The guide shows how to pull the official Plex Media Server onto an Arch Linux system so you can host a slick, self‑managed media hub at home. After updating your rolling distribution and installing base‑devel, git, wget, and an AUR helper, it fetches the plex‑media‑server package from the community repository; this builds the binary with proper ownership and installs a ready‑to‑use systemd unit. Once the service is enabled at boot, you can inspect its status, open port 32400 in your firewall, and use logs under /var/log/plex to resolve common library errors that crop up after kernel upgrades. Finally the walkthrough teaches you how to create a media folder owned by the plex user, point Plex’s web interface to it, and optionally override defaults so caches stay outside /var/lib, making future updates with yay‑Syu effortless.

How to Install Plex Media Server on Arch Linux

Want a slick, self‑hosted media hub that runs natively on your Arch box? This walk‑through shows exactly how to pull the official Plex server into your system, get the service running, and tweak a few settings so it behaves like home‑grown software.

Prepare the System

1. Update everything – Arch is rolling; a fresh kernel often changes library versions that Plex depends on.

   sudo pacman -Syu
   

2. Install required tools – You'll need wget or curl to fetch the installer, and an AUR helper (yay, paru, etc.) if you prefer installing straight from the community package.

   sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel git wget
   

Grab Plex From the Official Repository (AUR)

The most reliable way to stay on top of updates is using the official AUR package plex-media-server. It pulls directly from the Plex site and builds a minimal, systemd‑friendly binary.

yay -S plex-media-server

Why not just download a .tar.xz? The build script ensures the correct ownership (the dedicated plex user) and sets up the service unit for you. It also makes future upgrades trivial – just run yay -Syu.

Enable and Start the Service

Plex runs as its own systemd unit (plexmediaserver.service). Enabling it at boot is a one‑liner:

sudo systemctl enable --now plexmediaserver

You can check status with:

systemctl status plexmediaserver

If the service stalls, look for error logs in /var/log/plex. A common hiccup occurs after kernel upgrades; Plex sometimes tries to use outdated libc libraries. Reinstalling (or restarting) usually clears that.

Open Ports and Configure Firewalls

Plex listens on TCP 32400 by default. If you’re behind UFW or another firewall, allow it:

sudo ufw allow 32400/tcp # Ubuntu/Arch with ufw

Or use firewalld:

sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=32400/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Set Up Your Media Library

1. Create a shared folder that Plex can read.

   sudo mkdir -p /srv/media
   sudo chown plex:plex /srv/media
   

2. Tell Plex where to look by editing the settings in its web interface (http://localhost:32400/web).
   Add the /srv/media path under “Libraries” → “Add Library.”

No need for complicated ACLs; just give the plex user read/write access to the folders you want to stream.

Optional Tweaks

If you want Plex to store its cache elsewhere or change the default config location, drop an override file:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/plexmediaserver.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
Environment=PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_USER=plex
Environment=PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_HOME=/srv/media
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/bin/plexmediaserver --home-dir $PLEX_MEDIA_SERVER_HOME
EOF
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart plexmediaserver

This keeps your media out of /var/lib, which is handy if you’re using a separate SSD for storage.

What I’ve Seen Happen

After a major Arch update that bumped glibc to 2.36, my Plex server would launch but immediately throw “library unavailable” errors. Restarting the service after reinstalling pulled in the new library and everything fell into place. The AUR package’s rebuild script is lifesaver for these odd kernel‑upgrade quirks.