Emby can't find Movies.

[Luke 42077]

Thanks for the feedback.

[cul8rmom1 5]

On 6/25/2020 at 11:16 AM, pdavis said:

Success! I created a second folder and started moving files into that folder. I started by moving just one file into the folder to confirm it worked. I then started moving about half the contents of the Movie folder at a time, running an index after each move on both folders. It didn't take too much detective work as when I went to move a batch with a movie with the title "Nausicaä" Windows gave me the error "Could not find this item: This is no longer located in XXX, Verify the item's location and try again". I moved every file from my Movie folder to the new folder and the new folder indexed without any issue. I have tried several hacks to remove the offending folder but Windows just refuses to recognize that the folder exists. I ended up just moving it into a temp directory in hopes it will go away some day

Thank you for your help. I hope this helps others with a similar issue.

I used to have issues like this when I had an ftp up and people could make directories with the ftp client that the os couldn’t traverse it was super crappy/dumb.  They would make the directory structure really deep under it as well.  I ended up writing them a note in their directory after deleting all of the stuff they put in it.  They would actually put a note in there about being pissed .. i deleted their stuff lol.  I think the solution I found was to do “dir /x” to get the shortened dir name without special characters and spaces n stuff .. then using that to delete the directory.

 

Good luck!

[Carlo 4560]

Hi,

You've got something strange going on with OpenSubtitles.  Have you configured the plugin with your username/password for their site?

You will want to following the suggested guide lines for layout out your movie library as shown here:
https://emby.media/support/articles/Movie-Naming.html

Also check to make sure you've give read/write permission in Linux to any libraries so Emby Server can access them.

 

Edited November 6, 2025 by GrimReaper
KB article link updated

[Blokie 1]

Thanks for the reply (though my original post seems to have disappeared!).  Turns out my issue was that Emby did not like the "lost+found" folder that was within the Movies folder.  I removed that folder and it scanned and added everything perfectly first time.  Evidently Emby is not as tolerant of anything it doesn't understand, so hopefully no further issues now (unless the lost & found is auto-recreated by the OS!).

[Luke 42077]

Thanks for the feedback.

[KenLinder 4]

EMBY Server is obviously doing something odd to the permissions. Suddenly (for no comprehensible reason) my Libraries would no longer update. I created a new Library that was a smaller part of an existing one. That means that any existing odd permission should still be there.

The new library showed up in EMBY Server but any new files added to that subdirectoy would not show in EMBY Server regardless of what I did. Scan Library Files changed nothing. Neither did resetting EMBY Server.

So I did a new test. I made a totally new directory and this time I MOVED some of the files from the directory of the old Library into the new one. So the files were there. I create a new Library for that new directory.  EMBY Server could not see the files in the directory. So I moved the files back.

New test again. I created an all new directory (again) but I COPIED the files instead of MOVING them. EMBY Server saw them just fine.

So if I copy my existing files into a totally new directory, and then make a new Library that points to that totally new directory, EMBY Server sees the files.

But if I move those existing files into a totally new directory, and then make a new Library that points to that totally new directory,  EMBY Server cannot see the files.
Any entire sub-directories that were MOVED from the old Library directory structure into the new one are also invisible to EMBY Server.

Edited January 22, 2023 by KenLinder

[GrimReaper 4739]

7 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

EMBY is obviously doing something odd to the permissions. Suddenly (for no comprehensible reason) my Libraries would no longer update. I created a new Library that was a smaller part of an existing one. The new library showed up but new files add to that sub would not show in EMBY regardless of what I did. Scan Library Files changed nothing. Neither did resetting EMBY.

I did a new test. I made a totally new directly and this time I MOVED some of the files from the directory of the old Library into the new one. So the files were there. I create a new Library for that new directory.  EMBY could not see the files in the directory. So I moved the files back.

New test again. I created an all new directory (again) but I COPIED the files instead of MOVING them. EMBY saw them just fine.

So if I *copy* my files into a totally new directory, and make a new Library that points to that totally new directory,  EMBY sees the files.

But not if they are moved into that totally new directory.  And any subdirectories that were MOVED instead of copies are also not seen by EMBY.

Tbh I got lost between what you copied and moved, where and to which folder or subfolder, some exact examples would be needed, together with folder structure. 

