Plex remote access shows red, then immediately green.

General Discussions
1

Hello,

I’ve been a plex user for quite a few years, and have seen some weird behavior lately. My Windows 10 plex server has become frequently unavailable, and when I go to the server itself, and check out the server section of the website, it shows Remote Access briefly with a red circle, and it immediately turns green upon clicking on it, at which point my server is available again. It’s like it forgets it’s online, and then when I click on Remote Access, it wakes up and decides everything is OK.

I have manual port forwarding from my router to a static IP addressed local server. This configuration has been the same for a few years, and until the last few months, I’ve never had this problem. I verified router and server configuration, everything is correct.

I’m signed in with my plex account on the server, and I’ve done all basic troubleshooting such as rebooting, updating, patching, checking network connections, confirming no internet outages, etc.

Any ideas? Thanks for the help. It’s weird that all I have to do is load the Remote Access menu item in the browser, and it magically turns green and starts working again.

2

I have seen this happening a lot on my Windows 7 server, with both manual and automatic port forwarding.

3

I am seeing this now as well. Was working fine previously.

4

Yes, reported back in August. https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/228862/server-settings-page-remote-access-red-then-turns-green#latest
Still happening so apparently not fixed yet.
i have found that it does not affect Remote access though, I have never had the system be unavailable when I am on the road (which is, unfortunately, more often than not).

5

Thanks guys, sounds like a bug I guess. Unfortunately mine does become unavailable, even locally from home. When it’s in this state, it’s not accessible via Plex clients on MacOS, Samsung TV, Roku, Xbox, iPad, etc. I have to login and click over to that section to turn it green and have it accessible again.

6

yeah mine does impact my ability remotely until I check the page locally.

7

This is a known issue. The red in the beginning is a false negative, which can be ignored. The devs are looking into this but I have nothing to share.

8

This is still an issue, and it’s not false. Every other day or so I need to log into the Plex Server, click on the Server icon, and then click on the “Remote Access” section and then it turns green. At that point my server becomes available again.

Is this ever going to be fixed?

9

@Dbay94IG88 said:
This is still an issue, and it’s not false. Every other day or so I need to log into the Plex Server, click on the Server icon, and then click on the “Remote Access” section and then it turns green. At that point my server becomes available again.

Is this ever going to be fixed?

I have the same thing from time to time. I’ll get a call from a friend saying my server is down. While I’m still on the phone, I will go to Plex settings–>server. I’ll see the red icon on Remote Access then a second or two it goes green. I tell my friend to try again and everything is working again…

10

This can also happen if your public IP, local IP, or UPnP port (if you are using UPnP) changes. PMS only checks these every so often so if any of them has changed, PMS won’t detect it right away so remote access really will be red. Going into PlexWeb and going to the remote access tab forces PMS to recheck the IPs and port and go green.

As a check, note the public and local IP addresses and the ports being used. The next time you see red, go to PlexWeb and after it goes green, see if any of these have changed.

11

Thanks movie fan. My port is static, and forwarded on the router. Public IP hasn’t changed in about 11 months. Local IP is static.

I can literally have the Plex app open on my Samsung TV streaming a show, go over to the Xbox One or Roku on a different TV/Room, and it won’t connect. I then remote into the server, click on the server icon, and the icon will show red on the left.

Shouldn’t this also work while on the same network? All of my clients (Samsung, Xbox, roku, and IOS) don’t work when this happens, but shouldn’t they look on the local network for a server, if the “internet” server is unavailable? This happens multiple times daily, and makes Plex unusable for the family, since they don’t know how to get to the server to click on the menu item to turn it green. Such a pain…

12

If this is affecting local streaming then something is not right. The remote access settings should not affect a local connection. If it is, it’s possible there is something in your network that isn’t reporting your clients as being on the local network with your server. Have you gone through out troubleshooting guide when this occurs, https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/204604227-Why-can-t-the-Plex-app-find-or-connect-to-my-Plex-Media-Server-. I would turn off remote access and make sure you can get local playback working first.