MiniDLNA media server

MiniDLNA uses UPnP/DLNA to share and stream media files like music, photos, and videos between devices on a home network.
• UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) lets devices find each other on a local Wi-Fi network
• DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) specification ensure media formats work across brands

Installation

dnf install minidlna

Edit configuration file: /etc/minidlna.conf

media_dir=PV,/mnt/sda1/2TB/Holidays
friendly_name=Rocky DLNA Server
db_dir=/var/cache/minidlna
inotify=yes

Fix permissions

chown -Rv minidlna:minidlna /var/cache/minidlna
chmod -v 755 /var/cache/minidlna

Open the firewall

firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=8200/tcp
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=1900/udp
firewall-cmd --runtime-to-permanent

Start the server

systemctl enable minidlna
systemctl start minidlna
systemctl status minidlna

Troubleshooting

To serve a video, minidlna user requires read permissions on the file itself and execute permissions on every single parent directory in its file path:
/mnt, /mnt/sda1, /mnt/sda1/2TB, etc.

journalctl -u minidlna -n 20

Aug 01 19:36:05 binary minidlnad[49729]: metadata.c:715: warn: Opening /mnt/sda1/2TB/Holidays/2026/Hero9/gh010226.mp4 failed! [Permission denied]
Aug 01 19:36:05 binary minidlnad[49729]: scanner.c:490: warn: Unsuccessful getting details for /mnt/sda1/2TB/Holidays/2026/Hero9/gh010226.mp4

Fix the permissions

cd /mnt/sda1/2TB/Holidays/2026/Hero9/
chmod 777 *

Rebuild the SQLite database

minidlnad -R

Restart the server and let it do the reindexing

systemctl restart minidlna