Jellyfin in Docker: find out which side of the container is wrong

Jellyfin's setup wizard loads on port 8096, but the movie library remains empty. Accelerating hardware usage does not resolve this issue. The primary question is whether the container can access the same files the user can. Consider Compose mapping /mnt/media/movies:/data/movies. The left side represents a host directory, while the right side is where the Jellyfin process perceives it.

Use /data/movies in the library picker to compare the two perspectives. To compare, run the following commands from the directory containing the Compose file, assuming the service is named jellyfin: ls /mnt/media/movies and docker compose exec jellyfin ls /data/movies. If the host directory is empty, the problem lies with the media or NAS mount.

If files exist on the host but not inside Jellyfin, inspect the bind mount within the running container. If Jellyfin cannot read a file even after this command lists it, the issue may be related to the service user's permissions; the service and server could be running as different users. Changing ownership of the entire library is unnecessary.

A Compose setup that fails to open the wizard indicates a network error. For example, a setup with an external network named proxy assumes that network's existence beforehand. For LAN-only testing without a reverse proxy, remove the service's reference to proxy and the top-level declaration for that network. Retain the port mapping.

The GPU should not be involved in this test. Once Jellyfin can locate and play the file, the comprehensive Compose guide at TechFuelHQ demonstrates where to incorporate the optional proxy network and GPU device.