[KenLinder 4]

49 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Tbh I got lost between what you copied and moved, where and to which folder or subfolder, some exact examples would be needed, together with folder structure. 

The existing Library "KaryFilesVideo" points to "K:\KaryFiles\Video".

New files added under "K:\KaryFiles\Video" ought to be seen by EMBY Server as a part of Library "KaryFilesVideo" as they were before.  But new files added under "K:\KaryFiles\Video" were unexpectedly and suddenly no longer viewable (noticed by) by EBMY Server despite the Library existing and the whole thing having been fine before. All was well until suddenly it was not.
 

a symptom of note --- Newly retrieved "srt" files (grabbed by EMBY) were being suddenly dumped into "C:\Users\[MYUSERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\" when before they were all put into the directory with the media. No settings were changed. I asked around and was told this was probably because EMBY no longer had access to the directories. I have no idea how to fix that in Windows or why it changed.

So (back to the main thing) new files added into the existing subdirectories for Library "KaryFilesVideo" were no longer being noticed by EMBY Server despite being in "K:\KaryFiles\Video" where they belonged (where it had worked before).

This means that when I added my files to "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier\" EMBY Server was unable to serve the files despite them being there and usable from network shares.
 

* Test 1 *


I created a new Library called "* Test EMBY *" and pointed the new library at "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"


Library "Test EMBY" -> "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"


The Library showed up but EMBY did not notice any files.  They are there and they work fine.

* Test 2 *

 

So I killed my new Library and created a new "Test EMBY" Library pointing to "C:\Files\Test EBMY".

 

Library "Test EMBY" -> "C:\Files\Test EBMY"

I moved 6 mp4's from "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" to "C:\Files\Test EBMY"
These were new files that EMBY Sever did not show when I had tried to get at them from the normal library "KaryFilesVideo"

 

EMBY Server could not serve the moved files in their new location. They did not show up.

 

* Test 3 *

 

I did the same basic thing, in a new directory at "Test EBMY 2", having cleaned up my mess first by killing the test Library "Test EMBY" and making a new subdirectory at "C:\Files\Test EBMY 2" with COPIED flies instead of moved files.

 

Library "Test EMBY 2" -> "C:\Files\Test EBMY 2"

The copied files worked fine through EMBY this time. The server saw them just fine. But it did not see the moved files.

Edited January 22, 2023 by KenLinder

[GrimReaper 4739]

3 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

The existing Library "KaryFilesVideo" points to "K:\KaryFiles\Video".

* Test 1 *

I created a new Library called "* Test EMBY *" and pointed the new library at "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"

Library "Test EMBY" -> "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier"

The Library showed up but EMBY did not notice any files.  They are there and they work fine.

You can't make a library with folders that are subset of existing library folder, that is currently not supported and no files will show up. Folders must be same-level at least.

6 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

* Test 2 *

So I killed my new Library and created a new "Test EMBY" Library pointing to "C:\Files\Test EBMY".

Library "Test EMBY" -> "C:\Files\Test EBMY"

I moved 6 mp4's from "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" to "C:\Files\Test EBMY"
These were new files that EMBY Sever did not show when I had tried to get at them from the normal library "KaryFilesVideo"

EMBY Server could not serve the moved files in their new location. They did not show up.

Did you recreate folder structure, i.e. at least The Falcon and the Winter Soldier TV show folder under C:\Files\Test EBMY, and possibly season folder as well?

8 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

* Test 3 *

I did the same basic thing, in a new directory at "Test EBMY 2", killing the test Library "Test EMBY" and making a new subdirectory at "C:\Files\Test EBMY 2" with COPIED flies instead of moved files.

Library "Test EMBY 2" -> "C:\Files\Test EBMY 2"

That sounds like you did make series subfolder?

[KenLinder 4]

50 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

You can't make a library with folders that are subset of existing library folder, that is currently not supported and no files will show up. Folders must be same-level at least.

Did you recreate folder structure, i.e. at least The Falcon and the Winter Soldier TV show folder under C:\Files\Test EBMY, and possibly season folder as well?

That sounds like you did make series subfolder?

It works the same way if the video files are all in "C:\Files\Test EBMY" instead of in subdirectories off of "C:\Files\Test EBMY"

If I move "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (the directory and the video files it contains) to a brand new subdirectory "C:\Files\Test EBMY" -- and make a brand new library to point there  -- EMBY Server is not able find those files in that new library - but only if moved. If copied it can find the files.

