Custom Section Icons for Plex Media Server ( Web Manager / Client )

Things you need

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

1. Plex media Server 😉

2. Firefox

3. SQLite Manager Plugin (

4. Icon Set ( I used

5. Free Image host ( I used

6. SSH Client ( I used -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-1. Plex media Server 😉2. Firefox3. SQLite Manager Plugin ( here 4. Icon Set ( I used Iconfinder.com 5. Free Image host ( I used Picasa web 6. SSH Client ( I used Cyberduck

Plex Media Server has three frontend OR client User Interface (UI). They are as follow:

1. Plex Media Client (Windows / Mac)

2. Plex Media Manager (Web Manager)

3. iOS / Android Apps (Mobile OS)

All of these UI has a common icon for section which I think is not suitable to clearly distinguish the section. As shown in Image 1.1, TV shows, Documentary, Anime has a common icon. Similarly, movie and movie (Anime) has similar icon too. Plex should have given option to change these icon but as for now there is no option to change it.

Image 1.1 – Default Web Manager Interface Image 1.2 – Custom Icon Web Manager Interface

But there is workaround for this problem[1]. As plex use single SQL DB to manage its database its not difficult to change the icon. We need to change few attributes to assign new icons to these section.

So before we assign icon to section we need to host it online. ( I have tried putting icon locally in HD but it didn’t work 😦 ). I used picasa to host my icon. After upload, you need to share icon.

Now we modify SQL db. SQL db can be found under

[ user ]/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plugin-in Support/Databases/com.plexapp.plugins.library.db

SSH into server and Stop plexmediaserver

/etc/init.d/plexmediaserver stop

And make backup of the db file.

cd [ user ]/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Plugin-in\ Support/Databases/

mv com.plexapp.plugins.library.db com.plexapp.plugins.library.db.bak

Now copy db file in your local HD (in desktop? 🙂 ) and run Firefox and click SQLite Manager and open the db file

Tools > SQLite Manager > open com.plexapp.plugins.library.db

Select library_sections at left hand side and list of section will appear at righthand side as shown in image 1.3. Double click on any section that you want to change.

Scroll down to number “9. user_thumb_url ( varchar (255))” as shown in Image 1.4. and enter the url for your image.

library_sections > double click section > 9. user_thumb_url > enter image url > OK

Note: url should be direct link to image not just link. For example, Note: url should be direct link to image not just link. http://thisismyimage won’t work, where as http://thisismyimage.png will work. I have not tested other type of image so its best you convert image to png or you can test it yourself. (If you have used iconfinder.com, the download highest resolution png from there and upload it to picasa)

Image 1.3 – SQLite Manager Image 1.4 – Section Option

Press OK and copy db file back to server. Now start the server.

/etc/init.d/plexmediaserver start

Icon should change in all client. 🙂