So, your old Samsung TV suddenly can’t connect, and when reinstalling, the link codes shows as blanks!
If so read ahead…
Basics
Some facts:
- Samsung Smart Hub TVs were manufactured before 2016
- The client on your TV, that has a version starting with
1.2x.something– if so, note that the client was not made by Plex, but by a 3rd Party.
So in short, the Smart-TV part of your TV is getting old, and is no longer supported by Samsung!
Above means, that no further updates to the TV firmware will be provided by Samsung – including no more security updates which might be needed to securely connect to services on the internet
Impact
In order to keep up with security, Plex was forced to update the certificates and protocols both on plex.tv as well as on the individual Plex Media Servers as well. The lack of security updates is sadly preventing the old Samsung TV’s from connecting to your Plex Media Server. 
FixIt
Why doesn’t Plex simply fix this on the Samsung TV?
Plex sadly can’t do that, since not only would it require access to part of the Smart-TV code that only Samsung can access, but also note that the hardware is getting too old to work with modern security protocols
Why doesn’t Plex then simply stop upgrading to the new fancy security stuff, and let my old Samsung TV work?
Plex can’t, since that would mean putting everyone else at risk.
Options
So what are my options here?
Replace your TV
Yes, we know, it’s a hard and costly way
Add a streaming box to your setup
This is what we recommend, since less expensive, and players are receiving more updates by their manufacturers than TV’s. We do not recommend one over the others, but here’s a limited, and not completed list: Roku, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, Chrome Cast, Fire Stick
Keep the "Old Samsung" alive
If you still want to use your old Sammy, there’s a non-trivial workaround
- You need to prep your PMS (Server) → Important information about Plex for smart TVs after September 30, 2021
- Use the Proxy here → GitHub - kadrim/proxy4plex: Proxy Server for older Samsung Smart-TVs which only support TLS up to 1.1
Alternative ( Not recommended )
In the Samsung Client, you can press the c button, and enter the IP Address of your Plex Server
Then on your Plex Server, under Settings/Network you can in the setting named List of IP addresses and networks that are allowed without auth enter the IP of your Samsung TV
If doing above, only do that if the TV and the server is in the same house, and TV will then be logged in as the Server owner
