update to v4.9.1.90 => empty playlists and downloads removed from android device

[guill69f 17]

Hi, 

Not sure if these are connected, but I just upgraded to version 4.9.1.90 on my synology NAS and this is what i noticed the day after:

1) long movie library rescan (now completed)

2) all my playlists are empty. I still see all of them, they have a thumbnail with the movies they are supposed to include, I see also movie genres and total playtime, but when i click play i get an error message

3) i lost all media downloaded to my samsung tab s9. The files are gone, i checked in the android data folder and see from the sd card disk space that they have been deleted (still have them on server though)

4) no impact on my samsung phone s25, tv shows downloaded still there

 

Are these known issues that are connected to the upgrade? Or unrelated? Still to do to re over the playlists? And to avoid downloaded media to be removed from devices? Thanks!

Edited November 19, 2025 by guill69f

[Luke 42077]

HI there, can you please provide a specific example?

How to Report a Problem

Thanks !

 

[guill69f 17]

here attached the log. thx

embyserver.txt

[guill69f 17]

Hi again, ok, so i think will not be able to recover my playlists, fine with that. But i would like to know how I can delete these playlists from Emby. I see them in the playlists menu, but when i click on them (3 dots menu), i get no option there to delete them. How can i do that please? thanks

Edit: i just created a test playlist and this one has a delete option when i click on the 3 dots to get the playlist menu...

Edited December 7, 2025 by guill69f

[guill69f 17]

anyone on the playlist thing?

 

[Luke 42077]

Hi, do you have multiple users? Only the user who created it can delete it.

[guill69f 17]

Thanks Luke, i will try that when i get back to pc. I have multiple users but as far as i remember these were created by me.

Will log under the other ids and see if i can delete them

[guill69f 17]

Ok, so i circled through the users account and check all playlists with each. Same sroty every time, no option to delete the playlists, excepted for one which i created much later in time with my own account. And i am confirming also that i was the creator of all playlists

[Luke 42077]

Is this in the when app? Where is the playlist file located?

[guill69f 17]

yes, in the web app if this is what you meant.

The movies files are on the NAS where they have always been, but i don see more than this 

[guill69f 17]

ah sorry, you meant the playlist file. how can i find that?

 

[guill69f 17]

improving, can now answer my own questions: /var/packages/EmbyServer/var/data/playlists/Films [playlist]/Films.m3u

EDIT: now i managed to navigate to the locations of the playlists via WinSCP but i do not manage to delete them, getting this message 

Command 'rm -f -r "Films.m3u"'
failed with return code 1 and the following error message.
rm: cannot remove 'Films.m3u': Permission denied

Edited December 8, 2025 by guill69f

[Luke 42077]

Inside of Emby, is your user granted delete access on the playlist library?

[guill69f 17]

even better, solving now problems on my own: i create a new user account, taking as reference my own profile. With this new user i could delete the playlists. Then i switched back to my original account, the playlists are gone. I created then another one to test, and i am also able to delete it.

Some thing maybe as gone wrong at last upgrade, anyway, problem solved. thanks!

 

[EmblemJD 21]

Is the fact that playlists broke acknowledged by the dev team @Luke?

I also have the same issue @guill69freported initially, namely that all my playlists correctly show total playtime but trying to play them gives 

Quote

"No playable items were found. Are you trying to play an empty folder?"

I have inspected the playlists .m3u files and compared the entries to a newly created playlist with the same video. Both refer the same file, identical syntax.

Old, now broken playlist:

Quote

#EXTM3U
#PLAYLIST:Adriene - Yoga Camp
#EXTINF:186,YOGA CAMP
../../../../mnt/FITNESS/Yoga with Adriene/Yoga Camp/YOGA CAMP.mp4

Newly created Playlist

Quote

#EXTM3U
#PLAYLIST:Adriene - Yoga Camp NEW
#EXTINF:186,YOGA CAMP
../../../../mnt/FITNESS/Yoga with Adriene/Yoga Camp/YOGA CAMP.mp4

However the "included in" only shows the newly created playlist on the video...so something broke:

Any advice how to fix this, eg. via shell? I am tired of always having to re-populate playlists because of some breakage or permission issues introduced...there should be an easy way to restore that. Nothing has changed on my filesystem or the root library.

Thanks!

[EmblemJD 21]

Okay nevermind, similar to @guill69fI also figured it out myself:

You can "refresh metadata" on Playlists. That fixed it 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@LukeHow come playlists are not loaded from the .m3u when I play them in eg. Webplayer? Are the filelists cached somewhere and is there a good reason for that? Why not pull straight from the .m3u on play? Thanks!

Edited December 13, 2025 by EmblemJD

[Luke 42077]

On 12/13/2025 at 11:29 AM, EmblemJD said:

Okay nevermind, similar to @guill69fI also figured it out myself:

You can "refresh metadata" on Playlists. That fixed it 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@LukeHow come playlists are not loaded from the .m3u when I play them in eg. Webplayer? Are the filelists cached somewhere and is there a good reason for that? Why not pull straight from the .m3u on play? Thanks!

Hi, the contents of the playlists are kept in the server database. They are not re-read every time you press play.