Installing MinimServer 2 on QNAP NAS models 109, 209 and 409
Table of contents
Installing or updating MinimServer 2
Setting up MinimServer 2
Startup problems
Uninstalling MinimServer 2
The instructions on this page tell you how to install and update MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS model 109, 209 or 409 (all variants) running firmware level 3.3.3. For other QNAP models, please refer to the instructions on the Installing MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS page.
Installing or updating MinimServer 2
Note: If you are currently running MinimServer 0.8, don't uninstall MinimServer before you install MinimServer 2. If you uninstall MinimServer 0.8, you will lose any MinimServer configuration settings that you've created.
- Check the model number and firmware version of your QNAP NAS. The instructions in this section apply only to models 109, 209 and 409 with firmware 3.3.3 installed. If the firmware on your NAS is older than this, update your NAS to this firmware level before proceeding.
- Login to the QNAP administration user interface.
- Open the QPKG Plugins page. If a package named JRE or JRE_ARM is already installed and its version number is less than 8.0.1, remove this package and follow steps 4 and 5 below to reinstall Java. If there is a JRE_ARM package with a version number of 8.0.1 or higher, make sure the package is enabled (the icon should be orange, not grey) and continue with step 6 below.
- Download the file JRE_ARM_8.0.1.zip and extract the file JRE_ARM_8.0.1.qpkg from the .zip file.
- From the QPKG Plugins page, manually install the JRE_ARM .qpkg file that you extracted in the previous step. The version number of the installed package should be 8.0.1. Check that the JRE_ARM package is enabled (the icon should be orange, not grey).
- If you don't already have the NPTL package installed, download the file NPTL-0.20-arm-x09.qpkg and use the QPKG Plugins page to manually install this .qpkg file. Check that the NPTL package is enabled (the icon should be blue, not grey).
- On the MinimServer 2 Downloads page, find the QNAP row in the table of MinimServer downloads and click the download link for ARMv5.
- Accept the license and download the package file. The package file is .
- Use the QPKG Plugins page to manually install this .qpkg file. Check that the MinimServer package is enabled (the icon should be green, not grey).
- Click the "Web page" link for the MinimServer package. If you get a license dialog, review the license terms and accept them. The MinimServer 2 welcome page should be displayed in your web browser. Click through this page to the MinimServer 2 configuration page.
- For information about setting up MinimServer, see the Setting up MinimServer 2 section.
- For a brief overview of how to use MinimServer 2 and perform a number of common tasks, see the Quick start for QNAP page.
Setting up MinimServer 2
- If you've followed the installation steps for Java and MinimServer successfully, the MinimServer 2 configuration page should be displayed in your web browser and you should be able to see MinimServer as a UPnP server from a UPnP control point. If not, go to "System Logs" from the QNAP administration page and check whether there's an error message from MinimServer. If the system log doesn't show any MinimServer errors, see the Startup problems section for further suggestions.
- The QPKG installer sets the initial content directory to /share/Multimedia or /share/Qmultimedia, depending on your model of QNAP NAS. The content directory is the top-level directory that contains your music files. If the default setting matches the location of your music library, you should be able to browse and play the contents of your music library in a UPnP control point.
-
If your music files are in some other location, you can use the MinimServer configuration
page in your web browser to enter a different content directory location and click
the Update button to activate this setting.
To find the correct path to enter for the content directory location,
open Web File Manager from the QNAP administration page and right-click on the root folder of your music library.
Note the file path shown on the
Copy:selection at the top of the menu and use this file path preceded by '/share'. For example, if the Web File Manager menu showsCopy:/MyMusic, you need to enter/share/MyMusic. - MinimServer 2 creates a 'MinimServer' shared folder on your NAS) containing various configuration and log files. It's a good idea to check the minimserver.log file in this folder to see if there are any warning or error messages about problems found by MinimServer while scanning your music files. A warning in the log means that MinimServer has found something wrong with a file, but has been able to read the file and make it available for browsing and playing. An error in the log means that MinimServer wasn't able to read the file. If you see a message you don't understand, you can get help by creating a new thread in the MinimServer support forum as described on the Support page.