[GrimReaper 4739]

9 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

If I move "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (the directory and the video files it contains) to a brand new subdirectory "C:\Files\Test EBMY" -- and make a brand new library to point there  -- EMBY Server is not able find those files in that new library

Could you run Rotate server log scheduled task, repeat that procedure and post server log? 

[KenLinder 4]

4 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

Could you run Rotate server log scheduled task, repeat that procedure and post server log? 

I have no idea what you mean by that

[seanbuff 1313]

23 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

I have no idea what you mean by that

[KenLinder 4]

3 hours ago, seanbuff said:

Thanks. It is set up to run every 24 hours.

[GrimReaper 4739]

4 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

Thanks. It is set up to run every 24 hours.

Press the icon on the right, run it manually. 

[KenLinder 4]

21 minutes ago, GrimReaper said:

Press the icon on the right, run it manually. 

I did that. In fact I told EMBY repeatedly to scan the libraries. Before things started being odd it didn't take that long before EMBY caught up to whatever files I had in my various Libraries. Now it never ever does that. Not ever. No matter what EMBY function you use.  No matter which Library it is. No matter what drive the library is on - with one exception.

If I make a brand new library that points to a brand new directory which contains video files which were COPIED not MOVED -- then EMBY notices.

take note (again) that my SRT files stopped being able to be placed automatically next to the media files.... another thing it did fine every day all day... until suddenly it no longer did this.

I keep wondering if I have a serious permissions issues such that EMBY is no longer able to write to my local drives.

[GrimReaper 4739]

Without server log hardly anyone will be able to tell you what kind of issues you're encountering, hence:

8 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

run Rotate server log scheduled task, repeat that procedure and post server log

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by GrimReaper

[Luke 42077]

HI, yes can we please see the emby server log? Thanks !

[KenLinder 4]

EMBY thinks it can't write to the directory structure of my older existing Libraries, regardless of which drive that library is on. It's pretty clear. I'm wondering if some other application screwed around with my permissions. I have no idea how to fix that given that sudo is no longer recommended (and that isn't a shell I use regularly).

The older EMBY Library WarpFilesVideo is mapped to "C:\Files\Video". Likewise the older Library KaryFilesVideo is mapped to "K:\KaryFiles\Video\". New video files added to these subdirectories are never ever noticed by EMBY any more.

Another curious piece of this : EBMY was still grabbing SRT files for media files it knew about in the old Libraries WarpFilesVideo and KaryFilesVideo which were lacking in subtitles. Great - it is supposed to do that. But it did not do that for any brand new media files that were just added... just the old files.

And... when EMBY did go and grab an SRT file for a  video in one of my old Libraries it no longer put them in the same directory as the media files in the old libraries WarpFilesVideo and KaryFilesVideo. Instead the old files in Libraries WarpFilesVideo and KaryFilesVideo which still lacked SRT files -- as EMBY found SRT files for them it did not put those SRT files into the directory with the media any more. It put them into  "C:\Users\[MYUSERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Emby-Server\"  instead.


Sorta how it would behave if it thought it did not have the rights to write to those directories.

New files places into my old Libraries WarpFilesVideo and KaryFilesVideo are never seen by EMBY no matter what I do. EMBY does not ever find any new SRT files for these new files that are placed into the older libraries. It does not leave behind any turds in the subdirectories either.

Note that if I MOVE an existing subdirectory from old Library (WarpFilesVideo and KaryFilesVideo) that I am having issues with... into a brand new Library that works, the media files I moved will never be indexed by EMBY and no SRTs will be grabbed.

But if I COPY an existing subdirectory from old Library (WarpFilesVideo and KaryFilesVideo) into a brand new Library that works, EMBY works fine with the copied files & finds SRT fils for them and puts the new SRTs into the same directory as the media file.

[KenLinder 4]

HEY!  It got weirder.  I did do the "rotate log" thing. Guess what?

EMBY still can't find those new files as placed into an old Library just by looking through the FOLDERS of the older libraries.

You still cannot browse to the folders in Library KaryFIlesVideo and find the new stuff. So the subdirectory KaryFIlesVideo\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Falcon and the Winter Soldier cannot be seen through FOLDERS on EMBY.

BUT -- I can search for the files.  You cannot 'folder browse' to get to them but you can SEARCH for them using EMBY.

