Hi all, I’ve created a plex media server hosted on my desktop just to be able to watch from my TV in the living room. It has been working great for the past year or so. Recently Im facing some issues, I cant seem to log in to the server as well as logging into the plex website/ even the forums. It seems that something is blocking connects to the plex servers. I’ve searched all over the internet, and narrowed it down to the tunnelbear VPN trial that I installed in Feb. Somehow downloading and using the VPN changed some of my network settings (even though I’ve had plex on my desktop for way longer). Uninstalling tunnelbear does not work, I’ve tried editing my host files, changing my registry editor, allowing Plex server ports on my windows firewall. All does not work. The only solution is if I download tunnelbear again and switch on the VPN. Everything works when Im on the VPN. However I do not want to use a VPN while connected to Plex, hoping there are some solutions out there. I have thought of deleting and recreating my plex account, but I’m not sure if that will solve my problem.
changing your Plex account or anything else to do with Plex won’t help. TunnelBear has obviously made some changes to your system and uninstalling it is not reverting those changes.
I know zip about Tunnelbear but the things to check sound mostly what you have already done. Check it’s not also messed up your DNS etc. Post your Plex server logs, they might point at what exactly Plex is being prevented from doing.
As BobSnot explained – deleting your Plex account won’t change a thing about what TunnelBear did on your system.
In addition to checking the DNS settings you might also want to check the hosts file for related entries that’ll interfere with basic communication (e.g. routing all traffic from loopbacks through TunnelBear…).
At this point I would re-install Tunnel Bear to recover whatever GUI it has for changing settings, and look around in there.
It seems possible that it was trying to “help” by implementing a more strict firewall which will block the Plex server.
Thanks everyone for your replies. I have just checked my hosts file; it is empty (I’ve deleted this previously just to start on a clean slate). The funny thing is that it connects when TunnelBear VPN is switched on, but fails to connect when Tunnelbear is turned off.
I’ve managed to get the server up and running, however, there is a Exclaimation Mark on all of the services that requires connection to Plex (Live TV, Movies and Shows, Podcasts, etc). Only my local folders are accesible. Connecting to the server via the TV also does not work.
I managed to locate the console, it seems that there may be some info that will help:
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:05.817 [30580] Debug — WebSocket: Performing handshake from origin http://127.0.0.1:32400
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:05.817 [30580] Debug — Beginning read from WebSocket
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:05.837 [30580] Debug — Request: [127.0.0.1:56145 (Loopback)] GET /activities (8 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (samuel212) (Firefox)
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:05.837 [25500] Debug — Completed: [127.0.0.1:56145] 200 GET /activities (8 live) GZIP 0ms 350 bytes (pipelined: 28)
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:10.961 [20440] Debug — [EventSourceClient/pubsub] MyPlex: Updating device connections (from timer: 1)
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:10.961 [20440] Debug — [EventSourceClient/pubsub] HTTP requesting PUT Sign In | Plex
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:11.344 [27120] Warning — [HttpClient] HTTP error requesting PUT Sign In | Plex (60, SSL peer certificate or SSH remote key was not OK) (SSL: no alternative certificate subject name matches target host name ‘plex.tv’)
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:11.344 [20440] Warning — [EventSourceClient/pubsub] MyPlex: Updating device connections failed, retrying in 160 seconds.
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:12.606 [25500] Debug — Completed: [127.0.0.1:56146] 200 GET /player/proxy/poll?deviceClass=pc&protocolVersion=3&protocolCapabilities=timeline%2Cplayback%2Cnavigation%2Cmirror%2Cplayqueues&timeout=1 (8 live) GZIP 20014ms 5 bytes (pipelined: 7)
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:12.614 [30580] Debug — Request: [127.0.0.1:56145 (Loopback)] GET /player/proxy/poll?deviceClass=pc&protocolVersion=3&protocolCapabilities=timeline%2Cplayback%2Cnavigation%2Cmirror%2Cplayqueues&timeout=1 (7 live) GZIP Signed-in Token (samuel212) (Firefox)
Apr 03, 2022 18:43:12.614 [30580] Debug — Content-Length is -1 (of total: -1).
