Minidlna doesn't get permission to work in /home

General system Applications
1

I tried for hours to get minidlna working to access media in my home directory.
I read the info in the ArchWiki that additional steps have to be done to do so.
I followed the steps and did them all but maybe something is missing.
The default config worked fine.

My edits:

[wave@endos ~]$ cat /etc/minidlna.conf

port=8200
 #user=minidlna
user=wave
media_dir=/home/wave/
friendly_name=minidlna
 #db_dir=/var/cache/minidlna
db_dir=/home/wave/.cache/minidlna
 #log_dir=/var/log
log_dir=/home/wave/.local/share/minidlna

[wave@endos ~]$ cat /etc/systemd/system/minidlna.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
User=wave
Group=wave

The error:

[wave@endos ~]$ systemctl status minidlna.service
Ă— minidlna.service - minidlna server
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
    Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/minidlna.service.d
             └─override.conf
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2025-03-19 00:35:34 CET; 4min 9s ago
   Duration: 876ms
 Invocation: 2c4be0e3bdd740bd8c97793cbc64dc67
    Process: 644 ExecStart=/usr/bin/minidlnad -S (code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION)
   Main PID: 644 (code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION)
   Mem peak: 27.9M
        CPU: 70ms

Mär 19 00:35:33 endos systemd[1]: Starting minidlna server...
Mär 19 00:35:33 endos systemd[1]: Started minidlna server.
Mär 19 00:35:33 endos minidlnad[644]: [2025/03/19 00:35:33] minidlna.c:669: error: Media directory "/home/wave/" not accessible [Permission denied]
Mär 19 00:35:33 endos minidlnad[644]: [2025/03/19 00:35:33] utils.c:295: warn: make_dir: cannot create directory '/home/wave/'
Mär 19 00:35:33 endos minidlnad[644]: [2025/03/19 00:35:33] minidlna.c:714: fatal: Database path not accessible! [/home/wave/.cache/minidlna]
Mär 19 00:35:34 endos systemd[1]: minidlna.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=255/EXCEPTION
Mär 19 00:35:34 endos systemd[1]: minidlna.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

With sudo minidlnad it all works but of course it should’t run like that.

2

What does systemctl cat minidlna.service return?

3 
[wave@endos ~]$ systemctl cat minidlna.service
# /usr/lib/systemd/system/minidlna.service
[Unit]
Description=minidlna server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=exec
DynamicUser=yes
ExecStart=/usr/bin/minidlnad -S
RuntimeDirectory=minidlna
CacheDirectory=minidlna
ProtectSystem=full
ProtectHome=on
PrivateDevices=on
NoNewPrivileges=on

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

# /etc/systemd/system/minidlna.service.d/override.conf
[Service]
User=wave
Group=wave

damn, is ProtectHome=on the thing ?

4

Both these need to be disabled I believe.

1 Like
5

I’ll try that tomorrow (have to sleep now) but thx so far!
I think that’s it…
Much to hustle for dlna accessing /home btw!

1 Like
6

It is because you are trying to get write access for the logs and db.

It probably would have been easier if you let it access the media in your home read-only while leaving the db and logs outside of home.

2 Likes
7

Yes, in my case some years ago it was the thing.
My configuration is pretty similar to your one. I have folders unter /home where all the music, videos and pictures are stored. In /etc/minidlna.conf the different media_dir for audio, video and pictures were set.
I do not change the user for the miniDNLA-service, but in my override.conf I have following entries:

[Service]
ProtectHome=read-only

The parameter DynamicUser is set to yes
Hope it helps!

1 Like
8

ProtectHome=on was the bad guy - I forgot this one.

Changing DynamicUser=yes wasn’t needed in my case and seems to be important if you have to mount different media shares (dynamic).

You’re right and I don’t even know why I did it - maybe because so many forum posts had it like that.
I changed db_dir and log_dir back to standard folder /var/ so you won’t need any write permissions in your home folder.
That’s why you have to set ProtectHome=read-only

9

OK, that’s interesting - if you don’t even have to set them to your user!?
I will try that…

10

Ah sorry, my mistake. The user minidlna is in the same group as the owner of the folders in /home :face_with_peeking_eye:
And the folders and all data inside are readable for this group.

11

yes, I think this has at least to be. you would’t have access if not…
so you still have user=minidlna in your /etc/minidlna.conf so that group permission is active?

12

Yes, indeed.

1 Like
13

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