New Media Source Won't Scan

[KodiUser1138]

Backed up my library, updated Jellyfin to v10.9.11, atempted to add the new network location to the existing library. Failed yet again. Even a testing folder for 1 single item located on a hard drive that already hosts a shared folder fails to scan. So either JF has made some chage that has broekn this ability or my library databse is completely screwed. Obviously the log I posted previous dones't reflect any visible issues/erros.

[TheDreadPirate]

I don't know what to tell you. You know your setup better than any of us. I can't replicate the issue, but my media is not organized like yours.

Since you have a backup of your Jellyfin data, see what happens with a fresh Jellyfin install?

[KodiUser1138]

Reverted back to v10.8.13, added the new source, scanned without issue. So my system seems to be fine. Every other method of trying to access this source on my network was fine, only JFv10.9 failed.

[gnattu]

You need to run Jellyfin as the same user you mapped that network share. Like you Mapped the smb to X: with user John jellyfin also need to be run with user John, run it with admin will not work.

Also, network path will be removed and will stop working totally in 10.10. You'd better change how your libraries are managed or you are locked to 10.8 forever.

[KodiUser1138]

You need to run Jellyfin as the same user you mapped that network share. Like you Mapped the smb to X: with user John jellyfin also need to be run with user John, run it with admin will not work.

Also, network path will be removed and will stop working totally in 10.10. You'd better change how your libraries are managed or you are locked to 10.8 forever.

Already explained how network paths are all under the same username, all permissions work, all accesses work.

How, exactly, are users supposed to use network locations for media in their servers when this change is forced? The veil threat of "being stuck" isn't helpful without noting what is changing, why and how to transition. I'm sure I won't be the only user wondering WTF as I've been going through this current issue without receiving any actual explination or guidence, including from the official wiki.

[TheDreadPirate]

How, exactly, are users supposed to use network locations for media in their servers when this change is forced?

You don't.  You map network locations to drive letters.

The veil threat of "being stuck" isn't helpful without noting what is changing, why and how to transition.

It isn't a "threat".  Jellyfin is changing.  Software changes, sometimes in significant ways that not everyone will like.

But this change is being made in the pursuit of improving the maintainability of Jellyfin's code.

I'm sure I won't be the only user wondering WTF as I've been going through this current issue without receiving any actual explination or guidence, including from the official wiki.

You aren't the only one.  And this is the reason, starting with 10.9, adding new network shares wasn't allowed in anticipation that in 10.10 using unmapped/unmounted network shares would go away entirely.

And this is not new.  We've long stated that network shares should be mounted to the OS.  Mapped to a drive letter in Windows and mounted to a directory in Linux.  We've stated this in our matrix/discord chat, on various forum posts, in Github tickets, and in our documentation (see below).

https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/admini...ge#storage   (the storage section hasn't changed in two years)

You've also organized your files in a particular way.  While this organization doesn't make it impossible to have it work with Jellyfin, it does add a lot of tedious work.

We are telling you how Jellyfin works/behaves and how to best work with that behavior.  But you've been unwilling to reorganize (I don't blame you) or do the work to get Jellyfin to work with your current organization.  You keep going back to how you used to do things (you even reverted to 10.8.13).  But, like I said, software changes and not everyone will like it.  In this case, the change is needed for long term maintainability.

I, and I'm sure many people here, feel your pain.  When I first started using Jellyfin I spent a literal week fighting Jellyfin so I didn't have to rename and reorganize how I had my files pre-Jellyfin.  Then I gave up and spent a day getting my media to conform to what Jellyfin works best with.  It takes much much less time to make Jellyfin happy than to fight it.  And since you are interacting with Jellyfin (or Kodi), and not the files and folders, it makes sense to conform to Jellyfin's expectation.

[KodiUser1138]

You don't.  You map network locations to drive letters.

This failed, as explained. It failed trying every method I could think of. Nothing worked to add a new source into my media library in v10.9.3 and v10.9.11. 

It isn't a "threat".  Jellyfin is changing.  Software changes, sometimes in significant ways that not everyone will like.

It was a passive agressive threat, unhelpful, and didn't present a path to resolution.

But this change is being made in the pursuit of improving the maintainability of Jellyfin's code.

I've never been against change to make things better. I ask questions and present ideas to try and find ways to make things better, like I've talked about using Collections which is not easy and is very hand tied. 

You aren't the only one.  And this is the reason, starting with 10.9, adding new network shares wasn't allowed in anticipation that in 10.10 using unmapped/unmounted network shares would go away entirely.

And this is not new.  We've long stated that network shares should be mounted to the OS.  Mapped to a drive letter in Windows and mounted to a directory in Linux.  We've stated this in our matrix/discord chat, on various forum posts, in Github tickets, and in our documentation (see below).

https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/admini...ge#storage   (the storage section hasn't changed in two years)

Your link has no direction or guide as to how Jellyfin expects users to organize their media to make it easier for JF to understand. It is just a basci description as you've noted above and which I have stated multiple times completely failed.

