If you experience repeated crashing of Plex Media Server on Windows, it may be caused by interference from DLLs installed by other programs (most commonly malware or adware).
Symptoms
Typical symptoms will include:
- The Plex icon unexpectedly disappears from your System Tray
Plex Media Server.exedisappears from the Processes list in your Task Manager- This occurs repeatedly, possibly as often as every 20-30 minutes
More rarely, this can also manifest as having network or internet services/access suddenly stop working on the computer, usually requiring a reboot to allow network connections again.
Possible Cause
The repeated Plex Media Server crashes may be caused by crashes of the network-related mswsock.dll Windows library. The mswsock.dll crashes most commonly occur due to interference from malware or adware DLLs (or, very occasionally, from DLLs for legitimate programs).
DLL List
The following is a non-exhaustive list of DLLs that have been found to interfere in the past:
- AbEngine.dll
- acengine.dll
- Akyagje.dll
- AsProxy.dll (Astrill)
- BarracudaWSA.dll
- BDL.dll
- bmnet.dll
- bmutil.dll
- CatWSPrx.dll
- CCL.dll
- ColorMedia.dll
- CovenantEyesProxy.dll
- cwalsp.dll
- Danelitqe.dll
- DSBProxy.dll
- EasyRedirect.dll
- GfKLSPService.DLL
- HMIPCore.dll
- ICProxy.dll
- LavasoftTCPService.dll (Web Companion / may be associated with ‘K-Lite Codec Pack’)
- Lijrof.dll
- Lp.dll
- MintCastNetworks.dll
- MyOSProtect.dll
- MyRadioPlayer.dll
- mza.dll
- N1Service.dll
- nuragoLSPService.dll
- PCProtect.dll
- Piiujkau.dll
- Plsapp.dll
- prx.dll
- QProxy.dll (Qustodio parental control)
- Rslsp.dll (Station Ripper)
- SafeIPs.dll
- secure.dll
- sendori.dll
- SmoothPingProxy.dll
- STProxy.dll
- VCL.dll
- WebWatcherLSP.dll
- Wetjuzbaw.dll
Search for DLLs
If you’re experiencing repeated Plex Media Server crashes, you might wish to search to see whether you have any of the DLLs listed earlier on your system.
Related Page: Where are DLL files stored in Windows
What to Do?
Try Uninstalling Related Program
The easiest thing to do is simply to search for the DLL name in your favorite search engine. For instance, you might search Google for PCProtect.dll. That should help you identify the program responsible for the DLL. You can then try performing a standard uninstall via the Control Panel.
Tip!: Be sure to restart your computer after uninstalling a program for this.
If you can’t uninstall the program via the Control Panel or if the DLL is still present even after uninstalling, the information from your search will typically help provide steps on how to remove it.
Reset Windows TCP Stack
After removing an offending DLL, you may also need to reset the Windows TCP/IP networking stack.
Related Page: How to reset TCP/IP by using the NetShell utility
Visit the Support Forums
If you continue to have issues or have questions, please visit our friendly support forums.
Related Page: Plex Forums – Plex Media Server > Computers