Indirect even though its on the host Pc

General Discussions
1

So for some weird reason, everything i use plex on says it has an indirect connect even if its on a direct connection or even if its on the host pc, ive tried enabling and disabling relay, it just isnt working for some weird reason, im also not using a vpn or proxy

2

What platform - Windows, Linux, NAS, etc?

If running on Windows, make sure the network interface is Private, not Public.

Windows 10: Settings ā†’ Network & Internet. Select Properties if you need to change the setting.

You may need to reboot the PC if you change the network from Public to Private.

Public is appropriate for shared places such as coffee shops, libraries, etc. It isolates your PC from all other devices on the network, including Plex clients. Since the Plex client cannot connect directly to the server, it uses Plex relay, which appears in the Plex Dashboard as an indirect connection.

Private is appropriate for places such as your home. It does not isolate your PC from other devices on the network. WRT Plex, this lets the clients communicate directly with the server. In Plex Dashboard they should appear as a Local connection.

3

I have the exact same problem. All connections within my home are Indirect and all remote connections are perfect. Can someone please give me a hand here? Iā€™m so frustrated that i am getting ready to trash the whole thing

4

ā€œExactā€ same issue? You get a relay even when watching plex on the same machine as the server itself?

5

I get a relayed connection on every device on my network, with the EXCEPTION of the host machine.

6

hey, thanks for responding. I am running it on windows 11 however itā€™s been doing it before my windows upgrade, I have been using private for a quite awhile however it still doesnā€™t work, any other ideas?

7

@Kanewhittingham01_outlook_com

Thanks for the info.

  1. Any entries in Settings ā†’ Network ā†’ LAN Networks?
    If all of your devices are on the same subnet, you should not need any entries in that box.

  1. What do you have for Settings ā†’ Network ā†’ Secure Communications?
    If set to required, change it to Preferred.

    Then, on the PMS PC, using a incognito/private browser window, try:

Are connections local/remote/indirect?

What if you use https instead of http?


  1. You may be running into DNS rebinding. See the DNS Rebinding section in How to Use Secure Communications.

What DNS servers are devices on your network using (clients too, not just your server)?

Try changing them to a public DNS such as Google (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) or CloudFlare (1.1.1.1).

If you change the DNS settings on a device, restart it. This will force the device to pick up the new settings.

8

Yeah i dont see any entries in them. it was already set to preferred. did that and they are all nearby not indirect. didnt try https.

9

Iā€™m following this closely. Iā€™m having the same issues. I opened a private browser window and am getting a relayed connection there as well. This is crazy, people a thousand miles away are getting normal connections to my server but I canā€™t get on in the house.

10

Background info on my issue with local network relay. Feel free to ignore:

Well, the only time I had a relay within the network, but worked fine remotely was because of a network issue in my own network. Iā€™d been working on moving Plex to a docker, and was using a network mode calledā€¦ um, I think Bridge mode. It created a virtual network for my Docker Containers to exist on, and is SUPPOSED to relay the traffic from that virtual network outside the box to the local network.

However, it means the container has a strange IP (Something like 10.10.10.x). In order for any client in the local network to connect to the server, it has to know the servers IP. So your server tells Plex.TV what the local IP address is supposed to be. Then, when you log into your client app, Plex.TV sends your client the IP of your server. If your computer can REACH that network IP and connect, then it works and you never have to use the general internet. My problem was that my own computer had no idea how to reach the server IP of 10.10.10.x, so it had to fall back to using the Plex relay.

Soā€¦ I dunno. If this is your issue, you will have a different IP address for your server than your own computer. Telling us your internal network IP addresses wonā€™t be dangerous, so if you want, list the (INTERNAL ONLY) IP of your server and of your computer, so we can tell if itā€™s a networking issue.

1 Like
11

I wonder if the ā€œVirtualization based securityā€ which was introduced in Windows 11 can have a similar effect.

Do also verify that the IP address range you are using in your home network is an actual ā€œprivateā€ IP range Private network - Wikipedia
Do not use any IP address range, even if it seemingly works for you.

Any type of ā€œvirtualizationā€, like Docker etc. has the potential to interrupt the data flow between server and clients. You should ask yourself if you really need to virtualize everything. Doing so will make administration of the network much more complex, particularly if you are not exactly a computer professional.

VPN software can also have the described effect.

12

Well, a computer professional I am not. However, Iā€™m having a heck of a time accessing my Plex server when I am on my own network without be forced through a relay connection. I am running mesh Linksys routers and was not having a problem until a couple of months ago. I checked with Linksys and they have not updated the firmware since mid-summer, which makes me think that there was some kind of update from Plex that changed something, or possible windows. I really like the idea of Plex, but I am at my wits end.

13

I found my problem. My VPN firewall was causing everything to be relayed. I deleted the VPN app and reinstalled it and everything is 100% fine now.

Hope this helps others with this problem out.

14

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