Hello,
I seem to have a bit of confusion (not hard to accomplish).
Periodically, devices on my home network require authorization to access Plex. [plex.tv/link]
As all devices are local, I’m confused as to why this is required. Does it have to do with the settings for (Network Authorization Settings) as described at:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200890058
Would ensuring this field is blank resolve my issue? Or, will I need to assign a static IP to all my devices and list them here? Or, am I completely looking in the wrong place? Help is greatly appreciated for this mild annoyance.
@tecolwell said:
As all devices are local, I’m confused as to why this is required. Does it have to do with the settings for (Network Authorization Settings) as described at:
https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200890058
Would ensuring this field is blank resolve my issue? Or, will I need to assign a static IP to all my devices and list them here? Or, am I completely looking in the wrong place? Help is greatly appreciated for this mild annoyance.
For some of them, yes. The ‘higher end’ clients can find a plex server on the local network on their own and thus don’t require to be ‘signed in’ to your plex account. This mechanism is called ‘GDM’.
Additionally, if they don’t manage to find your server you can help them by pointing them to the correct IP of your Plex server. The setting is often called ‘manual server IP’ or ‘manual server config’ or similar.
This of course doesn’t work with clients which are not in your home network. Like e.g. your smart phone.
Some clients though, cannot do this. The technical underpinning of these clients doesn’t allow the opening of a network port for listening when other plex devices call out on the local network “Hello, anyone there?”
These clients get help from plex.tv. Since your server is signed in to plex.tv anyway, it tells any plex client which is signed in to your account the IP addresses of your server.
This does not mean that any of your media traffic is travelling to plex.tv and back.
And normally, your clients should not get “signed out” from your account on their own.
This usually only happens, if you erase some devices from Settings - Devices in Plex Web
The whole user account enchilada gets also much more important, if you have several users in your household and you want to restrict what they can and cannot see from your server.
Or if you, at some point, get invited to the Plex server of another user. You then have to authenticate yourself, which is done with your plex account. If you want to play something from another user’s server, your plex client must be linked to your plex account.
Thanks OttoKerner. To be sure I understand correctly.
- Ensure GDM is enabled (it is)
- Remove the IP/Netmask from “List of networks that are allowed without auth”
You are correct about getting signed out. It occurs most often when an app updates. This is fine when I’m home, but all hell breaks loose when this occurs and I’m away.
@tecolwell said:
- Ensure GDM is enabled (it is)
Yes, definitely.
- Remove the IP/Netmask from “List of networks that are allowed without auth”
Not quite. Instead, make sure it mirrors the whole local network you have at home (but not more than that!)
You can peek at your router’s settings, especially where the private network and the ‘DHCP address range’ is defined.
Must routers come pre-configured to use a private Class C network out of the 192.168.x.x range, so that may be looking familiar to you.
If your router uses e.g. the network 192.168.2.0, it very likely uses a netmask of 255.255.255.0.
Your network address may differ in the third ‘octet’ (which is 2 in the example).
This information then goes into Plex’s settings as 192.168.2.0/255.255.255.0 (no spaces!)
It tells Plex server to not require user authentication for any request that originates within your home network.
This preference, though, is only effective if you have not created ‘managed users’ and have not set a PIN on your plex account.
Additionally, put your plex server’s IP into the ‘manual server configuration’ of the client which provide this preference.
(I know Plex Home Theater and Plex Media Player have it, iOS clients have it too and maybe some other apps also.)
Ah, that is exactly how I was already set-up. I guess ROKU and XBox One will require re-authentication from time to time. Oh well, Thanks for the assistance and detailed explanation!
