native Emby Server Ugreen NASync

[steamhead 10]

Another thing that I've spotted running emby on UGreen with the deb package install is that when I add new content to a library it is not processed immediately, even though I have checked "Enable real time monitoring".

Again, just something to remember to do manually, but worth investigating if you decide to write a native UGreen installer.

[ebr 16169]

3 hours ago, steamhead said:

Another thing that I've spotted running emby on UGreen with the deb package install is that when I add new content to a library it is not processed immediately, even though I have checked "Enable real time monitoring".

Hi.  Not all file systems support this feature.  I believe that is noted in the option description.

[Luke 42077]

8 hours ago, steamhead said:

Another thing that I've spotted running emby on UGreen with the deb package install is that when I add new content to a library it is not processed immediately, even though I have checked "Enable real time monitoring".

Again, just something to remember to do manually, but worth investigating if you decide to write a native UGreen installer.

Is the media on the NAS?

[AndreiP 33]

Reading your comments here, I am seriously considering not migrating my server to the Ugreen NAS. Thank you for your comments. 

[Luke 42077]

1 hour ago, AndreiP said:

Reading your comments here, I am seriously considering not migrating my server to the Ugreen NAS. Thank you for your comments. 

Hi, reading what comments?

[AndreiP 33]

On 9/18/2025 at 7:26 AM, brothom said:

People are fond of systems like Docker because it's "fire and forget" but get mad when they accidentally delete their Docker images and lose their data. Personally I prefer to run any longterm services directly from within the OS. I have a Windows 10 server (basically a repurposed laptop) which runs Emby on it just fine and would run significantly slower if I were to use Docker or any such system.

 

On 9/22/2025 at 9:52 AM, steamhead said:

• As mentioned before there definitely needs to be a way to integrate the emby user into the UGOS UI.  The workaround of creating a UGreen group and then adding the emby user to the group by editing the groups file works, but could be a bit daunting to some.
• The install puts all the emby stuff on the system SSD, whereas UGreen apps let you pick a destination elsewhere which is probably a good precaution for people with large databases, to avoid swamping the system disk.  For now, to avoid this I've pointed /var/lib/emby to another storage group by a symbolic link.
• I used the "systemctl enable emby-server.service" command to try and get emby to start automatically with the server.  On startup of the NAS I get an error complaining about /var/lib/emby already existing, which seems a bit odd given it contains persitent data.  However if I issue "systemctl start emby-server" it starts fine.  I suspect it may be something to do with the redirect of /var/lib/emby but I've not figured it out yet.  Until then I just have to remember to start emby manually.

 

21 hours ago, brothom said:

Unfortunately these sound like typical Linux issues... 

 

What I mean is that setting up an Emby server on Linux seems less user-friendly on Linux than on Windows. I'm not a Linux expert, and that definitely influences my opinion. However, first of all, there isn't a native Ugreen app for the Emby server, and secondly, it will run on Docker. I really appreciate the posts here and people sharing their opinions.

[AndreiP 33]

18 hours ago, steamhead said:

Another thing that I've spotted running emby on UGreen with the deb package install is that when I add new content to a library it is not processed immediately, even though I have checked "Enable real time monitoring".

Again, just something to remember to do manually, but worth investigating if you decide to write a native UGreen installer.

And here also. Sorry, I can not include it in my previous post. 

Edited September 24, 2025 by AndreiP

[steamhead 10]

10 hours ago, Luke said:

Is the media on the NAS?

Yes it is on the NAS, in a storage group created directly using the UGreen UI.

Data is uploaded to the NAS using the shared folder feature.  After copying to the NAS the media does not appear in Emby, nor do the meta data files.  Whilst testing I left it for at least 30 minutes with no update apparent.  As soon as I clicked on Scan library files the content appeared in Emby and the meta data files appeared.

 

 

[steamhead 10]

15 hours ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Not all file systems support this feature.  I believe that is noted in the option description.

Yes, I read that too, but as they are considering creating a specific UGreen port I thought I'd better point it out as something to look at.

[brothom 177]

2 hours ago, AndreiP said:

What I mean is that setting up an Emby server on Linux seems less user-friendly on Linux than on Windows. I'm not a Linux expert, and that definitely influences my opinion. However, first of all, there isn't a native Ugreen app for the Emby server, and secondly, it will run on Docker. I really appreciate the posts here and people sharing their opinions.

I agree, absolutely! I think we can't expect Emby to support all the hundreds of different micro-os structures and applets that are associated with them. It's pretty cool Emby supports multiple platforms as-is already in my opinion, mucht better than other platforms.

I would really suggest diving a little bit into Linux though if you have a ugreen (or other type) of Linux server at home. Fortunately I use Linux regularly, almost exclusively, for my daytime job and I find that it really helps getting to know both Windows and Linux.

