[HowTo] Use Plex with No Internet

[sekthree]

I’ve seen far too many posts regarding “can’t connect to Plex with no internet”, and an uprising/outcry always ensues. It eventually settles down, but the lack of single point resources can be frustrating. I’ve been there, no internet - can’t google anything from a computer so a phone will have to do, but navigating through results and trying “solutions” can be daunting. I’m creating this How-To to help alleviate those posts and help everyone access their servers when the net is down. Couple of things before we get started.

First: There are fragmented Plex articles and resources out there that describe how to do exactly what I’m about to demonstrate, but I’d like to consolidate them into one single post for easy accessibility/search-ability. I WILL be using some of the screen grabs and instructions from some of these articles.

• Network settings
• Opening Plex Web app from Local
• Advanced HIDDEN server settings
• Data Directory location
• Internet and Network requirements

Second: THIS SHOULD BE DONE BEFORE YOU ENCOUNTER HAVING NO INTERNET, but it can be done when it does go down, instructions for this at the way bottom.

Third: I am demonstrating based and stepping through the setup THAT I KNOW. Hopefully yours is similar. I am using the Linux distro (Ubuntu 16.04LTS). I might have something wrong, or different, I welcome any corrections, criticisms or comments.. so please let me know. I am displaying what i know works for me.

When Do You Need Internet Access

There are a number of situations in which you will need an “internet” connection for either your Plex Media Server or a particular Plex app you’re using.

• Fast User Switching
  For Plex Pass subscribers making use of the Plex Home feature, an internet connection is required to authenticate when using the Fast User Switching feature to quickly switch between members of your Home. For more please see : Fast User Switching

  • Users have previously commented that for certain devices (e.g. Roku), if the internet goes out Plex can still be accessed as long as the current signed in user DOES NOT sign out or users DO NOT attempt to switch accounts. This is most likely due to a cached connection as mentioned in the next section.

• Certain Plex Apps
  In some cases, certain apps may require an internet connection to use. Some, like game consoles, rely on the corresponding game service to be available. Others have components of the app itself that have to be loaded dynamically from an internet location. Affected apps:

  • Alexa Voice Control
  • Android TV*
  • Apple TV*
  • Chromecast
  • Fire TV*
  • Most “Smart TV” apps
  • PlayStation
  • Plex Media Player*
  • Sonos
  • TiVo
  • Xbox One

*Both the app and server must be signed in; cached connections can be used when internet is temporarily unavailable

NETWORK SETTINGS

• To help make it easier to access my Plex Media Server, in my router settings I assigned a static IP to my server, as well as setup port forwarding to 32400. I’m not sure if this is entirely neccessary, but those are my settings so I’m providing it here. PMS = 192.168.1.9
  

  

• Setup your Secure Connection to be “preferred”
  In the Plex Web App navigate to Settings > Server > Network
  Set Secure Connections : Preferred
  

  

• Setup LAN IP addresses
  Click on the Show Advanced button at the top right of the settings area to toggle display of advanced settings. Scroll down to
  List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth.
  Here the local subnet will need to be entered to allow the entire local network. My router gives addresses based off the 192.168.1.xx ip range, so here I have entered 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0. Depending on how your router is assigning IPs, the range might be different.
  

  
  
  This is a screen shot of my settings however based off Plex’s network article the 127.x IPs will be ignored as indicated

When the Plex Media Server is signed in to an account, specifying 127.0.0.1 will be ignored (you could instead use the specific LAN IP).

ACCESS

• Web Browser
  Once the network settings have been configured, the PMS can be accessed via a webbrowser using the following: http://[Local Plex Media Server IP Address]:32400/web
  so in my case in the address bar I would enter 192.168.1.9:32400/web
  In this image I am demonstrating accessing my PMS via the IP address while i have no internet (see bottom right corner showing exclamation on wifi).
  
  
  
  When selecting the server drop down, I can no longer see my shared servers, but rather my local PMS with status as Nearby
  
  
  • It’s been mentioned that during an internet outage users should NOT clear browser cookies for plex.tv. Please read the following from @OttoKerner.

Many users nowadays fiddle with their browser settings, so everything is cleaned out when the browser is closed.
While that is in general a good idea, it does make life complicated for a Plex web app user: it will invalidate the login session to plex.tv and therefore to one’s plex account.
Not only does one have to re-login to plex.tv, the next time the browser is opened – logging-in is impossible if the internet is out!
This alone covers about 50% of all user’s ‘offline’ issues I reckon.

• Roku
  My main streaming devices are Roku 3’s.

  • Setup auto sign in to NO
    While I have NOT tested how the Roku would react if Auto Sign In is checked, I’d like to think it would NOT work as my thoughts are that it would try to contact Plex.tv for authentication.. and with no internet, this would fail. SO Navigate to User > Settings > Main and Set Auto Sign In to be unchecked.
    
