Linux MiniDLNA Empty Folders - The Ghost Mount Mystery

[onek00lj4y]

Hi everyone, I'm posting this to help others who might be going through the same frustration I just had. I've been working on this for four days and finally cracked it!


I want to mention that I am brand new to Linux, so if I can do this, you can too. Don't let the terminal or the commands scare you off.


I wanted to share a breakthrough I had today with my WiiM Pro and a Linux (Ubuntu) MiniDLNA server. The mini PC is now a WiiM server, acting as the heart of my music library. For days, I could see my server (Bedroom-HIFI) in the WiiM app, but every folder was empty—even though I had 509 high-quality albums on my drive.


The Problem: My music was on an external drive formatted as NTFS (Windows). Even though I could see the files on my PC, Linux was "ghosting" the drive. Because of how it was mounted, the MiniDLNA service didn't have permission to look inside.


The Test (How to check if you have this issue):

1. I downloaded a single "test" MP3 (a piano track).
2. I moved it into the standard Linux Music folder (which is on the Linux OS drive, not the external one).
3. I ran sudo service minidlna restart in the terminal.
4. Result: The WiiM app immediately showed the piano track in "Recently Added"!

The Lesson: If your folders are empty, it's likely a Permissions/Mount issue, not a WiiM or Network error. If the test file shows up, your server is working perfectly—you just need to fix the "mount" for your main drive.


I hope this gives some confidence to other beginners hitting a brick wall. Don't give up!

 

[simbun]

You're able to check the status of a service by running systemctl status <service> which should have flagged the issue:

$ systemctl status minidlna

● minidlna.service - MiniDLNA lightweight DLNA/UPnP-AV server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2026-01-05 10:48:24 GMT; 39s ago
Docs: man:minidlnad(1)
man:minidlna.conf(5)
Main PID: 187813 (minidlnad)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 3849)
Memory: 8.8M (peak: 11.7M)
CPU: 324ms
CGroup: /system.slice/minidlna.service
└─187813 /usr/sbin/minidlnad -f /etc/minidlna.conf -P /run/minidlna/minidlna.pid -S -r

Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi systemd[1]: Started minidlna.service - MiniDLNA lightweight DLNA/UPnP-AV server.
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187813]: minidlna.c:1163: warn: Starting MiniDLNA version 1.3.3.
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187813]: minidlna.c:1211: warn: HTTP listening on port 8200
>> Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: monitor.c:312: warn: Could not access /media/TempMiniDLNA [Permission denied] <<
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: playlist.c:135: warn: Parsing playlists...
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: playlist.c:269: warn: Finished parsing playlists.

There's also a basic MiniDLNA status page running on port 8200 with indexing stats and connected clients.

I'd suggest you try MinimServer next.

 

[Aquaman]

You're able to check the status of a service by running systemctl status <service> which should have flagged the issue:

$ systemctl status minidlna

● minidlna.service - MiniDLNA lightweight DLNA/UPnP-AV server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2026-01-05 10:48:24 GMT; 39s ago
Docs: man:minidlnad(1)
man:minidlna.conf(5)
Main PID: 187813 (minidlnad)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 3849)
Memory: 8.8M (peak: 11.7M)
CPU: 324ms
CGroup: /system.slice/minidlna.service
└─187813 /usr/sbin/minidlnad -f /etc/minidlna.conf -P /run/minidlna/minidlna.pid -S -r

Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi systemd[1]: Started minidlna.service - MiniDLNA lightweight DLNA/UPnP-AV server.
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187813]: minidlna.c:1163: warn: Starting MiniDLNA version 1.3.3.
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187813]: minidlna.c:1211: warn: HTTP listening on port 8200
>> Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: monitor.c:312: warn: Could not access /media/TempMiniDLNA [Permission denied] <<
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: playlist.c:135: warn: Parsing playlists...
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: playlist.c:269: warn: Finished parsing playlists.

There's also a basic MiniDLNA status page running on port 8200 with indexing stats and connected clients.

I'd suggest you try MinimServer next.

Your real name isn‘t Simon Nash by any chance, is it?

 

[simbun]

Your real name isn‘t Simon Nash by any chance, is it?

No, just performing a public service

 

[onek00lj4y]

You're able to check the status of a service by running systemctl status <service> which should have flagged the issue:

$ systemctl status minidlna

● minidlna.service - MiniDLNA lightweight DLNA/UPnP-AV server
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Mon 2026-01-05 10:48:24 GMT; 39s ago
Docs: man:minidlnad(1)
man:minidlna.conf(5)
Main PID: 187813 (minidlnad)
Tasks: 1 (limit: 3849)
Memory: 8.8M (peak: 11.7M)
CPU: 324ms
CGroup: /system.slice/minidlna.service
└─187813 /usr/sbin/minidlnad -f /etc/minidlna.conf -P /run/minidlna/minidlna.pid -S -r

Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi systemd[1]: Started minidlna.service - MiniDLNA lightweight DLNA/UPnP-AV server.
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187813]: minidlna.c:1163: warn: Starting MiniDLNA version 1.3.3.
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187813]: minidlna.c:1211: warn: HTTP listening on port 8200
>> Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: monitor.c:312: warn: Could not access /media/TempMiniDLNA [Permission denied] <<
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: playlist.c:135: warn: Parsing playlists...
Jan 05 10:48:24 music-pi minidlnad[187815]: playlist.c:269: warn: Finished parsing playlists.

There's also a basic MiniDLNA status page running on port 8200 with indexing stats and connected clients.

I'd suggest you try MinimServer next.

"Hi Simbun,

Thank you so much for that reply! That status command was exactly what I needed—it showed my server is 'Active and Running,' which was a huge relief.

Based on your recommendation, I’m going to install MinimServer this afternoon. Your first reply has already made a massive difference and really got things moving for me. I really appreciate the help!"

 

[onek00lj4y]

No, just performing a public service

You certainly did that , thanks simbun this is fantasic

 

[onek00lj4y]

Your real name isn‘t Simon Nash by any chance, is it?