MinimServer 2 Quick Start for QNAP
This page provides basic information for installing MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS, getting up and running and performing some common tasks. If you have any questions about using MinimServer 2, please post them to the MinimServer forum.
Installing MinimServer 2
MinimServer 2 supports all QNAP NAS models. To install MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS, do the following:
- Follow the instructions on the Installing MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS page. To avoid losing your current configuration settings when you do the upgrade, make sure that you don't uninstall your current version of MinimServer before installing the new version.
- When you first start MinimServer 2 after upgrading from MinimServer 0.8.5, some of your property settings from MinimServer 0.8.5 might not be active or shown in MinimWatch 2. This is because you are running MinimServer 2 Starter Edition, which has limited configurability. Your previous property settings will be enabled automatically when you activate a free 30-day trial of the full version of MinimServer 2 or when you purchase and activate a MinimServer 2 full license.
- When you first start MinimServer 2 after upgrading from MinimServer 0.8.5, MinimStreamer will not be installed. If you want to use MinimStreamer, you need to install MinimStreamer 2 by following the instructions in the Installing MinimStreamer section. Your previous MinimStreamer property settings will be migrated automatically.
- To activate a free 30-day trial of the full version of MinimServer 2, open the MinimServer 2 configuration page in a web browser by selecting the QNAP QTS main menu (3 bars in the top left corner) and clicking on the MinimServer icon. After clicking through the License page and Welcome page, select the License tab and follow the instructions there.
- For information about purchasing a MinimServer 2 full license, see this page. After purchasing the license, you need to activate it on your QNAP NAS. To do this, open the MinimServer 2 configuration page as described above, select the License tab and follow the instructions there.
Changes from MinimServer 0.8.5
MinimServer 2 creates a 'MinimServer' shared folder for log files and configuration files. This folder is not intended to be used to store your music library. This change means that MinimServer no longer creates or uses any files in the Public share of your NAS.
The 'MinimServer' shared folder is now used for MinimStreamer recordings and for installing a custom version of FFmpeg if you want to override the preinstalled version in QTS.
Configuring and managing MinimServer 2 settings using MinimWatch 2
To configure MinimServer 2 settings using MinimWatch 2, do the following:
- Install the MinimWatch 2 application on another computer on your local network (Windows, Mac or Linux). You need to use MinimWatch 2 because previous versions of MinimWatch are not compatible with MinimServer 2. MinimWatch 2 is compatible with MinimServer 2 and also with previous versions of MinimServer. For details of how to download and install MinimWatch 2, see the MinimWatch page.
- For details of how to use MinimWatch, see the Running MinimWatch section.
- For a list and descriptions of the available property settings, see the Properties reference section.
- Some MinimServer properties cannot be configured in Starter Edition (see the Starter Edition page). These properties are set to default values when you install MinimServer 2 and are greyed out in MinimWatch 2. To configure these properties, you need to either activate a MinimServer 2 free 30-day trial or purchase and activate a MinimServer 2 full license (see above). MinimWatch 2 does not require a license.
-
When you activate a MinimServer 2 free 30-day trial or full license, your saved configuration settings from MinimServer 0.8.5 will
be restored automatically and will be visible in the
MinimWatch 2 Properties window. You can then make changes to these settings if you wish.
Using the MinimServer 2 configuration web page
To use the MinimServer 2 configuration web page, do the following:
- Open the MinimServer 2 configuration page in a web browser by clicking the "three bars" icon at the top left of the QNAP QTS web page and selecting the MinimServer icon under Applications. You can also open the configuration page by opening App Center and selecting the Open action for the MinimServer icon. If you are running MinimWatch 2 (see above), you can open the MinimServer 2 configuration page by selecting Configure from the minim icon pop-up menu.
- After accepting the click-through license and reading the Welcome page, you will see the Status page. This shows the current status of MinimServer 2 and provides License and Profiles tabs for further configuration options.
-
The configuration web page does not currently allow all MinimServer property settings to be viewed and changed
as is possible from
MinimWatch 2 . The configuration web page will be enhanced to support this in a future version of MinimServer 2.
Checking the current status of MinimServer
To check the current status of MinimServer, do the following:
- Open the MinimServer configuration page as described in the previous section. This page shows the current status of MinimServer as well as any notification messages.
- Altenatively, if you are using MinimWatch on another computer to manage MinimServer (see above), you can use the MinimWatch minim icon to see the status of MinimServer. If you are running MinimWatch on Windows, the minim icon is a small musical note in your Windows system tray (taskbar notification area). You night need to view the icon overflow area (click the upward-pointing arrow) to see this icon. If you are running MinimWatch on Mac or Linux, the minim icon appears in the menu bar.
