Brand new Windows Server, fails to Initialize, can't access settings

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: PlexMediaServer-1.43.0.10492-121068a07-x86_64
Player Version#:

Brand new Windows 11 Pro machine. Downloaded the Windows-Server and installed with all default settings.

It automatically opens the browser and starts the initializing:

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After a couple minutes (with me not touching anything and just letting it do it’s thing):

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Application thinks it’s fully installed and registry lists me as the owner:

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And if I try to open it again from the system tray, it just tells me I’m not Authorized.

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I’ve followed the instructions in the support article to clear the registry and try again, and it just does the same thing.

This is literally a brand new Windows machine (Plex is the 3rd application installed on it!).

Thoughts??

2

Anyone?

I’ve tried this with 4 different build versions of plex server and it does it with every single one. I’m truly at a loss here.

3
  1. Are you using a non-default web browser?
  2. And/or are there browser add-ins installed and active?
  3. Does your local network use an IP address range which is designated as “private”?
  4. Was there another instance of Plex server installed on this machine before? And if so, is it possible that it had “Secure Connections” set to “Required”?
  5. Were the Plex registry data imported from a different Plex Server machine? (i.e. was the installation moved from a different machine?)
  6. Was the system drive re-used from an older machine, or was the Plex data folder copied/moved from an older machine?
4
  • Are you using a non-default web browser?

No, just using IE. Haven’t even installed anything else yet

  • And/or are there browser add-ins installed and active?

No add-ins installed or active.

Yes. CGNAT, however I’ve been able to at least REGISTER from a CGNAT before because I then just connect to the device locally so the CGNAT never really mattered.

  • Was there another instance of Plex server installed on this machine before? And if so, is it possible that it had “Secure Connections” set to “Required”?

I initially installed Plex Server from the Windows App store and saw it had installed 1.40 (or something similar) instead of 1.43, so I uninstalled it before I even registered and downloaded the 1.43 directly from Plex

  • Were the Plex registry data imported from a different Plex Server machine? (i.e. was the installation moved from a different machine?)

No. Brand new install, nothing migrated from any other device.

  • Was the system drive re-used from an older machine, or was the Plex data folder copied/moved from an older machine?

No. Brand new device, Plex was maybe the third application installed after powering on.

5

CGNAT has nothing to do with the range of IP adresses, which your router is handing out to local devices.

6

Got it.

My server has a 100.x.x.x IP address which is not technically a private IP address.

7

Then you should change that, The hosts within the IP range for CG-NAT are not assumed to be able to freely communicate with each other. Plex Server behaves differently if it’s situated in a network which does not use a private IP range.

8

Ok, so to clarify for my understanding, are you saying I should manually configure it to use a private IP address and try again?

9

You should reconfigure your local network, so that Plex server and your local Plex clients are within the same subnet, with a private IP range.

10

I don’t understand why that would affect the initial registration of the server. I installed the Plex Client on my server to see if I could still “see” it to connect with even if the registration failed, and it doesn’t show up when looking for the server from the same computer.

Ultimately, the server will be on the same internal subnet as my other devices. I’m just trying to get things connected and working while I have it connected to the internet before moving it to a closed, internal subnet.

11

and from one of my older posts:

Your current network configuration does not comply with standard networking practices and will likely lead to problems in the future. According to RFC 1918, specific ranges of IP addresses are reserved for private use within homes and organizations. These are:

  • 10.0.0.0/8

  • 172.16.0.0/12

  • 192.168.0.0/16

Instead of using one of these reserved ranges, your network is configured with 1.1.1.0/24, which is not a private range. In fact, this block belongs to Cloudflare and is part of the global public address space. Cloudflare actively uses this range, including 1.1.1.1, which serves as a widely used public DNS resolver.

By assigning addresses from this public range internally, your devices may experience conflicts, routing issues, or connectivity problems when communicating with the internet. To ensure stability, compliance, and proper functionality, the network should be reconfigured to use one of the RFC 1918 private ranges.

12

This will break Plex. Plex needs internet access for both metadata, and authentication purposes.