How to Setup a Plex Server on the Nvidia Shield TV with External Storage 

Still holds up to this day, thanks man. Here are some issues I came across and how I fixed them: Plex Media Failed to Setup: I went on the web page and removed the server, when setting up the server on the Plex/Shield again I UNTICKED the box that asked if it wanted to create library folders for me. app plex tv is unable to connect to SHIELD: I stopped using the html web page and downloaded the Plex app for Windows (or Mac) - on initial launch/sign in it will give you a list of the folders on the Shield, remove what you wish but make sure to follow the steps in this video to add the folder with your media. Lastly, enjoy your movies!

Ok, I’m convinced. I’ve tried other options and now I’m ready. No more buffering, no more unsupported codecs. I’m going to get the shield pro next time I’ve got funds.

I have this video bookmarked and over the last 2 years used time after time when i have a problem with plex and it has saved me several times to check if there are errors with my plex on my nvida and computer . Thanks again from The Netherlands for making this video and making plex understandeble for me !!

Thank you for the best and most in depth reviews on RU-vid. Really good stuff

I've had 3 of these things now and this is by far the best...have no idea whats happening with the hardware reporting it the exact same as the the previous Shield TV...But i find this one to be faster around the menus, everything much smoother and Plex has been the best it has ever been for me...i used to get crashes on the others. It would also take ages to start a movie. This one just seems to be perfect.

Thank you for this. Years later, still extremely helpful!

I ran my Nvidia Shield as a PLEX Server with an 8TB Seagate external drive with 2 Streams running simultaneously for just over a year with NO issues. I just needed more space for stuff and went to a Win 10 Server with 48TB, because you can never have enough space! = )

I just came by to say how much I appreciate your video and instructions. I was a fool for running back and forth with the usb cable to add and remove media.... lol your method is going to be a game changer for me. Really grateful.

Excellent. I was struggling with this setup. The info at Plex was very confusing but this was straightforward and easy to follow. Thanks!

This is perfect timing for me... new shield is coming and I was thinking about doing this

Thank you so much! I just got an Nvidia Shield Pro primarily to set it up as a Plex server but had no idea what to do. Your video helped me to do just that, plus network it to my PC. Thanks again. Your video was spectacular and easy to follow, plus you have a good on screen presence. This was just what I needed, thanks.

Excellent video. Transfering files to external storage attached to Shield via local network is so slow.

Thank you so much! A marvellous video tutorial. I started with zero knowledge, but with your help, I’ve successfully configured and mapped Plex to the Shield. Thanks once again.

I definitely recommend not setting up external drive as internal storage. If you do, you’ll have to reformat it if you connect it to a pc

Thanks a lot for the details explanations, it helped me. A quick update: Just got my shield and after setting up Plex I would see yellow sign next to the server. I had to update my media server on the shield via the google store. Simply type plex in google store and go to similar applications and then update. Everything works fine now thanks to the video.

Thanks. This was simple and to the point, and most importantly, it saved me the time to get the folder name, etc... on my own. I especially appreciated your important reminder that the Nvidia Shield pro will find it difficult to run the PMS and play games at the same time. The mounting of the external HD was relatively intuitive, but I do wish you could have shown how to mount external storage on the network. Some comments have mentioned a NAS, which may not be so difficult, if you know how to set the IP address of the NAS to static on a router. For me, I'm considering adding storage directly to my router, because it seems convenient; but, at the same time, it might more challenging. (It might also be the wrong decision for my LAN.) Anyway, thanks again.

Thank you for the information on how to add new tv show and movies to the mass storage device. Best explanation yet. A little fast but I was able to stop and go as needed. Great instructional video

Never knew the SHIELD TV updated their Plex server data files to be able to move off drive. Needed that a few years ago before I abandoned the idea of running my Plex server off my 2017 unit. Still made the right move in building a unRaid tower for it, but would have been an option. Great review and tutorial!

Thanks so much for updating this, Lon. I bought my Nvidia Shield and first HDHome run because of you. I've recently done some drive things that didn't quite work as I expected and this helped clear it up. Nice job!

AWESOME! After spending most of the day on this, found your video and I'm finally done. I'm obviously NOT tech savvy, your video really helped!!!

Amazing video! Anytime I recommend the Shield TV to a friend for Plex purposes, Im always sure to share this video as well. Super informative and relevant today, even with it being two years since it was first uploaded. Thank you for making this. Truly!

This is without doubt the best info on how to load your content. Really well done mate . Great info and thanks for your time and hard work. Hello from Australia.

Woah, I didn't know I could put my data on the Nvidia Shield folder to access it via my network (duh). I have been plugging and unplugging my drive back and forth to add movies. Now I know why I am breaking the server when I unplug it when I had the meta data on it. Guess I will put it on another drive bc the Shield was filling up when I moved it back. Until I get a NAS this is a work around at least. Thank you sooo much.