    
  • Allows Insecure Connections
    Navigate to User > Settings > Advanced > Allow Insecure Connections and set to On Same Network. Note: the screen shot is from Retro app, however the setting is the same on the newer versions.
    
    
  • (Optional) Set Manual Connection
    The Roku SHOULD auto connect with the above settings, however if it does NOT then the following can be attempted. Navigate to User > Settings > Manual Connections > Connection enter the [Local Plex Media Server IP Address].
    
    
    Port auto defaults to 32400, however if you specified a different port, then change it accordingly.
  • Test Connection - with no internet e.g. router unplugged from modem
    To test connection navigate to User > Media Server Status, any local PMS’s should display as Nearby
    
    
  • Browse
    While in the home screen media should be displaying, and Offline Mode should be displayed where the user icon should be.
    
    

• Android phone

  • The settings on my android phone are straight forward, I’ll list what i think is imporant here.
    User > Settings > Sharing > Network Discovery - checked
    User > Settings > Advanced > Manual Connections - blank, but optional to enter PMS IP
    User > Settings > Advanced > Allow Insecure Connections - Never, this could also be set to On Same Network
  • The above settings should allow connection to your local PMS with no internet. Here are screen shots of my test results. Note: I’m only connected to WiFi, i have disabled mobile data., AND OFFLINE Browsing is NOT turned on.
    Available Sources
    
    
    
    Since a share was NOT displaying as OFFLINE, i attempted to connect to it
    
    
    
    Local PMS Music DOES work
    
    

Network settings - when web browser is not possible/fails

While configuring network settings is easiest through the web browser, some folks (me included) might encounter an issue when the internet is down. This typically occurs when you have NOT already configured for offline access. If this is the case then directly configuring the preferences.xml file will need to be done. Each environment is different, and while I can’t provide examples for each one (if someone can i’ll be glad to edit and include in this post), the settings should be similar to my example. Again I am using Ubuntu 16.04LTS.

• Find Preferences file
  For your environment you will need to find where the settings file is stored. You can Find directory locations here, we will be working with the Preferences.xml file. For my setup it is located here: /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml I can access via command prompt directly on my PMS box or via an SSH connection.
• Edit Preferences file
  I will be altering the Preferences file. Whenever altering any system or config files it’s always best to first make a backup copy of said file. After navigating to the directory location I execute the following command:
  sudo cp Preferences.xml Preferences.bak
  Once backed up i execute:
  sudo nano Preferences.xml
  With the preferences file open I browse through all settings to find the entry allowedNetworks. If this setting is NOT present i move the cursor to AFTER PubSubServer="xx.xx.xx.xx"(x’s are in place of numbers here), and before OldestPreviousVersion="legacy". Here I enter the following line: allowedNetworks="192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0"
  Please Note: I’m currently going based off of my current preferences.xml, it’s a possibility that this setting can be entered anywhere in the file. I save the file using CTRL+X, then ‘Y’, then ‘Enter’.
• I don’t know if a restart is required, but if you can’t immediately access your PMS then either attempt to restart the server or the service.
  • To restart just the service on Ubuntu the following can be performed:
    sudo service plexmediaserver stop
sudo service plexmediaserver start
    or
    sudo service plexmediaserver restart

I surely hope this helps someone. If there are any settings or steps I overlooked please let me know. Or any issues you have encountered and possible solutions. If anyone can provide setups to access from other streaming devices please do, I will include them in this tutorial. I apologize for not detailing things for other environments.

[NewPlaza]

I don’t have linux and not likely to try this how-to but it looks like you put a lot of work into it. I hope this will benefit many people to come! Good job!

[sekthree]

Thank You! I’m more than willing to add different environment instructions if provided by other users.

[Kanslarinn]

Great job… Thanks a lot.

Do you have windows instructions?

Best regards
Jóhannes

[sekthree]

hello, THANK YOU! and your welcome.

I don’t YET. but if you can access the server settings from a webbrowser the configuration should be the same under Network section above.

I’ll see about setting up a windows box soon and attempt it so i can add to the tutorial if nobody provides them.

[Azg19]

Thanks for the instructions. They work on Windows as well.

[Azg19]

How can I avoid this problem that you mentioned:

“Many users nowadays fiddle with their browser settings, so everything is cleaned out when the browser is closed.
While that is in general a good idea, it does make life complicated for a Plex web app user: it will invalidate the login session to plex.tv and therefore to one’s plex account.
Not only does one have to re-login to plex.tv, the next time the browser is opened – logging-in is impossible if the internet is out!
This alone covers about 50% of all user’s ‘offline’ issues I reckon.”

