Locked out of server access from a device that I don't have anymore

[sk8ercorey]

So I have finally decided to write here on the community forum pages, as I have no way of contacting Plex for the issue I’m having.

After spending many hours ripping out my hair trying to diagnose the issue, I need some assistance, or rather some knowledge, into if there is any way of fixing my issue. I previously had a Plex server running off my Mac, which got corrupted, and I lost all my information. I had to completely replace my Mac, and decided to use a completely new server running off a Windows PC tower I had lying around, and no matter what I try, I keep getting this error:

Not authorized

You do not have access to this server.

You may be able to claim it by choosing “Open Plex…” from the Plex menu in the macOS menu bar or Windows system tray. For more troubleshooting tips, see our support article.

As stated above, I no longer have access to this tower, and even though I am setting up a completely new server, under a completely different machine, with a separate system IP address, I keep running into this issue, not matter what I try. I have went in to my Plex user account, and deleted my previous Mac Plex server, and that doesn’t fix it. I have also went into my router settings, deleted all of my devices from my router list, reset the router to factory settings, and I still get this error.

I also went through my system setting and deleted the previous key associated with the Media Server software, reinstalled the software from scratch, with no luck. I truly feel like I am chasing my own tail no matter what I try, and if anyone from the community knows of any way to fix this, that would be greatly appreciated.

[BigWheel]

It does not show up here where you can remove it? https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/devices/pms

[sk8ercorey]

nope. All I see is my new server that I am trying to set up, and no other devices.

[Divideby0]

Hmm, I see a Chrome browser client and a Plex-for-Windows client (with the odd name of “Home-Server”), but no actual “server”. I think this is the issue, is that you appear to have no registered server on your account, but are accessing an “unclaimed” server?

If you are on the computer itself that has the server software running, access it by typing in 127.0.0.1:32400/web into a browser. You should be prompted to “claim” the server to your logged in account.

If that fails, you may need to revoke any previous “authorized” accounts belonging to the server (no idea how it might have happened). Visit the support article you already linked in your error message for info on where in Windows you go to delete the precious settings.

I’m curious if you might have installed only the Plex-for-Windows client repeatedly, but not the server software.

Edit: I’d like to know how you managed to set the name for that client. My Plex-for-Windows client has a generic name of " DESKTOP-D62TNC7", but I’d love to change that…

[sk8ercorey]

@Divideby0

127.0.0.1:32400/web

So whenever I try to Open Plex from the Plex Media Server software on my PC, it brings me to a page with the above error I noted. I also don’t get the option to claim access to the previous server, since it was on a system that I don’t have anymore, since the device died.

EDIT: Home-Server is the name of my Windows PC that I am trying to host the new server on.

[Divideby0]

I don’t believe that the message you are getting is because of your old Mac server. Even if it was still up and running, you attempting to access a server’s content that you are not authorized to see is why you get this error message. That means you don’t appear to “own” the server installed on the Windows computer, and the Windows server is refusing the connection. I encountered this a lot when I installed Plex into my NAS a long time ago. You must access a server from a location that is authorized to claim it, otherwise you get this message.
(That being said, accessing the server using 127.0.0.1 SHOULD have worked )

Did you try to locate the keys in your registry referred to in the support article for a Windows Server?

I don’t have a Windows server myself, so if I am not the right one to help, I can back out.

[sk8ercorey]

Just fixed it haha! Had to go in and delete the keys in regedit.

Was pretty sure i did that the other night, but seemed to fix the issue! Thanks for your help!

[Divideby0]

Phew, glad to hear. Strange how the server got previously claimed somehow, my thinking is that shouldn’t have happened. But at least it works!