Ah I see. You can access your server, but you can’t claim it. Looks like you deleted your server a few days ago from your accounts page, but it didn’t get removed from your server. Go ahead and remove your account information from your plist file following this guide, Why am I locked out of Server Settings and how do I get in? | Plex Support.
Once you do that, restart PMS, then use the “Open Plex” button. That should open your web browser to a plex.tv page where you need to sign in if not already, then it will ask if you want to claim the server.
I have done all this, and got to the “Server Setup” page. It asked me to put in a server name, which I did, then it ran for a few minutes and said “There is a problem claiming this server.”
Can you try again but on the setup page when it asks if you want to access the server from outside your network (i.e. remote access), say no. You can enable it after. I saw a report before where the remote access setting was preventing the setup page from continuing.
I no longer have access to the setup page. Instead some functions of the server are working seemingly normally. Libraries can be added; sometimes they stick around, sometimes not. Can’t really tell if the server is “claimed” or not. Hoping it will continue to recover functionality incrementally. Thanks for all your help!
So now I’m trapped in a loop of unclaimed - can’t claim - start over. Claiming just won’t take place. I’ve bounced back and forth among the known “good” versions, and the behavior changes slightly but to no avail. Libraries seem to be connected and I can view them locally, but Remote Access doesn’t work. Then the next morning, I reboot and my home page is empty. This has always worked well on my old Macbook Pro. Now the migration to the new Apple Silicon has left my server(s) completely inaccessible. How can I just back EVERYTHING out, get my account disassociated from any and all servers, and rebuild one from scratch? It is amazing to me that this fundamental utility doesn’t seem to exist.
There isn’t a single way to do this since information is saved on the server itself. You can remove all info from a server by following this guide Uninstall PMS.
How are you trying to claim the server? If you can access your server but not claim it, then you can claim it by using the “open Plex” option as explained in the original post.
There is a yellow alert triangle by the library I have “added.” Clicking on it tells me the server is not claimed, click to claim it now. That takes me to General settings, “This server is unclaimed and not secure.” I click on Claim Server. It spins and stops after a minute with the only message “Something went wrong. Please install manually.” Clicking on that takes me to Plex download page, inviting me to download Plex Media Server and then the whole process starts over.
After an excruciating hour with Apple Support, we found that Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN software was somehow no longer functioning correctly and had to be ripped out. Subsequent to that, the claiming process took place normally. Thank you very, very much for your attempts at helping me with this non-Plex issue.
Hello. Please do not get rid of the workaround for keeping a server signed out and unclaimed. Many privacy focused people such as myself prefer to keep the server LOCAL ONLY and NOT associated with a Plex account. DO NOT take this away from us or we will dump Plex in a heartbeat. This is in regards to your newest Plex Media Server version and the claiming requirement changes.
If your home network is secure, and you ONLY use it locally, leaving the plex server insecure should be a very minor risk. Please, let us keep doing what we’re doing. I beg of you. We do NOT want to associate the server with an account. There is NO need. The software should always allow people to use it locally without any sort of internet connect and/or account requirement. Requiring an account completely kills what people such as myself love about Plex. So I beg of you, PLEASE always keep the workaround to keep a server unclaimed.
Cannot even find the option. The menu doesn’t show “Open Plex”. Going through the thread confirms our disappointment with Plex, not to mention the fact that they don’t support their paying user directly. Do they refund Lifetime subscription? These silly changes were not anticipated at the time of subscription.