Thank you!! This is exactly what I was looking for. Great job! I also love the wall of nostalgia behind you. I hit subscribe

My 4tb drive had to be replaced. Lighting storms and 5 years of use, I need to replace with a 5tb drive. I would LOVE a TIme to INCREASE your plex server External Storage Video from start to finish. Good luck I am on day 3. It is a Pain. But thank you for your videos. You speak well and articulate your instructions effectively!

I wish I had watched this right when I bought my Shield. It would have saved a lot of digging and trial and error work!

Legend this method still works perfectly thank you

Finally a thorough how-to. Thank you!

Good to hear that you said a NAS or a PC would be a better Plex Server. 100% agree !!!!!!

You are my new hero, just saved the day (week and year), everything went smooth after watching your video. Thank you :)

To make moving files easier, you can create a new network location from the Windows Explorer. Located to the nvidia shields folder on that ip

Well done. I just picked up the Shield Pro and this video really helped with the Plex setup....Thx

Thank you! Just what I have been looking for to get my plex server running via my shield.

I wasted a week to create optimized version within my USB drive. Ah.... files should be in the specific folder to write the converted file !!! Thanks a lot for this video !!!

Thank you so much for this. Side note: I bought the WD Easy Share 8TB and it's not formatted for Mac I had to change it now I am able to read and write. Took me awhile to figure that out but other than that your tutorial was awesome!!!!

Super job on explaining things on this video. Awesome job! Thank you!

Thank you so much, you really taught me everything I needed to know. Getting everything set up was out of my tech skills, and this made it so much easier! Well done!

Very cool setup and detailed video. 15:50 Nvidia shield now supports SMB 3 protocol I think that step not be required anymore.

Best video on setting the plex up on the Shield. How can I set the Shield up to direct play on the Shield without transcoding?

Great, great video. I would have been absolutely lost without it.

Thanks Lon for the file transfer info from computer to external on Nvidia Shield TV worked perfect...keep up the great videos.

Great video, helped me get my plex server running in my 2017 shield! Network transfers working a treat!

Older video but very helpful. I have a QNAP NAS but with an ARM cpu so the Shield makes a better PLEX server than my NAS especially if transcoding is required. Thank you!

Thank you Lon! This was a perfect walkthrough and got me up and running without a problem. You rock!!!

Trick or treat? This is definitely a treat.

Thanks for another clear & concise “How to” on the nVidia PLEX server… would also like you to show us how to add/configure the OpenSubtiles srt-grabber (and how to use it once it’s setup.) I did this when running KODI, but can’t grok it on PLEX. Thanks again!

Note: If you connect an external drive to expand storage when this is already enabled, you will need to turn storage access off then on again so the new drive is available on the network

AWESOME tutorial Lon. LOved it. very informative. I mght think about adding a Shield Pro to my list of things to get for my Home Theater. Right now just using my MYCloud EX2 Ultra for music (FLAC) streamig but I dont really do the video thing as I have my blurays when I need to play them so not a big deal. my MyCloud isnt powerful enough for movie hardware transcoding but thats cool if the Shield is and I can also use it as a game machine to play those old school retro games. I already have a PS4 and a Roku Ultra for movie streaming services but the Shield is nice as well. WIll have to save up. Keep up all the great amazing tutorials you do on your channel. One of the best of all time for sure!

Hi! A bit late here. But quick question: instead of using an external hard drive, can we configure the Shield to get files from a home FreeNAS server?

Wow this was a really great, in-depth setup guide. Awesome!

Thanks for the detailed setup info. I was struggling a bit with my Shield I just bought.

Thank you for making this video, i am vision impaired and learning as i go , i have switch to LINUX , as in arch-linux and wanted to setup plex , and came accross this video and allso have a 2017 nvidia shiels so i followed your video and i was succesfull in setting up my plex server using a 4TB external drive evertthing was going great intill the part ,,, to add media to the drive with out unplugin it ,, the instrutions to do so on the video, you was using a windows computer, do you have a video giving instrutions for LINUX i have tryed , and have been unsuccesfull can you lead me in the right dirrection

This was such a great help and very detailed. I was able to setup my server super fast with the help of your video. Thanks

Hi Lon, can you do a follow up where the DB is on the external drive but the media is on your NAS , maybe using NFS? Thanks

Thank you! I watch alot of your videos. They're always informative and interesting but this was extremely helpful and worked perfectly.

Thank you so much for video, Ive had to come back and re-watch it several times, its been very helpful!! Subscribed!

Thank you for making this setup so easy even fot a techno dunce like myself

Beautifully explained! Thanks mate!

Thank you for the concise details! Looks like it is easier to stick with the old NAS for now.

Pretty cool! I am currently setting up my plex server to be used on my ps4, and apple tv.

Very informative. It's commendable the way you elaborate things. Stay happy and blessed

WTF, we're less than a week away from 2020, and the Nvidia Shield still requires use of SMB v1?

Is there a way to move an existing server to the shield? Or to replicate it, I guess.

Great video, thanks, but I think I got 1 step wrong. To save the Meta data only the Plex Media Server shows, no other device

Lon, It (the Shield) does now! Support MKV and FLAC. They have a new player now with an audio pass-through

How was I unsubscribed.... What is going on Yt? Well of course i'm back, re-subbed ... Lon keep posting the great videos! Even though this is old, your video helped me w the plex server years later after i've owned my pro since 2019, Thanks again.