Linux is mainly used for (dedicated)servers so you'll be able to use other aspects of your server like hosting a website, micro-services, domotica etc, if you wanted to. It's a wise investment to learn a little more about it, because Linux isn't going anywhere soon.

Edited September 24, 2025 by brothom

[Luke 42077]

Actually we spoke to Ugreen and they want to handle it themselves .They said they are going to build a native package, presumably by wrapping around our native debian package. That was months ago and I bugged them again about it a few weeks ago, but nothing yet.

[steamhead 10]

19 hours ago, Luke said:

Actually we spoke to Ugreen and they want to handle it themselves .They said they are going to build a native package, presumably by wrapping around our native debian package. That was months ago and I bugged them again about it a few weeks ago, but nothing yet.

Sounds promising, they should be in a good position to create the emby user in UGOS avoiding the manual workaround, and be able to target an alternative storage group for install which should get around the need to symbolic link /var/lib/emby (which might also solve the startup problem).

That would just leave the real time monitoring issue to look at.

tbh the basic Debian install is still quite useful, I'm fine with it, but some of the workarounds might be a bit daunting for those not so skilled in Linux.  

I have to say I'm really impressed with the UGreen NAS, I had originally tried a Synology NAS but it couldn't cope with transcoding due to their lack of GPU.  Add to that the recent models restricting supported drives I suspect there may be a lot of people moving away from Synology in the near future, and UGreen seems a good alternative.

[vferg 7]

On 9/25/2025 at 9:05 AM, steamhead said:

Sounds promising, they should be in a good position to create the emby user in UGOS avoiding the manual workaround, and be able to target an alternative storage group for install which should get around the need to symbolic link /var/lib/emby (which might also solve the startup problem).

That would just leave the real time monitoring issue to look at.

tbh the basic Debian install is still quite useful, I'm fine with it, but some of the workarounds might be a bit daunting for those not so skilled in Linux.  

I have to say I'm really impressed with the UGreen NAS, I had originally tried a Synology NAS but it couldn't cope with transcoding due to their lack of GPU.  Add to that the recent models restricting supported drives I suspect there may be a lot of people moving away from Synology in the near future, and UGreen seems a good alternative.

I am currently looking for an upgrade to my Synology and your post has helped me.  I was deciding on UGreen after doing some research but one of my primary uses is Emby.  Thankfully I have some time until I need to make the decision so I will wait and see if they are able to provide the native app before deciding on what to do.  It's a shame Synology became such a joke... restricting hard drives sounds like a death wish to me.  I would expect majority of people, including businesses, seeing this and going absolutely not why would I ever hold myself to 1 option.  As someone who makes decisions for a company this would immediately be my decision to dismiss them, and funny enough we currently have 5 rack mounted synology's in our company.  It's going to be interesting what we do once the hardware is EOL.

[kaj 316]

6 hours ago, vferg said:

I am currently looking for an upgrade to my Synology and your post has helped me.  I was deciding on UGreen after doing some research but one of my primary uses is Emby.  Thankfully I have some time until I need to make the decision so I will wait and see if they are able to provide the native app before deciding on what to do.  It's a shame Synology became such a joke... restricting hard drives sounds like a death wish to me.  I would expect majority of people, including businesses, seeing this and going absolutely not why would I ever hold myself to 1 option.  As someone who makes decisions for a company this would immediately be my decision to dismiss them, and funny enough we currently have 5 rack mounted synology's in our company.  It's going to be interesting what we do once the hardware is EOL.

I've kept my Synology, but recently moved Emby server (sonarr etc) to a small N100 NUC running Windows. My NAS is just for storage now. Runs really well and keeps my NAS much quieter too. It will also make upgrading my 918+ to something else (Synology or another brand) easier in the future. Transcoding abilities won't matter, as that's now all being handled by the NUC. There is also a rumour that Synology will open up their new ranges to more disk manufacturers soon. i would wait to see what happens in the next few months.

[steamhead 10]

11 hours ago, vferg said:

I am currently looking for an upgrade to my Synology and your post has helped me.  I was deciding on UGreen after doing some research but one of my primary uses is Emby.  Thankfully I have some time until I need to make the decision so I will wait and see if they are able to provide the native app before deciding on what to do.  It's a shame Synology became such a joke... restricting hard drives sounds like a death wish to me.  I would expect majority of people, including businesses, seeing this and going absolutely not why would I ever hold myself to 1 option.  As someone who makes decisions for a company this would immediately be my decision to dismiss them, and funny enough we currently have 5 rack mounted synology's in our company.  It's going to be interesting what we do once the hardware is EOL.

