Hi there.
I’m new to Plex, and would like to know if there is a way to access my own Plex Media Library, as well as the Library that my friend had shared with me previously? Once I created my own account and library, I had to sign out of his. Can I switch between Libraries?
You have to have your friend share his libraries with your new account. Once you accept the invitation his libraries will be hidden at the bottom left under the “More”> icon
You can then pin those libraries to your sidebar right next to your own.
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201105738-creating-and-managing-server-shares/
@JaysPlex Thank you very much for mentioning that. I don’t currently have a subscription but am thinking about it. Do you have any idea if I would be able to access my friend’s Library from outside of my home if he has a subscription but I do not?
That’s got nothing to do with having a subscription / Plex Pass membership or not. If your friend has established/enabled remote access for their server and granted you access to their libraries, you’ll be able to access it.
@tom80H interesting…without a subscription I cannot even access my own library outside of my home. I will test it out tomorrow at work and see if I can access my friend’s.
You have to configure your remote access for your server. If you have already viewed your friends server from your house that means he has already done that
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200289506-remote-access/
If you have trouble look over these guides
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200931138-troubleshooting-remote-access/
I wonder where people get the idea that remote access is a paid perk. I don’t recall when I started touching my toe in the Plex ecosystem seeing that was such a restriction. But I have seen a couple other new people who have this idea.
But yeah, remote access can be tricky to get working. Some people here (possibly myself) may be patient enough to work with you to get it working if you run into a problem following those articles Jays linked.
@Divideby0 I was able to follow those instructions, and turn on Upcp or whatever in my firewall, and that allowed me remote access, but most sources say it made my computer much more vulnerable to malicious acts. Any idea if there is an alternate way to do it that will maintain the safety of my computer? I’m just wary.
Have you tested creating a manual port forward on your router for Plex Media Server (as per the troubleshooting link posted earlier)? This should allow you to disable UPnP, minimizing the risk of other devices inside your home advertising themselves to the public.
UPnP is a protocol that router/modems can support that will allow devices within the house to create port forwarding rules automatically on the router. It’s considered dangerous, because if a device within your house gets infected it can use UPnP to create more holes, allowing full access to a remote hacker. This requires you to have been infected by something else first, so it’s not a HUGE security hole. If a virus can get into your house, UPnP is unlikely to be the only way for the virus to make it worse…
The links JaysPlex7 posted earlier about “Remote Access” will have some instructions on how to create manual port forwarding rules in your router. The steps can vary WILDLY depending on your router, so we can’t tell you exactly what to do without knowing more (like router maker and model number). You can also google your router model with the words “port forwarding” to find instructions on how to set it up exactly.
The only port that Plex requires to be opened up for remote access is 32400. It is generally recommended you change the EXTERNAL port to something else, and forward that different port to 32400 on your server. But this is advanced networking, and a lot of things can go wrong, so maybe stick with a simple 32400 > 32400 forward rule unless you wish to get adventurous.
@tom80H I have done this, but without Upnp enabled on my router, it will allow remote access but disallows it within Plex automatically in about 10 seconds. It seems the only way I can get it to stay green and allowing remote access is by enabling UPnP.
From the sound of this, it seems there’s been some issue with the remote access setup (incl. t HDD at manual port forward and the related Plex configuration).
It’s hard to tell from the outside what that issue is. I can only recommend you check out the basic troubleshooting. If that’s not fixing the issue for you, you’ll still have some more leads to share / follow up on.
The final verdict seems to be this, which you all likely know, but I was a bit naive to…instead of enabling UPnP, I was able to do a Port Forwarding rule within my router itself using the address and port number from within my Plex settings, and so far it seems to be working well. I thank you guys very much for your guidance and advice.
If you are talking about the Plex interface, where it shows a green checkmark for remote access before turning red, well… That’s kind of a “bug” in the UI of Plex. It defaults to showing the green checkmark while it is actually attempting to access your server remotely. Once it fails to do this, it will then change the check to red.
If you are ONLY looking at the Plex UI, then you might not be doing the entire process. You must go into your router (usually by typing 192.168.0.1 into a browser) and find the NAT FORWARDING or PORT FORWARDING option, or one of a dozen other words depending on your router’s config. The fact that UPNP works means we don’t need to worry about much more complex problems such as CGNAT, which is great news.
If you want to try some more, we can work at getting the port forward rule set up in Plex. If you are tired and just want it to work, then leave on UPNP and enjoy.
Hehe, the only reason I even know my router HAD UPNP enabled was because Plex worked for me without me having to do anything. I ran Plex this way for a year before I learned about UPNP, and I then disabled it and did a manual port. But I am taking classes in networking so I can’t expect the same level of technical know-how here from others.
EDIT: Ah, and it seems you got it working? fantastic! 
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