- If you want to install the latest MinimServer updates, add more content directories or change MinimServer configuration settings, you need to install MinimWatch 2 on another computer (Windows, Mac or Linux) on your local network. MinimWatch also provides a convenient way to monitor the status of MinimServer and view the MinimServer log. You can find instructions for installing MinimWatch 2 on the MinimWatch page.
- If you have updated from MinimServer 0.8 to MinimServer 2, some of your configuration properties in MinimWatch might be missing or greyed out. To restore any missing properties and enable all features previously available in MinimServer 0.8, select the License tab of the MinimServer configuration page and activate a trial license or full license as described in this section. You might also need to reinstall the MinimStreamer package (see the Installing MinimStreamer section).
- If this is a new MinimServer installation, it will be running as MinimServer 2 Starter Edition with limited functionality and some configuration settings disabled (see the Starter Edition page). To use all features and configuration settings of MinimServer 2, you need to activate a trial license or full license as described in this section.
- If you have updated from MinimServer 0.8 to MinimServer 2, some of your configuration properties in MinimWatch might be missing or greyed out. To restore any missing properties and enable all features previously available in MinimServer 0.8, select the License tab of the MinimServer configuration page and activate a trial or full license as described in this section.
- MinimServer will continue to run while the NAS is powered on and will restart automatically when the NAS is restarted.
- You can disable MinimServer from the QPKG Plugins page. This stops MinimServer immediately and prevents MinimServer from starting when the NAS is restarted. MinimServer is still installed on the NAS, and you can re-enable it at any time from the QPKG Plugins page.
- For a brief overview of how to use MinimServer 2 and perform a number of common tasks, see the Quick start for QNAP page.
Startup problems
If you can't see MinimServer in a UPnP control point after MinimServer has been installed and enabled, here are some suggestions that may be helpful.- If you have a large music library, it can take some time for MinimServer to complete its initial scan. MinimServer won't be visible to UPnP conrol points until this scan has finished. You can check this by clicking the "Web page" link for the MinimServer package. If this page loads successfully, the Status tab shows the current status of MinimServer (Media server status). If this status is 'starting', MinimServer is still performing its initial scan. This status doesn't refresh automatically after the page has been loaded, so you need to click the 'Refresh status' button to be sure you are seeing the current status.
- If the MinimServer configuration page doesn't load, this means MinimServer isn't running. Check the log files in the 'MinimServer' shared folder for any error messages.
- If the MinimServer configuration page loads successfully and shows an error message, correct the error if possible and restart MinimServer by disabling MinimServer from the QPKG Plugins page, then re-enabling MinimServer.
- If the MinimServer configuration page loads successfully and doesn't show an error, leave MinimServer enabled and restart the NAS.
- If none of these steps has fixed the problem, submit a problem report as described on the Support page. When describing the problem, please say which of the above steps you have tried and what the results were.
Uninstalling MinimServer 2
- If you have activated a MinimServer 2 full license on your QNAP NAS, you should deactivate this license before uninstalling MinimServer 2. This frees up the license activation for use on any other devices you have. You don't need to do this if you intend to reinstall MinimServer 2 on the same QNAP NAS. You won't be able to do this deactivation after MinimServer 2 has been uninstalled.
- To deactivate the license, open the MinimServer 2 configuration page by going to the App Center page and clicking the Open button for the MinimServer package. Select the License tab followed by Deactivate full license and follow the prompts. You need an active internet connection to deactivate the license.
- To uninstall MinimServer 2, go to the QPKG Plugins page and remove the MinimServer 2 package. This will stop MinimServer if it's running and will uninstall the MinimServer package from the NAS. It will not remove the MinimServer shared folder.
- The MinimServer shared folder contains various files used by MinimServer including your MinimServer configuration settings. If you might want to reinstall MiniMServer in the future, you are advised not to remove this folder.
- If you are sure that you do not want to reinstall MinimServer in the future, you can remove the MinimServer shared folder and the files that it contains.