Now isn't that special. EMBY on Windows sometimes acts like Schrodinger's media server. The files are both 'there' and 'not there'.
 

Edited January 23, 2023 by KenLinder

[seanbuff 1313]

11 minutes ago, KenLinder said:

HEY!  It got weirder.  I did do the "rotate log" thing. Guess what?

Perhaps you're getting confused about what "rotate log" does - we simply asked you to run that task once to ensure we have a clear log file to review.

After "rotating" the log, you also need to then download the latest log file and upload it here so that someone may assist you further.

So, please reproduce the issue and follow these instructions to "download" the appropriate log file.

You can either download directly from the "Logs" page, or...

 

Or click on 'embyserver.txt' in order to have the option to download an Anonymized log file

[Carlo 4560]

@KenLinder We still need to see your log file.  Please  follow these steps.

Your choice: Restart Emby Server or do as @seanbuff showed here:

On 1/22/2023 at 5:50 PM, seanbuff said:

This gives us an empty log file to work with.

Now, run a Library Scan from the same menu option as above "Schedule Tasks".  Scroll down on the right side and click this:

You will see the percentage shown while it's actively scanning your library.  Once complete the wording will be similar to above tell you when it last ran as well as how long it took.

Now that the scanning is complete we need to get the log file. Again follow the directions @seanbuff showed above.
 

On 1/23/2023 at 12:15 AM, seanbuff said:

 

Or click on 'embyserver.txt' in order to have the option to download an Anonymized log file

The above is on the Logs menu as you can see in the picture.

Once the file has been downloaded to your computer, reply back to this thread and attach the log file either by dragging and dropping the file or by using this at the bottom of the message 

Thanks,
Carlo

Edited January 24, 2023 by cayars

[KenLinder 4]

Been offline a lot lately (various health crap).

So I went ahead and rotated the log. To make sure there would be something in the log to see

In order to force the server to interact with the media I created a new directory

K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects (temp)

and copied  

K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects\The Imperfects - S01E01 - Sarkov's Children.mp4

to

K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects (temp)\The Imperfects - S01E01 - Sarkov's Children.mp4

Now the server ought to see the new file in the new directory

I then told EMBY to "Scan Library Files" on the "Live Action" folder.

It hasn't found the new directory. It still won't find the original one either.

Then I went to save the new log - so here it is.

 

embyserver - anon for forum.txt

Edited February 9, 2023 by KenLinder
fix the log file

[KenLinder 4]

Here is a portion of that log file that might be of interest
 

And now I am able to see that one episode through EMBY

       (K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects (temp)\The Imperfects - S01E01 - Sarkov's Children.mp4)

But EMBY still won't server me anything from the older directory (with 3 other episodes in it)

     "K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects"

and that's REALLY interesting because the LOG shows the episode I copied (K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects\The Imperfects - S01E01 - Sarkov's Children.mp4) as having been removed from EMBY even though I cannot view the thing through EMBY server.



2023-02-09 17:53:33.746 Info App: Removing item from database, Type: Movie, Name: The Imperfects, Path: K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects\The Imperfects - S01E01 - Sarkov's Children.mp4, Id: 1327739

This is Schrödinger's media. It's not servable, but the server knows it is there. We know this because the server makes sure to take it out of it's known media when I take the file out of it's directory. It knows about the file, but it will not serve me the file it if is in THAT directory. I have set no permissions and it's very clear to me that this is either actual directory permissions or a form of access rules that EMBY uses as a part of the server.

FYI I have also had EMBY suddenly decide that all the srt files it retrieves ought to go in "C:\Users\[MYUSERNAME]\AppData\" instead of in with the media files, even though the server is set up to put those files in with the media, even though it did it fine on the previous day.

Edited February 9, 2023 by KenLinder

[Happy2Play 9780]

And is seen here

2023-02-09 17:55:05.117 Info LibraryMonitor: Live Action (K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action) will be refreshed.
2023-02-09 17:55:05.117 Info LibraryMonitor: The Imperfects (temp) (K:\KaryFiles\Video\Shows\Live Action\The Imperfects (temp)\The Imperfects - S01E01 - Sarkov's Children.mp4) will be refreshed.

But doesn't look like it ever refreshes as the other issue items on that path with ffrobe.