# Issues with direct connection **URL:** \ **Category:** Remote Access\ **Tags:** server-windows, android-mobile-legacy\ **Created:** [November 2, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629 "2020-11-02T17:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/1 "2020-11-02T17:00:22Z")
I’m having many issues with accessing my plex server remotely. I am a forum noob so please bear with me I am on windows server 2019 remote access says enabled and is configured through port forwarding I have an exception on my firewall Whenever I play media I always get the relay and an indirect connection Any ideas?? ---
**Author:** ![certuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@certuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/certuna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/2 "2020-11-02T17:02:55Z")
Is it just with Plex or do other applications (ssh, vnc, webserver etc) also not work? If you’ve got CG-NAT upstream it won’t work. ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/3 "2020-11-02T17:04:33Z")
Other applications do work from different devices port forwarded its just plex on the windows server that wont give me a direct connection ---
**Author:** ![certuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@certuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/certuna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/4 "2020-11-02T17:19:12Z")
This might be the infamous “DNS rebind protection” issue. If you set your server’s DNS server to another one (say, Google’s 8.8.8.8 ), does this still happen? ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/5 "2020-11-02T17:20:28Z")
I did try that and still getting the same issue. Wondering if I should change DNS on my gateway as well ---
**Author:** ![certuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@certuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/certuna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/6 "2020-11-02T17:22:54Z")
Worth trying. If you try to connect directly from an external browser to the ip address of the server (so not through app.plex.tv, but for example, [http://123.123.123.123:32400/web](http://123.123.123.123:32400/web) ), does that work? (this needs “secure connections” to not be “required” in the PMS Network settings). ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:29pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/7 "2020-11-02T17:29:02Z")
That did work. Forgot to mention that sometimes direct connect will work and other times I will just get the relay Thank you for troubleshooting with me btw ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/8 "2020-11-02T17:31:28Z")
as I posted that I tried refreshing the direct IP connection and got a limited connection ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/1/1/118322215d93b43efebde6bad94917c836d95546.png) ---
**Author:** ![certuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@certuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/certuna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:33pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/9 "2020-11-02T17:33:52Z")
maybe reboot the router & server just to start afresh and try the `http://[ip address]:[port]/web` thing again? (and turn off “enable relay” in PMS Network Settings, so you don’t get relayed/indirect anymore) ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/10 "2020-11-02T17:39:38Z")
I can’t access it at all now ---
**Author:** ![FordGuy61](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/22d042/32.png) [@FordGuy61](https://forums.plex.tv/u/FordGuy61)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/11 "2020-11-02T17:41:06Z")
To check if remote access is working, from the same network as your server, go to [canyouseeme.org](http://canyouseeme.org). Replace the default port 80 with your remote access port (ex: 32400). It will test if it can reach your Plex server. To continually monitor remote access, check out [uptimerobot.com](http://uptimerobot.com). It will monitor remote access and send you an e-mail if it cannot reach your server. The free account is all you need. The default monitoring period is every five minutes. Uptime Robot status page: ![Screenshot (312)](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/0/b/0b9f5d2d0c6ba576ca9a26e0418c0a1217f0caa3.png) ---
**Author:** ![certuna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@certuna](https://forums.plex.tv/u/certuna)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/12 "2020-11-02T17:41:14Z")
If you can’t reach it by ip address, then it’s not a DNS issue at least. ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/13 "2020-11-02T17:41:57Z")
it shows the port is open ---
**Author:** ![pshanew](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/pshanew/32/160555_2.png) [@pshanew](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pshanew)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/14 "2020-11-02T17:46:55Z")
In addition to the suggestions above, it may be worthwhile to see if the remote connection information is being correctly published to Plex’s servers. You can check this by browsing to: [https://plex.tv/api/resources?X-Plex-Token=XXXXXX](https://plex.tv/api/resources?X-Plex-Token=XXXXXX) Replace the Xs with your Plex online token. You can find what your token is using the information [here](https://support.plex.tv/articles/204059436-finding-an-authentication-token-x-plex-token/). This will return an XML document listing all your Plex devices (clients and servers); the server(s) should be listed at the top. You should see a line with your public IP address, with `local="0"` set. Something like this: ```auto ** ``` Make sure the port shown for this listing matches what you configured for the port forward in your router and what you manually set in the remote access settings in Plex. ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/15 "2020-11-02T17:55:22Z")
Everything matches ---
**Author:** ![pshanew](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/pshanew/32/160555_2.png) [@pshanew](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pshanew)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/16 "2020-11-02T18:27:28Z")
Ok, next let’s see if DNS is able to properly resolve your server’s public IP address from its MyPlex FQDN. To figure out what that FQDN is, you need your server’s certificate UUID. You can find it in your registry under: `HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server`. Find the value for `CertificateUUID`. The FQDN will start with your public IP address (delimited by hyphens instead of periods), the CertificateUUID, and “plex.direct” all separated by periods. So, for example: ```auto 123-123-123-123.123457890abcdef.plex.direct ``` Try pinging that IP address from the remote client to see if it resolves to your public IP address. ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/17 "2020-11-02T20:19:53Z")
My certificateUUID just seems to be a string of numbers and letters? ---
**Author:** ![pshanew](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/pshanew/32/160555_2.png) [@pshanew](https://forums.plex.tv/u/pshanew)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/18 "2020-11-02T20:58:51Z")
Yes, that is correct. It’s a unique identifier to help distinguish your server certificate from all the other Plex servers’ out there. ---
**Author:** ![mjd2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mjd2000](https://forums.plex.tv/u/mjd2000)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/19 "2020-11-02T21:16:33Z")
Ok, sorry I didn’t understand where to put it. Figured it out, and I am receiving replies ---
**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629/20 "2020-11-02T21:41:06Z")
Since you tagged Android, I’m assuming you have this issue when using the Android app? Next time you see that message, grab the logs and send those to me. [Android, Android TV, Fire TV Logs | Plex Support](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201573117-android-android-tv-fire-tv-logs/) [Next page](https://forums.plex.tv/t/issues-with-direct-connection/649629.md?page=2)