Server Version#:4.152.0
My Plex Media Server is on my Macbook Pro 4. My media is on my NAS. When My Macbook is on the same network as NAS I have no problems. If I leave home, I can no longer see my media on NAS. When at home I have to map the NAS drives to see the media. Remote access is enabled as I currently have Remote Access enabled through a manually-specified port. Nevertheless outside of my home network I cannot access my NAS media. How can I make this work. I am fairly new to plex and cannot find the fix myself..
Remote access is about making your server available from outside your home network. Your server’s access to your media is a different thing.
Technically, you could expose the NAS shares so they’re available outside your home network (and map those remotely available shares), but that’s step has significant implications.
Edit: have you considered simply running PMS on that NAS of yours (or using a different device inside your home network)?
The easiest thing in the world for you being new, would be to install Plex Media Server on a device that will remain in the home connected to the NAS, or on the NAS itself if the system is beefy enough to handle it.
You can access all of that remotely as you please.
It starts getting super complicated when you’re taking PMS itself outside the house. Keeping the connections while you’re moving around requires some higher level networking knowledge.
I dont know what PMS is. My NAS is nothing but a large storage for all of my films. they are only for my family’s use
PMS = Plex Media Server
Imagine it this way. At home, your MacBook with PMS (Plex Media Server) loaded on it has a bunch of virtual cables connected to your NAS, allowing it to see those files. When you leave your home, and your home network, those cables snap, and it can no longer see the media present.
Remote access means that you can access your server from outside your home, but the server still needs to be sitting at home. You can test this with your phone by disconnecting from the WiFi, or taking a trip down the street. Make sure your MacBook is up and running Plex when you leave and open Plex on your phone. You should be able to see all of your stuff and play it.
Like I said before, there are ways to make it work where you can take your MacBook out of the house, but that gets into some really complicated networking settings. I’m not even sure I’d want to try to tackle that. Find another PC that can sit squarely at home to run Plex Media Server. You’ll save a lot of headache that way.
I tried that and this is what i got on my phone: Uh Oh…SOmethings not right. sorry, that didnt work. You may not have access to this media server.
nevermind. i got it on my phone. ok. let me ask you this. i know its possible to install plex media server on my nas and that would take care of the problem. but quality is much lower. is there a better solution. we are away every weekend and I want my kids to be able to watch their movies. i have 11,000. if you know of a better solution, please let me know. so far, you have been very helpful
That could be the settings on your playback device. By default, an app on your phone, or a Roku, or whichever tends to request the lowest possible quality it can. I have no idea why this is, and I often have to instruct users to max out the quality to make sure they’re getting good streams.
That would be the first place that I would look. If the movies look good in your house, they should look equally as good outside the house with the right settings.
What NAS do you have? I can do a little homework. 
DS218Play. 20T
Apologies for the delay. It looks like your server “can” run Plex Media Server. Cutting straight to the chase, you’re probably not going to be able to do 4k, and you probably shouldn’t be sharing your Plex with family and friends. I would think it should handle 1080p content for just you well enough.
When I first started, I used a pretty beat up old Windows PC that handled Plex for me just fine. Upgrading shouldn’t be too hard when you’re ready. I think the key for you and what you appear to be asking for is to keep the PC/NAS running Plex inside the house.
