Server connects but displays no media files

[twofacetoo 2]

Back again with another problem, it seems.

A month or two ago I ran into an issue when I started up my Emby server (hosted on a laptop) and tried to watch something on my TV, in that while I was logged in and connected to the server, there was no media displaying, only my 'playlists' folder and the created lists within, but even checking them, absolutely no media visible anywhere. While troubleshooting online previously I noticed my TV, at some point, seemed to fully connect and displayed the media, and it even worked, so I assumed it might just an internet issue itself, maybe the files were just loading up on the TV itself, who knows?

But I've run into this problem again and again, and sometimes it doesn't resolve at all, such as today. I had the day off work and decided to try and fix it, but to no avail, hence why I've once again had to come here asking for help with this specific problem.

I start up the Emby server on my laptop, it runs fine, be it via browser or the desktop app. In both cases it shows the full media library (as confirmed via screenshots). I can access the internet itself fine using the laptop, there's absolutely no issue with that there. Then, if I try to access the same Emby server using my TV or another device (phone, desktop PC, the result is the same regardless), I get nothing more than a blank page with 'playlists' and nothing else.

I've tried looking for help online, I tried the old faithful method of completely removing the media libraries and re-syncing, but that hasn't changed anything. I futzed around with internet connections, tried making the media folders 'shared' to be accessed directly by my PC, still hasn't done anything to help. I've even tried the most basic of steps, shutting the laptop down completely and starting it up again, even double-checking it was connected to the internet and troubleshooting for any problems, but I've found absolutely nothing changed in either case. The laptop is connected to the internet, the media libraries are readily accessible through the laptop, but when it comes to actually linking any other device to the same server, the media libraries cannot be found.

To confirm, regarding the attached images, it IS the correct server, I have triple-checked this and even 'removed' the server and re-added it to ensure it's DEFINITELY correct, and I am logged in to the correct account on all devices (as confirmed with the visible avatar in the top right corner of both screenshots). I also ran a quick test by putting a few generic video-files I had lying around into a folder on my desktop PC, adding it as a library, and checking it. It showed as watchable on the desktop PC and my TV, but not on the laptop.

I have no idea what the problem is, nor how it even began. One day I switched on my TV and accessed Emby, only to find nothing available to watch. The best I can think to even try and describe it is, it's like the laptop is just in it's own separate sector, where the server is there, but the media files (despite being confirmed accessible and visible on the laptop itself) aren't accessible to the rest of the world. If I try to access the server on any other device, it simply cannot find the media files. And, as I've said before, it DID work before, this problem sometimes resolved itself, it even worked fine as of less than a week ago. I'm typing this to post on 05/09/2025, I was able to watch some TV episodes on 02/09/2026, rolling over into the morning of 03/09/2026. Since then, it's back to not detecting any playable media files, despite verifying that both my TV Shows drive and my Movies drive are plugged in, fully scanned, and completely accessible via the laptop they're attached to, and where the Emby server is being hosted from.

[Luke 43032]

Hi, I would go into user permissions and check what libraries the user is granted access to.

[twofacetoo 2]

2 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, I would go into user permissions and check what libraries the user is granted access to.

Hi. This is my own account as the admin of the media server, I just checked and it has full permissions to view and access everything on the server. I confirmed on both the laptop and my desktop PC (no option to check that on the TV app). The only things that aren't ticked are the 'hide user' options, because I have no real need for them.

[Luke 43032]

What exactly did you check?

[twofacetoo 2]

Just now, Luke said:

What exactly did you check?

Attached screenshots showing Access and Profile settings for the user account in question. Only thing I didn't include is the section with my email address, for obvious reasons.

[pwhodges 2093]

It might be worth checking your laptops network has been set to "public" instead of "private" - this is a thing that Windows Update sometimes messes with.

Paul

[twofacetoo 2]

Just now, pwhodges said:

It might be worth checking your laptops network has been set to "public" instead of "private" - this is a thing that Windows Update sometimes messes with.

Paul

Funny thing, it was set to public before when this started and it still sometimes worked. I set it to private as one of the many help articles recommended, and it's still causing issues. I just swapped the laptop back to public, and still no change.

[Luke 43032]

Hi there, please attach the Emby server log from when the problem occurred:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks!

 

[ebr 16676]

11 hours ago, twofacetoo said:

I just swapped the laptop back to public,

You don't want to do that.  The network is in your home and should be Private.  Public networks have different much more strict firewall rules.

[twofacetoo 2]

3 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi there, please attach the Emby server log from when the problem occurred:

How to Report a Problem

Thanks!

Most recent log attached as requested 

2 hours ago, ebr said:

You don't want to do that.  The network is in your home and should be Private.  Public networks have different much more strict firewall rules.