[OttoKerner]

@Azg19

How can I avoid this problem that you mentioned:

Depends on the browser.
For Chrome, it is under
Settings - ‘Advanced’ - Privacy & Security - Content Settings - Cookies

• ‘Allow sites to save and read cookie data’ = ON
• ‘Keep local data only until you quit your browser’ ← if this is OFF, you don’t need to read further.
  If this is ON, you need to add under ‘Allow’ the domain names plex.tv, app.plex.tv, and the local/private IP of your plex server

---

In Firefox I actually needed to use an add-on named ‘Cookie Auto-Delete’ to achieve what I wanted (delete all the cookies by default, but keep a defined list)

Cookie AutoDelete – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

[DarKni8]

Is it possible to have authentication still on ? I dont want my tv to have access to my account directly

[sixxnet]

If you have no internet there will be no authentication.

[DarKni8]

Dammn,If i dont put local ips that dont need authentication and only put ip and subnet which is to be considered local, will that work if I dont have internet access.

[voodoo_ca]

I am trying this with a Roku Express and so far it isnt working.
I have seen people who say the Roku needs internet for ads, and others who say it works fine.

Really dont know if there is a solid answer on this.

What I am not sure about, is if the wireless connection says connected when the Roku doesnt find internet. I can get on the Wifi, but then you need to stay connected.

Anyone gone this far into the offline rabbit hole with Roku?

[voodoo_ca]

Ok, so I have an update to this.
The Roku Express is not connecting to the network.
It connects, then looks for internet - when it doesnt find the internet, it stops and doesnt stay connected to the wifi.
I thought the roku would be an easy solution because it is compact and has a simple remote (this is for some older people who are not computer literate), but I need another option.
Thinking about a chromcast with the remote maybe?

[jjross]

If you have the Roku connect one time I believe it’ll connect even without internet after that.

I think disabling network pings would help too.

[kiwichick]

@sekthree

cached connections can be used when internet is temporarily unavailable

Hi there, I am so confused about setting this up using the Android TV app to access local files from the server installed on my laptop. I’ve found that if I lose internet I can usually watch whatever was playing right through to the end. But, if I try to go forward or backward within what’s playing, or try to play something new, it won’t work. Is that what is meant by “cached connections”?

[LostOnTheLine]

@voodoo_ca

Thinking about a chromcast with the remote

The Chromecast with Google TV works great.
I have replaced my firesticks & Roku with them.
They work well without the internet if setup right.

It’s actually the device I’ve had the least trouble with in that regard, PS4, XBox One, PS3, Roku, Firestick, Vizio TV, Samsung TV, LG TV, One of the game consoles was the easiest for No Internet, I don’t remember which, but had other issues that I’ve dealt with, The Chromecast has been universally easy, everything is easier with it, & it has just run smoothly for everything

[voodoo_ca]

Thanks Lost
My problem seems to be keeping the chromcast connected to the WiFi.
It doesn’t like to stay connected and then looses the plex server. It might just be the cheapo WiFi router that I grabbed, not sure.
Of course I have someone using it that can’t do things like reconnect it.
I am thinking of trying a hard Ethernet connection…. I saw some that you can buy for chromcast with google tv.

Chad

[LostOnTheLine]

@voodoo_ca

hard Ethernet connection

Just know that any USB-C ones will work. it might be cheaper to get a USB powered hub & a USB Ethernet port.

But the Chromecast shouldn’t have trouble staying connected. That’s odd. Unlike the Firestick & Roku you can have multiple networks saved & if one has no connection it will switch to another so if the internet goes out & you have the Network SSID of a different network that you have connected to before that might be causing your issue. I personally have not had a problem like that so I cannot say for certain. I do know that when we have had the internet out I’ve never had it disconnect. I’m even able to connect it to a network that currently doesn’t have internet, something that the Roku refuses to do & the firestick you have to do a whole workaround to get it to not disconnect if there is no internet.

One thing that I don’t think is ideal, but maybe you could give a try, most routers have a Guest Network or Multiple SSID option. If you set a 2nd SSID up & put both in the Chromecast maybe it’ll stay connected? My thought is that if it’s trying to connect to another network & failing maybe it’s staying on that one instead of the other. It’s unlikely but possible

[SE56]

For me I believe tethering a great option for authorizing your Plex connection.

1. Create a hotspot with your Mobile phone
2. Make sure your Plex Clients and Server are on the same network

Authorization occurs and you can have Plex on your Big Screen TV. Yes it’s WiFi but a great work around with a land based Internet outage. Have used this method now a few times and it works perfectly with a good WiFi network.

[voodoo_ca]

So the problem with the Wifi seems to be connecting when you dont have internet.
You can go through the steps, connect, and when it checks for internet - it gives you a message and wont let you continue. You have to “back out” of the steps instead of finishing the connection… it seems to stay connected, but only for a bit and then has issues.
Quite frustrating…
The location where I set it up doesnt have internet, so I cant even just use that to try it.
I had it working at my house, but I was able to do it using an internet connection.
I am hoping the hardwire will just automatically take care of the IP and keep the chromcast hooked up.

Lost, there is a setting that says “automatically connect” - its a radio toggle or something (I am not in front of it at the moment). Because I cannot complete the internet connection, I cannot turn that option on to have it automatically connect.

I think that was the other thing…