Ok, I've been fighting to get this working for 20 of the last 30 hours, so I'm going to do my best to explain this but bear with me here.
I didn't realize that the lower level WDMyClouds weren't supported when I first went to set this up, but I did find that out before I started downloading things. I'm not going to buy any more equipment right now. Just FYI before I start explaining.
Somehow the initial Plex install happened on my new WDMyCloud (not a mirror, not a supported device, not what I thought I had directed the installer to do).
After spending several hours trying to find the server that the web app said was there, I finally found it on the NAS. I uninstalled the app from my computer, deleted all the Plex files on the NAS, and did a fresh install to my Windows 10 computer. The server on my account seemed to update to the correct path (I may have had to repoint it to the local path, I don't remember). That worked for 3 hours then just stopped.
When I went to fix it, the whole kit and kaboodle PLEX install was back on the NAS and missing from my computer. I know I sound crazy, but that's what happened. Once again I fully uninstalled the app from the computer and deleted the entire Plex folder from the NAS, but this time I also deleted the server from my PLEX account so I could genuinely start fresh.
I have not once been able to get Plex.Tv to see any server on my system since then. I've repeatedly installed and uninstalled, restarted - nothing. Tried several different versions (but none more than a few months old). I have not seen the setup wizard once since the very first install, and all the suggested fixes seem to rely on using the setup wizard.
Clicking on "Plex Media Server" in my start menu, or PlexMediaServer.exe in the folder, does absolutely nothing.
Now I am also getting an error message "127.0.0.1 refused to connect" when I try to go to http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/index.html as directed in your help section. I also installed the fix from http://loopback.codeplex.com/, but to no avail. That particular thing was not a problem until today.
I attempted to repair the install three times since this mornings wipe, the last two of those times asked me for pms.exe - which I could not find.
Once today it appeared in the systems tray (only for a few seconds, so it's possible I just missed it the last 10 times). I tried to click it, it showed three separate Plex symbols in the system tray then they all disappeared before I could click them. I haven't been able to get them back since.
At one point this evening I ran a windows diagnostic for compatibility, and it offered to run it on something called "Stopping Plex" in addition to "Plex Media Server". I have no idea if that was just a process that was hanging or another application or what. At this point the voices in my head were in near total consensus that it was the computer mocking me.
I do have Bitdefender and Malware Bytes, but pausing them doesn't seem to help.
I'm accessing with the most recent versions of Windows 10 and Chrome. My router is a Netgear NightHawk R7000, I just updated the firmware to the most recent version on that too.
I've considered just setting it all on fire, but I think that would make my spouse cranky. Also, in my personal experience things on fire aren't generally excellent at playing movies. Can someone suggest a non-fire solution?