Who would have thought that a new Android version update for Nvidia Shield TV and Shield TV Pro would end up breaking things? The new push to Android 11 brings with it file permissions per use (extended storage), so many users are now reporting things like apps can’t access internal storage, and more.

To resolve this issue, Nvidia has posted on its customer support page that visiting app settings and enabling “Files & Media” under file manager app permissions may resolve this issue. problem for many experiments, but unfortunately it’s not the solution in all situations, as the Editors report. If you get errors like “VLC cannot find any media files”, or something similar, this should fix it.

Android 11 includes a new authorisation system to allow access to application files. Many applications have not yet adopted the new system. To authorize the file authorisation manually for these applications, go to Settings -> Apps -> [File management app] -> Permissions and enable “Files and Media” access for the app. If you see authorisation options “Allow while using this app” and “Allow all the time”, select “Allow all the time”.

Nvidia Customer Help

Unfortunately, OS update issues extend further when it comes to file management access. Some users have reported that their Plex servers have completely disappeared. When you visit the Plex app settings page, the server is empty with no options. The user, who goes by the name jjkc29, restarted his device, etc., but to no avail. Several people have recommended disabling automatic updating at the system level until all these bugs are fixed, so you’ll have to decide for yourself.

It’s unclear if Nvidia’s fix will get you back up and running with all your apps, especially since you need to enable these permissions for each individual app, but you can try. This worked for several users who had Plex servers on the way out, but not all – especially those who have their media servers on external hard drives or SSDs. Plex is investigating this themselves, so a fix should be found fairly quickly, especially if they work directly with Google to ensure this is a well-known error. Of course, you can always try downgrading via ADB if you’re more tech-savvy.

Piunikaweb has heard reports of HDMI CEC “stuttering” on several popular video streaming apps, Bluetooth randomly disconnecting, Shield TV remote only turning on the device itself and not the TV (CEC again), launchers of broken third-party applications, and Suite. It’s amazing to see so many software issues in a single update. Depending on who you ask, this could rival the issues many are having with their Pixel 6 Pro devices before the January update, which seems to be working fine so far. Tell us what problems are you having, if any? I would love to hear in the comments. It certainly justifies waiting a while to update, don’t you agree?