Read through tons of guides but still struggling to get the port forwarding fixed after a restart.
Here’s my layout:
ISP Modem (Bridge Mode) -> Upstairs Router -> Downstairs AP -> Plex Server (Windows 10 PC)
Both the router and AP are Nighthawk R7800.
I’ve setup port forwarding on the Upstairs Router using the static IP I’ve assigned to my PMS but I think the AP is not honoring that port forward. I’m unable to change any of the port forwarding settings in the AP because of being in AP mode. To further test, I tried port forwarding to the AP’s IP address but didn’t have luck there either.
Because this used to work, I’m sure after a restart the new IP address assigned to my AP messed things up. I’ve since assigned the old IP (when things worked) as static to the AP but still no dice.
Trying to get this straight…
Your setup looks like this:
ISP Modem
=> Nighthawk R7800 ("upstairs") as Router
=> Nighthawk R7800 ("downstairs") as AP
=> Windows 10 machine with PMS connected to the AP
If your “downstairs” Nighthawk is solely working in AP mode, it won’t interfere in any way with local IP assignments or forwarding. All it’ll do is passing through traffic within your local network.
All that should matter is that…
you have a working port-forward established on your “upstairs” Nighthawk (with the same external port you have also configured in the Plex remote access settings)
you have an IP reservation / static IP address defined for your Windows PC defined in the router (the same one that is used as internal IP for the port forward).
btw… you did not mention if the port forward itself is working / accessible from outside your network.
Thanks, @tom80H. Correct. I have internet/external port 32400 forwarded on the “upstairs” Nighthawk but it fails any open port test I run. Obviously this is the root cause but I’m unable to understand why when I’ve double checked the current and correctly assigned static IP of my PMS.
Perhaps I should connect my laptop to the upstairs router, setup another port forward to its IP, and test there?
Thanks, @kesawi. I read this in some places but it never made a difference. I switched it back to LAN now per your advice for further testing but unfortunately still seeing the same result. My understanding is when the Nighthawk sees it’s switched to AP mode, all 5 ports can effectively be used the same.
And yes, DHCP is only enabled in the upstairs router and not the AP–nor in the ISP’s modem as it’s purely just in bridge mode.
are the “public IP” showing in Plex and your upstairs Nighthawk the same?
can you see/access your upstairs Nighthawk’s public IP address and the forwarded port (32400) from outside your network (e.g. using canyouseeme.org)?
If #2 doesn’t work… can you try using a different public port for your port forward (e.g. 32500) – just to rule out the ISP blocking that particular port. When you test this… make sure to also check and set the updated port in Plex under Settings > Server > Remote Access > Manually specify public port.
Thanks for the help, @tom80H. Yes, the public IP match between my PMS Settings and what’s shown in the router settings.
I tried your #2 option throughout troubleshooting earlier to no avail. Tried again just today and unfortunately still the same result.
Some other points which may not make a difference:
When I first boot up the PMS, it shows it’s available. Perhaps this is just because all the settings haven’t fully loaded yet.
Ever since setting a static IP on my PMS, I’m unable to access properties on my Network connection. When you Right Click on your connection -> Properties, it shows “An unexpected error occurred.”
Almost all my services now read Failed to Read Description. Error Code: 2 when I try to make sure I don’t have any background services (e.g. firewall) which would still be blocking a forwarded port.
When I try to disable Windows Defender Firewall, nothing happens. I’m unable to click on any of the System Security > Windows Defender Firewall settings.
I think my last 3 bullets are somehow related to a corrupted registry which I haven’t changed unless it was a recent Windows Update. Perhaps Windows Firewall on PMS after a recent update is interfering?
To further test my theory that some app is blocking ports on PMS, I ran netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name=all dire=in type=dynamic in command prompt but still facing Windows Defender errors with the response: An error occurred while attempting to contact the Windows Defender Firewall service. Make sure that the service is running and try your request again.
I realize this is no longer a Plex issue and more of a Windows issue (apologies for continuing the thread here). But the PMS firewall issues aside, I’m still confused on why I still wouldn’t be able to see the port open when I run canyouseeme.org from my laptop which still points back to the source router and not a PMS or AP issue.
I even setup a few test port forwards on the router using my laptop IP and random ports to no avail. Clearly there’s some stupid user error I’m facing here.
After resetting both routers, and ISP modem back to default settings–I was still getting IP port blocking issues. Thus it had to do with some firewall or app issue on my PMS so I restored it back to a previous restore point and it works fine.
Sorry for the hassle but when in doubt, a nice factory reset helps cure anything I guess.
