How-To: Install Jellyfin Media Server on Ubuntu 20.04

Intro

What is Jellyfin? Jellyfin, much like Plex and Emby, is a media server you can host yourself. It can handle movies, tv shows, and music and has a nice interface for organizing and viewing content, as well as streaming it to every device in your home. This install happens on an ubuntu server 20.0.4 VM. Let’s jump right in and install jellyfin media server!

Jellyfin Installation

The first thing we need to do is add the gpg key from the official jellyfin website.

vulnifo@jellyfin:~$ curl -fsSL https://repo.jellyfin.org/ubuntu/jellyfin_team.gpg.key | sudo gpg -- dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/jellyfin.gpg

Now add the jellyfin repo to the system.

vulnifo@jellyfin:~$ echo "deb [arch=$( dpkg --print-architecture )] https://repo.jellyfin.org/$( awk -F'=' '/^ID=/{ print $NF }' /etc/os-release ) $( awk -F'=' '/^VERSION_CODENAME=/ { print $NF }' /etc/os-release ) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jellyfin.list

Now we can update our sources and install jellyfin simply using apt.

vulnifo@jellyfin:~$ sudo apt update
...
vulnifo@jellyfin:~$ sudo apt install -y jellyfin

After the install has finished, enable the jellyfin service.

vulnifo@jellyfin:~$ sudo systemctl enable jellyfin
Synchronizing state of jellyfin.service with SysV service script with /lib/systemd/ systemd-sysv-install.
Executing: /lib/systemd/systemd-sysv-install enable jellyfin

Start the jellyfin service.

vulnifo@jellyfin:~$ sudo systemctl start jellyfin

Now check the status to make sure the service is running and there aren’t any errors.

vulnifo@jellyfin:~$ systemctl status jellyfin 
● jellyfin.service - Jellyfin Media Server
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/jellyfin.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/jellyfin.service.d └─jellyfin.service.conf
Active: active (running) since Wed 2022-09-21 17:51:17 UTC; 13s ago Main PID: 2451 (jellyfin)
Tasks: 17 (limit: 984)
Memory: 131.9M
CGroup: /system.slice/jellyfin.service
└─2451 /usr/bin/jellyfin --webdir=/usr/share/jellyfin/web --restartpath=/ usr/lib/jellyfin/restart.sh ->
Sep 21 17:51:19 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:19] [INF] Marking following migrations as applied because this is a>
Sep 21 17:51:20 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:20] [INF] Setting cache path: /var/ cache/jellyfin
Sep 21 17:51:20 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:20] [INF] Loading assemblies
Sep 21 17:51:20 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:20] [INF] Defined LAN addresses : [10.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/12,192.168>
Sep 21 17:51:20 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:20] [INF] Defined LAN exclusions : [] Sep 21 17:51:20 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:20] [INF] Using LAN addresses:
[10.0.0.0/8,172.16.0.0/12,192.168.0.>
Sep 21 17:51:20 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:20] [INF] Using bind addresses: [] Sep 21 17:51:20 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:20] [INF] Using bind exclusions: [] Sep 21 17:51:22 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:22] [INF] There are pending EFCore migrations in the database. Appl>
Sep 21 17:51:27 jellyfin jellyfin[2451]: [17:51:27] [INF] EFCore migrations applied successfully
lines 1-21/21 (END)

Jellyfin is now Active and Running! Now we can continue with the initial setup.

Jellyfin Setup

Open a web browser and navigate to the IP address of your server and port 8096.

http://<your ip>:8096

You will be presented with the initial setup screen. Select your preferred language and click Next.

Now create your user for jellyfin. Either setup a password or leave it blank for no password.

Now is time to add your media libraries.

Select “Add Media Library” and select the Content type, Display name, and click the “+” next to Folders to browse and add the folder where your media is.

Repeat for all the libraries you want to include, be it movies, tv shows, music, etc…

After adding your libraries, select Next.

Select the preferred language for your metadata.

Now select wether you want remote access or not. In another guide we will discuss enabling SSL and full secure remote access.

Now the last step is to log in to your server using the username and password you entered earlier.

After signing in you should be presented with your media library!

Depending on the specs of your server, internet connection, and how large your media library is, it may take quite some time to download, match, and show everything. Don’t get discouraged as the media will start showing up on its own.

Conclusion

This guide should have gotten you to successfully install jellyfin media server. We will go over more advanced install options in a future post.

Thank you for reading

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