Nginx Config for Custom Movie Path | Generated by AI

Home 2026.02

Question: Change the Nginx configuration to serve files from /home/lzw/qDownloads instead of /var/www/movies/, keeping the /movies/ URL path and directory listing enabled.

Answer:

Here is the updated Nginx configuration using your new directory:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;

    location /movies/ {
        alias /home/lzw/qDownloads/;
        autoindex on;
    }
}

Alternative version (using root instead of alias – also very common):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;

    location /movies/ {
        root /home/lzw;
        # or: root /home/lzw/qDownloads/..;  ← same effect
        try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
        autoindex on;
    }
}

Most recommended version (clean + safe):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name localhost;

    location /movies/ {
        alias /home/lzw/qDownloads/;
        autoindex on;

        # Optional but recommended additions:
        charset utf-8;
        autoindex_exact_size off;     # shows human-readable sizes (KB, MB…)
        autoindex_localtime on;       # shows file times in server timezone
    }
}

After changing the config:

  1. Check syntax:
    sudo nginx -t

  2. Reload nginx:
    sudo systemctl reload nginx
    or
    sudo nginx -s reload

Now http://your-server-ip/movies/ should show the contents of /home/lzw/qDownloads/.

References:

Back Donate