Wow great video! You explained everything I needed to know and then some. I'm thinking more of a NAS setup though and using the external HDD for game storage for my retro gaming on the nvidia shield. But I will probably go this route first and see if i like it! Thanks again you just got another sub!

Very clear and straightforward no more blah blah blah

Really good...worked myself carefully through the whole process.

It should be noted that the newest nVidia Shield doesn’t have an SD card slot. It does have two USB slots though, so you should be able to attach a USB stick and format that as internal storage to keep the database on. That way you can sneakernet the drive to add more files instead of using the network.

Thanks a lot man. You are no doubt a great tech teacher. You definitely earn my sub. Great content..thankz

Thank you for this video, this was really helpful setting it up for me!

Important to note that you can map the Nvidia Shield as a Network Drive so you don’t need to enter the IP, Username, and Password every single time. Also, SMB3 support will be added in the next Shield update which is far more secure and won’t need you to tick that box in Windows.

The reason the smallest new shield cant run the plex server is because it runs only in 32 bit while the pro runs in 64 bit. Also another solution to add content to the plex server might be using the option to mount a network drive onto the shield. That way you can mount a shared folder from a NAS/Windows share to easy have the content on 1 location.

Many thanks, a wonderful informative video that does exactly what it says......... just wish I'd watched it sooner and would have saved many hours of frustration.

Can you please do a video on how to move a database from the old shield to the new shield to start a new Plex server with the same metadata

Great video man!, a lot of needed detail so I can get the most out of my Shield. Thanks!

Is that a zx spectrum behind you? Awesome collection... Also thanks for the amazing in depth video... :)

Thanks very much for a really helpful tutorial. In my haste i was turning things on off and got in a right mess. Reset Nvidia and plex and followed tutorial and BOOM. Happy man about to put his BluRay discs in the loft :-) My Mrs can get the airing cupboard back lol

WOW!!!!! Thank you so so so much!! Made everything nice and simple... Shine On

Great video and great explanations. I am sold on the Nvidia pro.

Appreciate the video. Great job. Easy to follow

Amazing. I really admire the great work on this channel. Thank you.

Any idea how many concurrent 1080p streams the Shield can handle?

I don't understand why they haven't updated the shield to use SMBv3 yet.

This option is no longer available when I launch plex on my shield ever since the latest update where they made plex a standard app that comes with the shield. Does anyone know how to set up a media server on the shield as of the latest update?

Thank you this was simple & very informative.

Thank you soooo much for this clear and thorough set up video. The Windows 10 part would have cost me hours or research. Enjoying my Shield. :-)

ANTIC... nice, great podcast. Reminds me I need to get my Atari 8-bit back out this fall.

I stopped my Plex server to revive the HDD. When connect the HDD and went back to enable the Plex server there was no such option on settings. It has the Plex media server section but the options below it are gone. How do I restart the Plex server on my NVIDIA Shield Pro?

Was trying to move some music media over to the usb stick that plex is using but have not figured it out yet on Linux Mint. In the meantime...I have a powered usb hub that the plex stick is on and I just copy what I want onto another drive...plug it in and then copy the media over to the plex stick for now. 12:44 I removed mine without shutting down and it does corrupt the data and I had to start it over. I also noticed that when running a vpn the server shuts down. So I've learned that if I'm going to take out the drive...shut down my vpn, THEN shut down the server, then remove the drive.

Can you use Google drive for tv and movies on plex?

I have got the 2017 Shield and I can't find in Plex setting there where I can change the storage in the settings my server is running and I tried to reset my Shield still the same can you tell me what I am doing wrong thank's ????????????????????

I set up Plex on my Nvidia Shield, and it is working great. I had the meta data put on the HD with the videos. If I take the NS to our cabin in New Mexico, where we don't have internet, will it still show the movies and the data for the movies there? It didn't seem to work. Is there some setting that needs to be changed for it to work w/o internet? Thanks

Great video! I'll probably use a SD card for the server data storage and an external drive for the media files.

Hi. I got a problem. I tried to move my pms to my external storage. But in the PMS data storage location, I don't see any External Drive Name option. It only showed Internal System storage location and Internal user accessible storage location. Ive tried alot of ways by reinstall PMS, tried different external drive, but still .. failed .. i dont want my media to store in the jnternal shield storage. Please help me.

No Plex server on the cylinder and I assume no free setup using the Google Channel App and external (now microSD card) storage?

I experience bugs when going through this process on both the Plex Media Server and Player Nvidia Shield apps. But, to solve the bugs, I just cleared all the data for those apps and started the process from the beginning.

Good video as always. One question. I bought a My Passport 2 TB storage. Not sure if it needs to be formatted. I will use my Mac to accress the server most of the time. Also how do a direct the apps on thee Video to be stored on the external drive.

Hi when I go to add storage location on the desktop there is only an option for sd card my hardive does not get picked up and is plugged into the shield everything is running anyone got any help here?