Installing MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS
Table of contents
Installing or updating MinimServer 2
Installing MinimServer 2 using manual install
QNAP models and processor types
Setting up MinimServer 2
Startup problems
Running MinimServer 2 in a Docker or LXC container
Uninstalling MinimServer 2
The instructions on this page are for installing and updating MinimServer 2 on all QNAP NAS models except models 109, 209 and 409. For these models, please refer to the instructions on the Installing MinimServer 2 on QNAP NAS models 109, 209 and 409 page.
Installing or updating MinimServer 2
[NEW] If you are running MinimServer 2.1 or 2.1.2, the simplest way to update to MinimServer is to use the new "update install." For details, see the Update install section.
Alternatively, you can install MinimServer using manual install by following the instructions in the next section. A manual install is needed because MinimServer is not yet available in the QNAP App Center.
Installing MinimServer 2 using manual install
Note 1: If you are currently running MinimServer 0.8, don't uninstall MinimServer 0.8 before you install MinimServer 2. If you uninstall MinimServer 0.8, you will lose any MinimServer configuration settings you've created.
Note 2: If you are currently running MinimWatch 0.8, you need to update to MinimWatch 2 before installing MinimServer 2. See the MinimWatch page for details.
- If you aren't running the latest level of QTS that is available for your NAS, update QTS to this level.
- Login to the QNAP QTS desktop and launch App Center.
- If the JRE (not JRE_ARM) package isn't installed, select Developer Tools and install the JRE package. MinimServer is written in Java and the JRE package must be installed before installing MinimServer.
- Select My Apps and check the JRE package is enabled (the JRE icon in My Apps should be orange, not grey). If the icon is grey, click Start.
- On the MinimServer 2 Downloads page, find the QNAP row in the table of MinimServer downloads and click the download link (Intel, ARMv8, ARMv7 or ARMv5) for your QNAP model (see the list of models and processor types).
- Accept the license and download the package file. For Intel, the package file is . For ARMv8, the package file is . For ARMv7, the package file is . For ARMv5, the package file is .
- Use the App Center "Install Manually" button to install the package file you downloaded in the previous step. This button is near the top right-hand corner of the App Center window and looks like four small squares overlaid by a + inside a circle.
- Select My Apps and check the MinimServer package is running (the MinimServer icon in My Apps should be green, not grey). If the icon is grey, click Start.
- From My Apps, click the Open button for the MinimServer package. If you get a license dialog, review the license terms and accept them. If the MinimServer 2 welcome page is displayed in your web browser, click through this page. You should now see the MinimServer 2 configuration page in your web browser.
- Check My Apps to see if the JRE_ARM package (not JRE) is installed. If the JRE_ARM package is installed, remove it. This package was used by some older versions of MinimServer but it is now obsolete and no longer needed.
- For more information about how to get up and running with MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS, see the MinimServer 2 Quick Start for QNAP page.
QNAP models and processor types
If you're doing a manual install of MinimServer, you need to know the processor type for your QNAP model. This isn't necessary if you're installing using the MinimServer icon in App Center.
The QNAP model numbers with Intel processors are 239, 251, 253, 259, 262, 264, 269, 351, 364, 400, 410, 411, 439, 451, 453, 459, 462, 463, 464, 469, 470, 471, 472, 473, 474, 509, 559, 563, 569, 639, 651, 653, 659, 664, 669, 670, 671, 672, 673, 674, 675, 677, 682, 686. 809, 839, 851, 853, 859, 863, 864, 869, 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 877, 879, 880, 882, 883, 886, 973, 977, 1079, 1080, 1083, 1090, 1253, 1263, 1264, 1269, 1270, 1273, 1277, 1279, 1280, 1282, 1283, 1288, 1290, 1580, 1582, 1640, 1655, 1673, 1677, 1679, 1680, 1683, 1685, 1686, 1688, 16489, 1879, 1885, 1886, 1887, 2287, 2477, 2479, 2480, 2483, 2486, 2489, 2490, 2888, 3085, 3087 and 3088.
Note: Some of the models in the above list have AMD processors. These models are Intel-compatible and use the Intel version of MinimServer.
The QNAP model numbers with ARMv8 processors are 128A, 130, 133, 228A, 230, 233, 332, 432, 433, 435, 832, 932 and 1232.
The QNAP model numbers with ARMv7 processors are 128 (not 128A), 131K, 131P, 228 (not 228A), 231K, 231P, 231P2, 231P3, 231+, 328, 332, 431K, 431KX, 431P, 431P2, 431P3, 431X, 431+, 531, 831, 1231 and 1635.
The QNAP model numbers with ARMv5 processors are 109, 110, 112, 119, 120, 121, 131 (not 131K and 131P), 209, 210, 212, 219, 220, 221, 231 (not 231K, 231P, 231P2, 231P3 and 231+), 409, 410, 412, 419, 420, 421 and 431 (not 431K, 431P, 431P2, 431P3 and 431+).
Note: Some of the models in the above list have ARMv7 processors but use a version of QTS that requires the ARMv5 version of MinimServer.
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 File Station in QTS 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 File Station menu showsCopy:
/My
Music
, you need to enter/share/My
Music
. - 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 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 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.
- 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 App Center by selecting My Apps and clicking Stop from the drop-down menu for the MinimServer icon. 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 App Center by selecting My Apps and clicking Start for the MinimServer icon.
- 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 going to My Apps and clicking the Open button 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 App Center 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.
Running MinimServer 2 in a Docker or LXC container
For QNAP models that support QNAP Container Station, you can run MinimServer 2 in a Docker or LXC container on your Synology NAS. This enables you to run multiple instances of MinimServer with different configuration settings. These instances can share the same music library. For more information, see Running MinimServer 2 in a Docker container on a QNAP NAS and Running MinimServer 2 in an LXC container on a QNAP NAS.
Uninstalling MinimServer 2
To uninstall MinimServer 2 from your QNAP NAS, do the following:
- 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 App Center 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 from your QNAP NAS, go to App Center 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 you do not want to reinstall MinimServer in the future, you can remove the MinimServer shared folder and the files it contains.