To be fair the Debian installer they already have is enough to get you up and running with Emby running native, it just needs a tiny bit of simple linux level admin to get it going.  My posts here are just about helping Emby/Ugreen make that installation process even simpler, especially for those not familiar with Linux admin.  But I've had Emby up and running natively now on UGreenfor over a month, running a lot quieter and cheaper than my old rack mounted Ubuntu server.
 

[Jutsch80 9]

What is the benefit of a native app compared to docker in the case of Emby? 

The only thing that it doesn’t seem to currently do is to automatically scan in new content. 

I wouldn’t bet on UGREEN to handle it btw. Their Jellyfin app for example is nothing more than an automated installer for a (then less flexible) docker container, HW transcoding has to be activated manually. 

[Luke 42077]

16 hours ago, Jutsch80 said:

What is the benefit of a native app compared to docker in the case of Emby? 

Docker is adding a layer between Emby and the OS, so in theory, native packages should perform a little better. But obviously, that's only in theory. Many use Docker and are happy with it.

[Jutsch80 9]

21 minutes ago, Luke said:

Docker is adding a layer between Emby and the OS, so in theory, native packages should perform a little better. But obviously, that's only in theory. Many use Docker and are happy with it.

Thank you. But is there a known issue with the docker version on UGREEN not being able to automatically detect new entries or is it rather that I missed to tick a box or setting?

[Luke 42077]

2 minutes ago, Jutsch80 said:

Thank you. But is there a known issue with the docker version on UGREEN not being able to automatically detect new entries or is it rather that I missed to tick a box or setting?

No, but it will not support every possible file system. The server is built with the dotnet runtime. The dotnet runtime realtime monitoring uses INotify. So whether or not the realtime monitor will work in Emby boils down to whether it is a type of folder or mount that INotify can handle.

[steamhead 10]

17 hours ago, Jutsch80 said:

What is the benefit of a native app compared to docker in the case of Emby? 

The only thing that it doesn’t seem to currently do is to automatically scan in new content. 

I wouldn’t bet on UGREEN to handle it btw. Their Jellyfin app for example is nothing more than an automated installer for a (then less flexible) docker container, HW transcoding has to be activated manually. 

I can't directly compare to Docker, because I only went for the native install.  But as Luke said, anything running in Docker has a layer of overhead between the Application and the OS, so will consume additional resources, which may or may not be an issue depending on what else your box is up to.  

The problem of detecting new entries is not just a Docker issue, the native version has it as well. 

[Jutsch80 9]

5 minutes ago, steamhead said:

The problem of detecting new entries is not just a Docker issue, the native version has it as well. 

Thank you, so it might be something I havet to get used to now. 

[Romupag 5]

Hello, I replaced my Terramaster NAS with a UGREEN DH2300 NAS, but I'm having a problem: Emby won't start and my IP address (8096) is unreachable. Do I need Debian? How do I install it? I've already installed Docker and Portainer!

[Luke 42077]

HI, are you sure that is the correct ip address?

[Davey's 37]

Yesss, My new Ugreen NAS is being delivered today. I wanted to inquire about a few options I have to get started with it.

 

 

- Should I use UgOS (the standard operating system) and follow Marius Hosting's Tips, for example?

-> https://mariushosting.com/how-to-install-emby-with-hardware-transcoding-on-your-ugreen-nas/

 

- Should I'm getting started with XPenology and (hopefully) be able to run the standard Emby app for Synology DSM 7.x
-> https://xpenology.net/en/resources/downloads/

 

- Or Should I go along with  another operating system, such as Unraid, Proxmox, you name it

Any advice is welcome, but I'm only familiar with Synology's DSM because it will be replacing my DS918+.

 

Also I'm thinking to completely rebuild Emby, but it would be great if I could back-up certain statistics, as/like 'content already watched'  from my current Emby server, which has been running since 2019.

 

 

[Blueskies278 35]

On 27/11/2025 at 13:49, Davey's said:

Yesss, My new Ugreen NAS is being delivered today. I wanted to inquire about a few options I have to get started with it.

 

 

- Should I use UgOS (the standard operating system) and follow Marius Hosting's Tips, for example?

-> https://mariushosting.com/how-to-install-emby-with-hardware-transcoding-on-your-ugreen-nas/

 

- Should I'm getting started with XPenology and (hopefully) be able to run the standard Emby app for Synology DSM 7.x
-> https://xpenology.net/en/resources/downloads/

 

- Or Should I go along with  another operating system, such as Unraid, Proxmox, you name it

Any advice is welcome, but I'm only familiar with Synology's DSM because it will be replacing my DS918+.

 

Also I'm thinking to completely rebuild Emby, but it would be great if I could back-up certain statistics, as/like 'content already watched'  from my current Emby server, which has been running since 2019.

 

 

I replaced a DS918+ with the DXP4800Plus. Using UGOS, similar to DSM. I personally prefer UGOS to DSM.