How to Install Plex Media Server on Linux Mint 21

Plex is a popular media server software that allows you to organize, manage, and stream your personal media library to various devices. With Plex, you can access your movies, TV shows, music, photos, and more from any device.

In this comprehensive guide, I will walk you through the steps to install Plex Media Server on Linux Mint 21.

Prerequisites

Before installing Plex, make sure your Linux Mint 21 system meets the following requirements:

• A computer with at least Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent processor
• At least 2 GB RAM
• Enough disk space to store your media files (at least 20 GB is recommended)
• A dedicated GPU is recommended for hardware accelerated video encoding and streaming

Step 1 – Update System Packages

First, we need to update the package index and upgrade any outdated packages using the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

This ensures we have the latest packages installed before proceeding.

Step 2 – Add Plex Repository

Next, we will add the official Plex repository using the command:

echo deb https://downloads.plex.tv/repo/deb public main | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/plexmediaserver.list

This will add the repository details to the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory.

Step 3 – Import Plex GPG Key

Now import the GPG key to verify the packages from the Plex repository:

curl https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-keys/PlexSign.key | sudo apt-key add -

You should see an "OK" message after running the command successfully.

Step 4 – Update Package Index

Before installing Plex Media Server, we need to update the package index again:

sudo apt update

Step 5 – Install Plex Media Server

We are now ready to install the latest version of Plex Media Server by typing:

sudo apt install plexmediaserver

The installation process will take a few minutes to complete.

Step 6 – Start Plex Media Server

Once installed, start the Plex Media Server service using the following command:

sudo systemctl start plexmediaserver

To auto start Plex Media Server when your system boots:

sudo systemctl enable plexmediaserver

Step 7 – Open Plex Web App

You can now access the Plex web app by visiting http://server_ip:32400/web in your web browser.

Replace "server_ip" with the IP address of your Linux Mint system. You will be asked to sign in or create a new Plex account.

Final Thoughts

That‘s it! Plex Media Server is now installed and running on your Linux Mint 21 system. You can now start adding media from your local storage and access them from anywhere.

Plex makes it easy to manage all your personal media. With tons of cool features like automatically fetching metadata, posters, streaming to devices, and more – it‘s the ultimate media server software.