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Setup the Plex Media Server Ubuntu Appliance in a virtual machine

Installation instructions

We will walk you through the steps of setting up your Plex Media Server Ubuntu Appliance in a vm with Multipass and get logged in.

What you'll need

  • A PC running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or later

  1. Install Multipass 

    sudo snap install multipass

  2. Launch your Ubuntu Appliance

    Launch your appliance image. Multipass gives your appliance an instance name like happy-frog. To name it yourself add --name <name>. 

    multipass launch appliance:plexmediaserver

  3. Find your appliance

    Find your appliance VM's IP address: 

    multipass list

  4. That's it

    Your appliance is now running in a virtual machine. Start and stop it with multipass start <name> and multipass stop <name>. To access the command-line: 

    multipass shell plexmediaserver

We will walk you through the steps of setting up your Plex Media Server Ubuntu Appliance in a vm with Multipass and get logged in.

What you'll need

  • A PC running Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise/Education Update 1803 or later, or any version of Windows with VirtualBox.

  1. Install Multipass

    1. Make sure the network you're connected to is marked Private, otherwise Windows will prevent Multipass from starting.

    2. Download Multipass for Windows

    3. Run the installer. You will need to allow the installer to gain Administrator privileges.

  2. Launch your Ubuntu Appliance

    Launch your appliance image. Multipass gives your appliance an instance name like happy-frog. To name it yourself add --name <name>. 

    multipass launch appliance:plexmediaserver

  3. Find and connect to your appliance

    Hyper-V instructions

    On Hyper-V, find your virtual appliance IP address: 

    multipass list
    VirtualBox instructions

    On VirtualBox, forward the appliance port to the outside world with this command in an Administrator PowerShell: 

    env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\PSTools\PsExec.exe -s $env:VBOX_MSI_INSTALL_PATH\VBoxManage.exe controlvm "<instance name>" --natpf1 "plexmediaserver,tcp,,32400,,32400"

    For more information about this command see the Multipass documentation.

  4. That's it

    Your appliance is now running in a virtual machine. Start and stop it with multipass start <name> and multipass stop <name>. To access the command-line: 

    multipass shell plexmediaserver

We will walk you through the steps of setting up your Plex Media Server Ubuntu Appliance in a vm with Multipass and get logged in.

What you'll need

  1. Install Multipass

    1. Download Multipass for macOS

    2. Activate the downloaded installer in an account with Administrator privileges.

    3. To start Multipass with VirtualBox use this Terminal app command: 

      sudo multipass set local.driver=virtualbox

  2. Launch your Ubuntu Appliance

    Launch your appliance image. Multipass gives your appliance an instance name like happy-frog. To name it yourself add --name <name>. 

    multipass launch appliance:plexmediaserver

  3. Find your appliance

    To use VirtualBox's port forwarding run: 

    sudo VBoxManage controlvm "<instance name>" --natpf1 "plexmediaserver,tcp,,32400,,32400"

    You can find more information about what this command means in the Multipass documentation.

  4. That's it

    Your appliance is now running in a virtual machine. Start and stop it with multipass start <name> and multipass stop <name>. To access the command-line: 

    multipass shell plexmediaserver

Start using your Plex Ubuntu Appliance

When you start Plex Media Server for the first time you make an account and go through some initial configuration. To do so, open a browser and go to: 

http://<IP-of-your-appliance>:32400/web

Then just follow the instructions on the screen. For more information or more documentation, the Plex Media Server website is the best place to go next.