- Hover your mouse pointer over the minim icon.
- The minim icon will display a message showing the current state of MinimServer. On some versions of Linux, you need to click the minim icon instead of hovering the mouse pointer over it.
Rescanning your library after adding or removing music
To rescan your library after adding or removing music, do the following:
- Right-click the minim icon (see above) and select Rescan.
- Alternatively, click the Rescan button on the MinimServer 2 configuration web page (see above).
- While the rescan is in progress, MinimServer is not visible to UPnP control points. If you are playing music from MinimServer when the rescan starts, the music will continue to play during the rescan.
- You can check the current status of MinimServer (see above) to see when the rescan has completed.
Creating and selecting a custom browsing profile
To create a custom (user-configured) profile for browsing your library, do the following:
- To do this, you need to have activated a free 30-day trial or a full license (see above).
- Configure the property settings that you want to save as a custom profile.
- From the MinimServer 2 configuration web page (see above), select the Profiles tab followed by the Create tab.
- In the 'New profile' field, type the name of the profile that you want to create, then click the 'Create Profile' button.
- The newly created profile will contain your current property settings. It will appear in the list of available profiles and will become your current active profile.
To select a custom (user-configured) profile for browsing your library, do the following:
- To do this, you need to have activated a free 30-day trial or a full license (see above).
- From the MinimServer 2 configuration web page (see above), select the Profiles tab. The Select tab will automatically be selected below the Profiles tab.
- Select any of the available profile choices and click the 'Select Profile' button.
- The new profile will be selected and MinimServer will restart. When the restart has completed, the new profile will be active.
- You can check the current status of MinimServer (see above) to see when the restart has completed.
Updating MinimServer
To check for and install a new version of MinimServer, do the following:
-
Right-click the minim icon (see above) and select About, then click the 'Show updates' button.
If a new version is available you will see a message telling you this.
Note: You might see a message saying that an update is available. This is an online update (see below), not a new version. To install the online update, follow the prompts from the About dialog.
- Alternatively, view the MinimServer configuration web page (see above) to see if there is a message saying that a new version is available.
- To install a new version, follow the instructions on the Installing MinimServer 2 on a QNAP NAS page. You don't need to uninstall the current version before installing the new version.
- Some minor updates are installed automatically as online updates when MinimServer starts. For this, the QNAP NAS running MinimServer needs to have internet access.
Viewing the MinimServer log
To view the MinimServer log, do the following:
- Right-click the MinimWatch minim icon (see above), and select 'Show log'.
- Alternatively, use File Station to open the MinimServer shared folder and view the minimserver.log file.
Installing MinimStreamer
To install the optional MinimStreamer component, do the following:
- To install and run MinimStreamer, you need to either purchase and activate a full license or activate a free 30-day trial. To activate the license or free trial, select the License tab from the MinimServer configuration web page and follow the instructions there.
- In MinimWatch 2, select Properties from the minim icon, then select the Packages tab and follow the prompts to install MinimStreamer.
- If MinimStreamer is not shown as an available package, this probably means you have not activated a free 30-day trial or full license.
- For details of how to do use MinimStreamer, see the MinimStreamer User guide.
- Some transcoding settings require FFmpeg to be installed. QNAP QTS has FFmpeg preinstalled but this is an older version that lacks support for some features that were added more recently.
- If you would like to use a newer version of FFmpeg, you can download an FFmpeg static build from this page. You need to download the static build that matches the system platform for your QNAP model and QTS version. To find the system platform, see the start of the MinimServer log. For a system platform of linux-x64, use the amd64 version; for linux-x86, use the i686 version; for linux-arm64, use the arm64 version; for linux-armv7, use the armhf version; and for linux-armv5, use the armel version.
-
Adter you have downloaded the static build, extract the ffmpeg executable file
from the downloaded archive and copy this file into the
opt/binsubfolder of the MinimServer shared folder. MinimStreamer will use this file in preference to the default QTS version of FFmpeg. You don't need any of the other files in the archive.
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.
Stopping and starting MinimServer
To stop MinimServer, open App Center and select the Stop action from the MinimServer icon drop-down menu.
To start MinimServer when it is stopped, open App Center and select the Start action for the MinimServer icon.
Uninstalling MinimServer
To uninstall MinimServer, follow the instructions in the Uninstalling MinimServer 2 section.
Help and support
To get help and support, post your question to the MinimServer forum.