You've also organized your files in a particular way.  While this organization doesn't make it impossible to have it work with Jellyfin, it does add a lot of tedious work.

We are telling you how Jellyfin works/behaves and how to best work with that behavior.  But you've been unwilling to reorganize (I don't blame you) or do the work to get Jellyfin to work with your current organization.  You keep going back to how you used to do things (you even reverted to 10.8.13).  But, like I said, software changes and not everyone will like it.  In this case, the change is needed for long term maintainability.

I, and I'm sure many people here, feel your pain.  When I first started using Jellyfin I spent a literal week fighting Jellyfin so I didn't have to rename and reorganize how I had my files pre-Jellyfin.  Then I gave up and spent a day getting my media to conform to what Jellyfin works best with.  It takes much much less time to make Jellyfin happy than to fight it.  And since you are interacting with Jellyfin (or Kodi), and not the files and folders, it makes sense to conform to Jellyfin's expectation.

I have still yet to see an explination of how Jellyfin expects media to be organized or what I am doing wrong. The only information I've learnt through this is JF not wanting to look for SMB shares any longer, despite the described process not working thus far for my setup.

I have 30+ hard drives, 200+ Terabytes, of media and don't currently have 1 storage unit with capacity to house all drives PLUS a build for a Jellyfin server. My setup is planned to change in the future, but that is not today. I'm certain I'm not the only user who has some sort of similar setup and is completely unware of these changes nor the understanding of what to do next.

I speak about "how things used to work" because things used to work, to engage the discussion and try to find reason what changes have been made and why so as to proceed further. I went backwards because all the direction on how to move forward failed. not because I refuse to conform. I took the direcction and worked to implement and it did not work. I tried moving even more forward and still came up with failure. Being tired of failure I went back in order to, at the very leat, find a situation where Jellyfin would work with ALL my media that I could sit at so I don't need to spend my days frustratedly flinging stuff at the wall to see what would stick.

I have put countless hundreds of hours into my media server work for over a decade now. I have learnt many hard lessons on how to get thing working within the confines of the systems the provide the enjoyment of my media I choose to use. Jellyfin came along and madea ton of my prior work much, much easier. But now there is an issue and to this point the suggested solutions have not worked. 

I cannot stay on v10.8 because clients won't work. I need to move forward. But I need to move forward and also have things work. Some changes to JF have made usability more difficult, not easier (collections) and now the change to JF finding media aren't working either. I am looking for a solution but also to have my media all in my server and to this point going backwards to add a new network location has been the only action that has worked. You can make of that what you will, I am just reporting my results.

[mcarlton00]

I haven't read through this entire thread, but it looks like this entire situation started with a misunderstanding.

The "network location" text box that you could enter a path has no effect on media scanning.  Exactly zero relevance.  That text box was purely for a very niche feature that's been basically unsupported since the project started, and has finally been removed for future versions.

Jellyfin does not read networked filesystems directly, and it never has.  It's always required that media be mounted to the host OS in a way that allows the software to read it locally.  ie: Giving Jellyfin a path of \\MainPC\Movies 4 will not work.  It needs to be mounted and accessible by the user running Jellyfin.

If you're running Jellyfin as admin, but mounted the paths as your user, it might not work.  If you're running Jellyfin as a service but mounted the paths as your user, it might not work.  I haven't used Windows in 10 years, but it has permissions quirks that you should be aware of if you're trying to use it as a server.  There are similar situations when trying to set up HWA on Windows based servers.

Additionally, you should know that your "by-letter" folder organization is not one of our supported formats.  The scanner expects to be given a folder containing the media itself, not with another arbitrary letter folder thrown in the middle.  It might work, it might not, but that's not a use case we're set up to handle.

from our examples:
* for movies, Jellyfin expects to be given the "Movies" folder: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/media/movies/
* for shows, Jellyfin expects to be given the "Shows" folder: https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/media/shows

[KodiUser1138]

I can't even get Jellyfin to accept a direct drive path, nothing mounted/linked or otherwise, on the same PC running the server in a brand new library for testing purposes, v10.9.3.

Also, as previously noted, using a network shared folder mounted to a drive letter doesn't even return the results of the contents contained within that folder.

Jellyfin has issues when attempting to install. What those issues are, I don't know. Installing as admin and using basic seems to be the only way to get it to work, which then require manually starting the server once Windows boots.

All these folders share on the network and are accessable in explorer. That a pretty important function of this software seems to create incredible issues might be something that needs much more addressing as my server runs Windows and will ocntinue to do so for a number of reasons. This isn't the only JF server I maintain as a hobbyist and it needs to remain useable by others who are not as in the weeds as I am with all of this. That's the point, it is supposed to be useable for novices without IT degrees.

Adding new sources to libraries never had these issues in v10.8. There must be a deeper routed issue here than just permissions and mystery bisquits.

[KodiUser1138]

IS there someone who works on the actual Windows development I can message that might have some insight into this continued issue? More testing again and there is no method of adding a new source of media to mycurrent library and have JF scan it. Gone through every suggestion and twisted into more knots than I can count trying to break it to get it to work.