I am new to Plex, though I had the account since 2017.
Was using Kodi.
Am keen to use Plex for its Server capabilities and got a 1 month free Plex Pass to trial it out.
I am not very familiar at using the Plex Community site, so my sincere apologies and would appreciate if you could please redirect me, if I am on the wrong channel.
Read a lot on the issue below on Redit, Plex community, YouTube even ChatGPT but was not successful.
Issue:
I connect manually via Port 32400. For a few secounds, it stays green “fully accessible outside your network”, but then it goes back to red " Not available outside your network"
Steps:
Using Windows 11 Home Desktop (MiniPc) Server and gave it a static IP Address.
MiniPc runs on Wifi
Installed latest Plex Media Server
EERO6 Router toggled UPnP is on
EERO6 Reserved the IP Address as point 1 - for the MiniPc and added 32400 as Port Forwarding and Protocol TCP
On MiniPc configured Firewall (Windows Defender) Inbound Rule & added the 32400 Port
The only Antivirus I have on the MiniPc is Microsoft Defender. For a very brief period (10 minutes) I switched off the Firewall and still get the Issue i.e. green for a few seconds and then red.
I checked the online Port Checker Tool but could not access the site.
Throughout the installation and testing I restarted the MiniPc just in case it would help.
What does that mean to you?
Did you check " Manually specify public port" in the Plex remote access settings?
Are you certain that your internet connection has a publicly accessible IPv4 address on the WAN side?
Most ISPs nowadays are no longer handing these out and put their customers by default into a CG-NAT situation.
Unless your ISP is allowing you to change that (most often by buying a “static IP”), there is no way to achieve successful remote access.
That should be done automatically by the plex server installer .exe. No need to do it manually.
Good strategy.
Not necessary if you are using a manually created port forwarding.
Recommend to disable, to prevent malware and other devices in your local network to automatically open ports in your WAN interface.
Not recommended for a Plex server machine.
Wire it up and verify that Windows has classified the network connection as “private”, not as “public”.
Many thanks Otto for your quick response, I appreciate it. My responses are below:
Q) Did you check “Manually specify public port” in the Plex remote access settings?
A) Yes, I checked the Manually specify public port - as the Remote Access flashed Red
Q) Are you certain that your internet connection has a publicly accessible IPv4 address on the WAN side?
A) The router is EERO6+
The ipv6 is toggled off on the EERO Router
I am getting a connection from ipv4 on my windows laptop
My WD NAS Cloud are all on ipv4 and accessible
Q) Most ISPs nowadays are no longer handing these out and put their customers by default into a CG-NAT situation.
A) Will contact my ISP Provider for more info
Note the EERO6+ WAN Type is PPoE
Q) On MiniPc configured Firewall (Windows Defender) Inbound Rule & added the 32400 Port. That should be done automatically by the plex server installer .exe. No need to do it manually.
A) When I checked the Properties on the Inbound Rules on Firewall Windows Defender “Plex Media Server” it did not have any Ports, so I created a new rule but did not delete the one installed. The names are different though so it would not create a conflict. Will check in the evening when I am home.
Q) EERO6 Router toggled UPnP is on
Not necessary if you are using a manually created port forwarding.
Recommend to disable, to prevent malware and other devices in your local network to automatically open ports in your WAN interface.
A) Thank you fo this tip. I did not realise. Will toggle OFF the UPnP switch on EERO6+
Q) MiniPc runs on Wifi
Not recommended for a Plex server machine.
Wire it up and verify that Windows has classified the network connection as “private”, not as “public”.
A) Will wire it up in the evening.
Q) Basics of Remote Access Troubleshooting
A) Will re read this documentation.
Hi Otto
Thanks for your help on this matter. The issue as you suggested was with the CGNAT. We recently changed Providers and they are using CGNAT. I contacted them on the weekend and they gave me a Public Facing IP which comes up automatically on Plex Settings for Remote Access. I then opened the 32400 port on the router.
Thanks once again.
Anita
