whether something is broken but if and when we get a fix to make emby viable for travel again.

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dlokey22

This is not a general solution. I don't use VPN and my Android Fire device is on the same local subnet. The devs have acknowledged that there is an issue with some devices. So the question is not whether something is broken but if and when we get a fix to make emby viable for travel again.

 

Yes, there is definitely an issue with the Android app saving to external SD card.  I have a Samsung S9 with 256gb SD card.  When I set the download/sync to "external", nothing gets saved to the SD card even though the folders gets created.  On the server it just says "ready to transfer".  But when I switch it to "internal", everything syncs and downloads onto the phone.

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drsalzman

UPDATE: Switching to internal storage allowed me to download my old recordings from my PC to my phone while both were connected to my home WiFi. Yeah!

 

On the cruise ship, the WiFi is too slow to play new recordings even at a playback internet speed of 144p (192kbps). Boo!

 

My best workaround - to first download the shows - failed with downloads again stuck in "ready to transfer" regardless of where I tried to store the recordings on either phone. Boo!

 

I am currently working around the issue by (1) converting the files on my PC, (2) moving the converted files to a OneDrive folder, (3) downloading the files from OneDrive to my phone, then (4) playing the files using VLC. Yeah!

 

I know it's a lot of steps, but at least now I can watch new recordings while Emby is (hopefully) fixing the transfer issue.

 

EDIT: I was able to greatly improve the workflow of my workaround using the Folder Sync plugin to my OneDrive folder. Thank you Luke!

Edited by drsalzman
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Detail4687

As mentioned above, my started working when I disable my VPN(s)  (Google Fi and PIA), however one of my users also can't download (same problems as described above) and he does not have any VPN - I check myself. He has a Pixel 3 XL, as well.

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drsalzman

I don't use a VPN, but heaven knows what infrastructure lies between my phone on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean and my PC safely on land.

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  • 4 months later...
SuperMinecraftKid

If you're not in need of converted media and have space to spare, using app.emby.media in a browser and downloading the orignal file has been my workaround. Downloading from a browser has been very reliable in my experience.

Edited by SuperMinecraftKid
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notla49285

Switching to internal storage will fix quite a few issues with the Android app, problem is that most people don't have enough room on internal for Emby media. The external downloading really needs sorting out, the only success I've had with downloading to external is when I've done it on my internal network before going away, and even then I often have to leave it through the night.

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  • 2 weeks later...
ddurdle

I get the same issue and neither of my android or ios device has an SD card slot to test this solution, but both get stuck at waiting to transfer.

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notla49285

I get the same issue and neither of my android or ios device has an SD card slot to test this solution, but both get stuck at waiting to transfer.

 

Have you checked your Emby server dashboard to see if it's still converting the media? I've found that it won't update the app to tell it that the media is still converting, so the app saying "Waiting to transfer" is not very useful information.

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ddurdle

Have you checked your Emby server dashboard to see if it's still converting the media? I've found that it won't update the app to tell it that the media is still converting, so the app saying "Waiting to transfer" is not very useful information.

Yes, and I can also see the files are created and ready in the sync directory

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mediacowboy

Why did this change? It use to allow you to select a location and now it only gives you the option to be internal or external.

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