edit: got nonsense errors, when it loses the files it says that the player is incompatible, a library re-scan fixes it though, can be installed through APT. Jellyfin: requires X11 to be installed, the web UI is very close to Plex's and worked 1st try, and allows custom named library, that neither UMS or Plex seems to do, or at least not that i could find easily. MediaPortal: seems Windows only, so could not go further Kodi: for some reasons included in all the media servers list online, could not find how to set it up as an headless server Gerbera: requires X11 to be installed, very bare-bone web UI, at least when using the version from the default apt repo, no player or configuration assistant, only a file browser, can be installed through APT. minidlna: extremely minimalist, only a DLNA/uPnP server, does not have a web app but works rather well, edit: i only tested on my PC, it actually also requires X11 and Wayland even though it is only a gui-less server (explanation i got is that it uses FFPMEG), can be installed through APT. Universal Media Server: works pretty well, the web app fails on empty categories and OGG files (treats them as videos) though and the UI can be improved but is better than Plex at understanding what that it is a server and with library scanning.

Plex MS: works very well when it does, required 3 reboots before understanding it was a server and not a rendered though, can be installed through APT. Honestly i rather have something opensource and only tried Plex because a friend of mine had problem with it on his windows machine and asked me to try on linux before he went that way.

do you have any suggestions of others to try, or ways of making those that do not do? Hello, i have started experimenting with media servers on VMs so far i have managed to get Plex MS, UMS and minidlna to work, the snag with all the others is that my servers are headless.

Universal media server linux