Server Version#: 1.42.2.10156
Player Version#: 4.157.0
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>
As stated in the title, all devices on my local network except my main PC (Which hosts the server) are unable to connect securely to the server. My Plex is set to “Preferred” for requiring secure connections, so I don’t know why I can’t access my Plex on these devices anyways, but it currently prevents me from accessing any content on the server.
I’ve tried a few different fixes. I have verified that all devices on the same subnet; they are. I have made sure my PC hosting the server has a static IP and DNS (Which is set to Google’s public DNS). I have set up Port forwarding, which seems to be working well (Plex tells me my library is fully accessible outside of my local network). My PC’s IP address as well as the IP address of all the devices on which I use Plex are on the list of IP addresses that can access Plex without authentication. Also, I am not using a VPN.
I have also reset the network setting to secure connections only, to then revert it back to “Preferred”, multiple times, which didn’t work. I have restarted my PC multiple times, which usually fixes the problem for a few minutes. When restarting my PC doesn’t work, I’ve also restarted the router, which will usually again fix the problem for a few minutes. But every time, it becomes inaccessible again after about 5 to 10 minutes.
I don’t know if it means anything, but if I close my PMS server, the error message on my other devices changes to “Server is currently unavailable”, so my devices do detect the server, they just can’t connect securely which 1) Secure connections should be possible since they are all on same network and subnet, and 2) It shouldn’t be an issue anyways since secured connections are set to “Preferred” and aren’t required.
Did anyone have the same problem? If so, how did you fix it? I can provide logs if needed.
Check your log for csr 429 errors, which may indicate a renewal issue with your cert. If you see them, someone from the Plex team can reset your stuck certificate.
Can you give me more details on where I would find this error? I downloaded my logs, and checked in the Plex Media Server log, and ran a search for “csr 429”, which didn’t give me any result.
There is this error which keeps showing up, not sure what it means : “[HttpClient/HCl#1d] HTTP error requesting GET”
It would be in that log file, don’t search it in quotes, I can’t remember if that’s the exact string. Just search 429. If you don’t see that error, it’s something else.
Looks like something is blocking plex.tv on your network. Lots of errors resolving.
Did you try to change the DNS servers on your router as well as the clients, not just the server? Use 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4 or 1.1.1.1/1.0.01 . After changing, give everything a reboot to ensure they’re using them.
I do have a VPN installed, but I recently changed VPNs and tested things when transitioning from one to the other. Even with no VPN installed, the issue remained.
Unfortunately, it would be pretty complicated to set up an ethernet connection with my current setup. And even if I did connect the server with ethernet, all my other devices would still be passing through the WiFi to connect to the server, so if my WiFi is what’s causing the issue, then if I understand correctly, it wouldn’t solve the issue, right?
I don’t know much about tech and/or networks so it’s a very simple setup. I have my router in a central location in the house, then my PC and my 2 TVs are all set up in different rooms and connected to the WiFi. There is another PC on the network as well as our 2 phones, but we don’t use those for Plex.
I am using 8.8.8.8 DNS on all devices throughout the house, and it is also setup as a static DNS on my router. The router is a F@ST3896 provided by my ISP.
My network is set to private and not to public. Other than that, I don’t know which configuration could be relevant, other than the port forwarding I mentioned in my initial post. As I said, I don’t know much about all this so no advanced config AFAIK.
I’m not sure who the ISP is, but even with your static dns settings on the router and clients, the ISP may be blocking the plex connections/lookups. Sometimes bypassing their router with your own will help.
If you open a terminal window on your server and type in host plex.tv does it give back the ips of the plex servers? Or does it fail?
in the plex network settings, bind plex to a specific network interface in case it’s finding something from your old vpn.
Hopefully someone from the plex team can help more..I’m just guessing at this point, don’t want to waste your time.
Not sure what you mean with the terminal window. Could you give me more details?
I’ll try to bind Plex to my WiFi to make sure it’s not going through the VPN, but my old VPN isn’t even on the list of networks so I doubt that’s an issue.
No worries at all about wasting my time, you’ve been a huge help so far. I’ve been struggling to get a stable Plex server for months at this point and haven’t heard from Plex at all yet, so any help is appreciated.
If this is windows, enter cmd into the run box, it will open a command prompt.
Sometimes the network adapter used by a vpn may still be present if the uninstall wasn’t thorough. If so, you’d see it in the plex interface dropdown. If it’s not there, just select your wifi adapter.
It now tells me the server is “Unknown”, but the address below that does seem to be associated with my VPN interface. Double checking this, my settings do indicate that Plex should be using my WiFi interface rather than the VPN one. Any idea how to make sure the server is hosted on my WiFi IP address and not the VPN one?
Even when the VPN is turned on, I have split tunneling activated, and both my regular browser (Which is what I use with Plex) and the Plex Media Server app are set to not use the VPN. Verifying my IP address on the browser shows the split tunneling is working as intended as it sees my regular IP.
