When I first started using Plex it was a simple matter of setting up a server which would then auto publish to my local network, the iOS app would then allow me to download content when it was signed in to Plex pass.
At some stage this changed with an update to the iOS app and server that now forces us to login to Plex, the problem with this is that if there’s an issue with my home internet connection or the plex servers means I can no longer use my server.
I would like for some way to go back to the old method, simply run a server and have the client able to connect to it within my home network without needing to sign in to plex, it was flawless. Why is it that we must sign in anyway? There’s no need for this.
Today there was a disruption for several hours meaning I couldn’t access any of my content.
I’ve not known any other way then to sign in, I didn’t realise you could run content locally without signing in, that is how much I knew : - ) when I installed plex, I signed up at the same time, I thought it was needed regardless. I do know they introduced certificates back in June last year I think - this played havoc with my Sony Opera TV app for weeks , it was very temperamental during that period.
In the UK the outage happened just as pretty much all the family was in bed or just going to bed. But I know my Sony TV lost access to my media, but I just went to bed, and this morning kids we watching peppa pig etc as normal before school.
Those that we affected - how annoyed they must have been to be locked out of their own content but http://status.plex.tv/#month shows its not common and very rare.
I believe if you edit Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml and switch PlexOnlineHome=“1” to PlexOnlineHome=“0” you should be able to watch local content without signing in.
I’d shutdown server before and restart it after editing.
You don’t need to sign in to plex.tv. Leave your PMS un-signed into plex, then your clients don’t need to sign in either.
There is bug in the iOS app that prevents it from talking to your PMS without internet access. This is being investigated and hopefully a fix will be available soon.
@stangri said:
I believe if you edit Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml and switch PlexOnlineHome=“1” to PlexOnlineHome=“0” you should be able to watch local content without signing in.
I’d shutdown server before and restart it after editing.
That sounds like a promising start I’ll give that a go tonight.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
You don’t need to sign in to plex.tv. Leave your PMS un-signed into plex, then your clients don’t need to sign in either.
From the point when the new iOS app was released it kept forcing me to sign in and I couldn’t actually go further without doing so. FWIW I can’t stand the new app, the old one while not flawless was perfect, I only needed to sign in to download content to the iPad.
There is bug in the iOS app that prevents it from talking to your PMS without internet access. This is being investigated and hopefully a fix will be available soon.
There’s a bug in the server too. If I disconnect my internet connection but leave my server connected to the network then the server will not serve up any content, it has to be connected to the internet. I reported this one years ago with no resolution.
@brett.ryan@gmail.com said:
From the point when the new iOS app was released it kept forcing me to sign in and I couldn’t actually go further without doing so. FWIW I can’t stand the new app, the old one while not flawless was perfect, I only needed to sign in to download content to the iPad.
I’m not sure how long the bug has been there, but it’s possible it’s been there since the beginning.
There’s a bug in the server too. If I disconnect my internet connection but leave my server connected to the network then the server will not serve up any content, it has to be connected to the internet. I reported this one years ago with no resolution.
That is not true. It depends on the client. Without internet, I am still able to use my Android phone, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Roku devices on a local network without any problems. I have not verified other platforms, but most of them should also work. The exceptions being iOS and the Play Station apps. iOS due to the bug and PS due to their requirement that their devices be connected to the PSN for apps to work.
If you would like to test and disconnect your internet connection from your server, then provide me the server log while you attempt to connect from another device, I can take a look to see what is going on.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
@brett.ryan@gmail.com said:
There’s a bug in the server too. If I disconnect my internet connection but leave my server connected to the network then the server will not serve up any content, it has to be connected to the internet. I reported this one years ago with no resolution.
That is not true. It depends on the client. Without internet, I am still able to use my Android phone, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Roku devices on a local network without any problems. I have not verified other platforms, but most of them should also work. The exceptions being iOS and the Play Station apps. iOS due to the bug and PS due to their requirement that their devices be connected to the PSN for apps to work.
Actually, it is true, for me at least. If my plex server (OS X) is fired up, then I disconnect the internet connection, then I try to open any client, even on the same machine (Plex Home Theatre) it will just sit there doing nothing. Then if I physically pull the network cable from the server the Home Theatre and web client instantly start working. It appears to me to be a network resolution thing where the server requires some kind of authentication to continue.
This is true for me even when not signed into plex pass on the server.
If you would like to test and disconnect your internet connection from your server, then provide me the server log while you attempt to connect from another device, I can take a look to see what is going on.
I’ll do this when I get home, however I do remember providing this once before in a prior post I made (one of my first).
Just subbing to this…fingers crossed it works when I get home