I did it purely to test, it's back on private anyway. As said, it worked previously when it was on public, which is part of why this is so confusing. There's no consistency with the problem.

embyserver.txt

[Neminem 1872]

Tbh I have seen windows updates set it back to public.

I definitely be set to private.

[Luke 43032]

5 hours ago, twofacetoo said:

Most recent log attached as requested 

I did it purely to test, it's back on private anyway. As said, it worked previously when it was on public, which is part of why this is so confusing. There's no consistency with the problem.

embyserver.txt 81.6 kB · 0 downloads

This is a really small log. What time did the problem occur?

The network mode will have nothing to do with it. You've connected to the server, so you're good from that respect.

[twofacetoo 2]

14 minutes ago, Luke said:

This is a really small log. What time did the problem occur?

The network mode will have nothing to do with it. You've connected to the server, so you're good from that respect.

The problem has been occurring for several weeks on and off. Like I said above, the last time it worked was on 02/09/2026, but it was cropping up before then too.

[Neminem 1872]

Can you ping the server's ip from the other pc?

Are you using both a wired and a wifi connection on your server?

Edited 5 hours ago by Neminem

[twofacetoo 2]

21 minutes ago, Neminem said:

Can you ping the server's ip from the other pc?

Are you using both a wired and a wifi connection on your server?

Using wi-fi only, just tried to ping it from my desktop and it worked fine.

Edit: just checked after doing the ping, still nothing showing on my TV.

Edited 5 hours ago by twofacetoo

[Neminem 1872]

Did you check your firewall on your server, to see if ports / Emby is still open?

[twofacetoo 2]

Just now, Neminem said:

Did you check your firewall on your server, to see if ports / Emby is still open?

I just disabled the firewall entirely, since the only thing I actually use the laptop for is hosting my Emby server. Would the ports still need checking in that case?

[Neminem 1872]

Can you connect from other devices on your LAN.

[twofacetoo 2]

Just now, Neminem said:

Can you connect from other devices on your LAN.

To the server itself? Yes, as in the screenshots in the original post. I can connect to the server, it's definitely the right server, I'm logged in on the same user account, but no media shows on anything except for the laptop, where it's all stored via connected external hard-drives. As said, the only option I have is my playlists, and I can see the playlists I've made, but there's no media actually in them. I can access the server itself, just not the MEDIA that's meant to be accessed through it... unless I'm on the laptop, where the server is hosted.

And again, I have confirmed everything is correctly located, I've rescanned the drives for the media files, I can watch them via Emby on the laptop. On the laptop, everything looks to be running fine, but no other device can access the media files via the server.

[ebr 16676]

Hi.  Can you please show us a screen shot of your home screen from Emby on the laptop and then also Emby on another device that has the issue?

[twofacetoo 2]

4 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Can you please show us a screen shot of your home screen from Emby on the laptop and then also Emby on another device that has the issue?

Already done so in the very first post. I even labelled them to make it clear which one is which.

[ebr 16676]

On 9/6/2026 at 2:55 AM, twofacetoo said:

I also ran a quick test by putting a few generic video-files I had lying around into a folder on my desktop PC, adding it as a library, and checking it.

Sorry, my bad.  The above confuses me a bit.  Exactly how did you do this?  You've only installed the server on one machine, correct?

[twofacetoo 2]

Just now, ebr said:

Sorry, my bad.  The above confuses me a bit.  Exactly how did you do this?  You've only installed the server on one machine, correct?

I initially had the server on my desktop PC, where everything worked fine. Then I migrated the files over to a laptop I got from a relative, with the intent of using it exclusively to run the Emby server. I set it up with the server software, and it did in fact work at first. I had a few issues with it, one of which I posted about before which was fixed entirely by deleting the library sectors and re-adding them, but since then I've had this recurring issue where the files just aren't read at all.

To test it as I said in the quoted comment, I added a few video-files to my desktop computer and hooked the server into them, they showed on the TV almost immediately. Would the server running on multiple machines cause some kind of conflict like this? Because again, it HAS worked on the laptop before at times, even when my desktop PC was running, it's just never been specific.

[ebr 16676]

My guess is that your old server is still running on  your PC and that is the one the other devices are connecting to.

[twofacetoo 2]

1 minute ago, ebr said:

My guess is that your old server is still running on  your PC and that is the one the other devices are connecting to.

Looking into it now, I've killed the Emby Server process that was running on my desktop, used the TV to disconnect from the server entirely, now I'm trying to re add it, but running into a whole new issue: the TV can't find the server anymore. I tried using Emby Connect, entered the 5 digit passcode, then the TV app just went back a page and asked me to connect to a server again. I tried doing it manually with the IP address listed on the laptop's server, and it just says it can't connect. I've just checked again that the laptop IS connected to the internet safely, and it is.