Can only start Emby server service manually then open it in a browser

[bduares 0]

I run the latest Linux Mint.

I had Emby installed and running, then decided foolishly to try Jellyfin. I decided to stick with Emby. I purged Jellyfin and reinstalled Emby, but now when I try to start Emby using the application start menu it does not start at all. I have to  manually start the server in a terminal (systemctl start emby-server) then I can open it in my browser and it functions as it should. Shutting it down and again trying to start it from the start menu results in nothing, whether or not I have started or stopped the service in a terminal. 

When I look at users and groups I see an emby listing in groups but not in users.  

grep emby /etc/passwd results in emby:x:998:997:Emby Server:/var/lib/emby:/usr/sbin/nologin. 

id emby results in uid=998(emby) gid=997(emby) groups=997(emby),44(video),109(render). 

The directory var/lib/emby shows owner as: emby - Emby Server

Log files attached

System:
  Kernel: 6.16.3-061603-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A Desktop: Cinnamon 6.0.4
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin vt: 7 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
    base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy

Machine:
  Type: Server Mobo: NA model: NA v: Version 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 2.06 date: 10/08/2024
CPU:
  Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled
    arch: Zen 3 rev: 1 cache: L1: 512 KiB L2: 4 MiB L3: 16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1938 high: 4830 min/max: 416/4937 boost: enabled cores: 1: 2141 2: 1100
    3: 1100 4: 4830 5: 4604 6: 2662 7: 3641 8: 1100 9: 1100 10: 1100 11: 2139 12: 1100 13: 1100
    14: 1100 15: 1100 16: 1100 bogomips: 105394
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Rembrandt driver: amdgpu v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports:
    active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, DP-6, HDMI-A-2, Writeback-1
    bus-ID: 36:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1681 class-ID: 0300

 

embyserver.txt hardware_detection-63897424920.txt

[Q-Droid 989]

The Emby server runs as a service and systemctl is the right way to start/stop. I don't know what you're trying to do from the start menu because the server doesn't install as an application visible from the menu. Did you also install the Emby Theater app and might be confusing the two?

 

 

[bduares 0]

When I originally installed Emby, it was indeed listed in the application menu (menu which opens when you hit Windows key) as "Emby Server" in the "Sound and Video" section. When I chose this application in the  list it would then start the service and open my browser automatically to the Emby address, and Emby Server would then be running and other devices could then connect to it throughout my network. 

After installing Jellyfin this no longer happened. Even after removal and purging of both Jellyfin and Emby, and reinstallation of Emby this does not happen. It is still now listed in my application menu as it was before, but trying to run it from there does nothing at all. It neither starts the service nor opens a browser to the Emby address. I have to manually open a terminal and start the service in terminal, then open a browser and go to the Emby address before it is up and running for others to see and use on my network. Starting the service in terminal, without opening the browser and going to the local Emby address, also does not allow the Emby Server to be available to others on my network. The browser must be open and at Emby's address for the program to actually be running and available to others. 

 

Edited October 31, 2025 by bduares

[Luke 42077]

HI, do you mean start menu on a windows machine, or on the linux server machine?

[bduares 0]

This is on Linux Mint

[Luke 42077]

OK so why not redo everything you first did to set it up? It sounds like that other install must have replaced something.

So starting with installing the server package on top of itself (same version).

[bduares 0]

That is what I did. I uninstalled both Emby and Jellyfin, then purged them so supposedly nothing would be left of them in the file system, then reinstalled Emby from scratch. But Emby still will not run the way it did when I had first installed it. The only thing I can think of is maybe Jellyfin changed some settings elsewhere, in users and groups, etc, that Emby uses, and uninstalling and reinstalling Emby  has not solved the issue.

I can still run Emby Server. I just now have to do it manually by starting it in terminal and opening a browser and going to Emby's local address. Previously Emby Server installed itself in a way that it did these things automatically when I merely selected it in my application menu. That is the functionality that is lost.

Edited October 31, 2025 by bduares

[Q-Droid 989]

How did you install Emby? A test installation for me on LMDE7 does not show any Emby apps in the menu.

The Emby server should start automatically by systemd on boot unless you've disabled that. You can see if it's enabled or disabled with:

# systemctl status emby-server

[bduares 0]

I installed it via the Software Manager in Linux Mint, which used the flatpak install. Also even trying to launch it from that menu now does nothing, when previously it would also start the server and open the browser and Emby would be available for others on the network.  # systemctl status emby-server results in nothing as well, even though my Emby server is up and running right now, unless I do that in a terminal as root, in which case I see this:

Edited October 31, 2025 by bduares

[Q-Droid 989]

Flatpak. That makes more sense now though I don't have much to offer on that type of installation.

 

 

[bduares 0]

After yet another reboot, I selected Emby Server in the application menu. There was no apparent activity, but opening a terminal as root I could see the service was now running, and I am able to connect to it with other devices on the network without having to open a browser on the server system and going to the Emby local address. So that part of the functionality seems to have fixed itself somehow, though it did previously open a browser and go to the Emby address in it automatically, which it no longer does. But I can live with that.

[Q-Droid 989]

You might want to check if the Emby service is already running before you try to launch from the menu, after a reboot. If systemd is starting the server then you don't need to do anything manually.

 

[bduares 0]

Just rebooted again and checked the server status as root. It is indeed running at startup without my having to run anything from the application menu. Checking on another device I am also able to connect to the server. So that is working, when it was not working previously. The only thing that seems broken now is clicking the Emby Server selection in the application menu no longer opens the server address in a browser automatically. No big issue, I will just just use a bookmark in the browser for that to perform maintenance. 

[Luke 42077]

Thanks for following up.