Plex Server - "Not Authorized" "Something went wrong"

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#:1.42.2.10156
Player Version#:N/A
Been beating my head on this for days (months really). I cannot get PLEX to work on my new server. Even our friend ChatGPT keeps sending me in circles. It just seems it should work, but is not.

Here is what is happening at the top level:

1 Had it running on an old Windows 7 server

2 Deactivated/deauthorized it on Windows 7

3 Installed everything on new Windows 11 server

4 After installation, I get the initializing library busy screen (not signed in yet)

5 Initialization ends with screen claims “Something went wrong. Make sure the server is available and try again”. PMS is running.

6 After this, generally get “not authorized” and subsequently

7 Open plex from the plex menu, always comes to the not-authorized screen.

8 When connecting to the cloud, the new server is shown as an authorized device.

Other pieces of evidence:

  • There were times when there were multiple installations of the new Win11 server authorized (as trying different things, but deauthorized them)
  • Lifetime license (if that makes any difference)
  • Have a SoftEther VPN (I have not uninstalled, but turned off all related services to manual and rebooted)
  • I may have not completely deactivated the old Windows 7 server before installing the Windows 11 (might have been an order problem, might have deactivated Windows 7 from Windows 7 later, and then in cloud)
  • I have deactivated Firewall completely
  • I am not using any proxies
  • Looked for other things trying to use the same port 32400 (nothing)
  • Disabled ipv6
  • I heard that other authorized plex devices can cause problems. While I did not delete installs off of TV’s, I have deauthorized everything except the new server.
  • Cleared browser cookies, the recommended registry settings, etc.
  • I had NordVPN installed, have completely uninstalled, then rebooted and reinstalled Plex, no difference.
  • Have multiple network adapters. Disabled all other adapters, rebooted so that hopefully PLEX would bind to the one and only if this was an authentication problem
  • Use the Plex claim code many times. It starts up the server, but never seems to authorize (as claims not authorized).
  • Curl:443 reaches Plex.tv with no errors that I can tell (But I think the fact that the new server is an authorized device also shows that)
  • Using Plex 1.42.2.10156
  • The server is always running in the task manager (25 Meg, no network, very little disk use 0.1% occasionally)
  • Old password was weak and did not meet the new password requirements, so updated the password in case it was background blocking access by some rule
  • I am never asked to “claim” the server
  • “setup plex.html” goes to the “initializing Plex Media Server” screen, twirls for a few minutes and then says “Something went wrong. Make sure the server is available and try again”, same as after install

At this point, it feels like the plex server is running and authenticated with the cloud, but the web client cannot talk to the local server, or is not allowed to.

Any help would be appreciated.

I started this install months ago, and just got back to it over the holidays thinking it would be a quick task to simply install it and get it going. At this point, I am tempted to install on another PC to confirm if anything will authenticate and work.

2

lets start with a copy if your server logs.

3

Plex Media Server.log (1.1 MB)

Thanks, see attached. I looked for errors, and see one. I also see that there are 13 authentications which I assume are for every time I tried to use a claim code.

4

Please see the article on Server Logs on how to get the zip of all your logs. Please also do not edit them (that log appears to have been manually edited)

If you will not post unedited logs, you can PM them to me.

5

Sorry, you are correct, I should have zipped.

I did not edit the log file (considered removing email and stuff but did not).

6

Did you want a zip of all logs? Or just the server log?

7

When we ask for the server logs we are asking for the entire set of logs created by plex (as noted in the linked article).

8

As requested. As I cannot get into the PLEX web GUI, I zipped the files manually from the LOGS folder.

Plex Tuner Service.zip (215.2 KB)

9

Something is going on, Plex is seeing 199.254.235.18 as the LAN address. Are you using a Modem/router?

I am also seeing Jan 04, 2026 12:13:58.453 [20988] DEBUG - Ordered to stop server. which looks like an external request to stop the server.

I would check your network settings, and try restarting Plex.

10

The address is the local address of the server it is on (I am not using the reserved 192.168.x.x).

As for the external request to stop… what causes that message? I was trying a lot of different things, so it is possible at that specific time I may have given up on something and stopped the service or exited PLEX.

11

You asked about my modem/router…. I have a modem for the house, then a switch which serves up the 199.x.x.x addresses. Ports for key services are forwarded to the server. I did look into network connectivity, and it seems that PLEX is registering itself with the cloud so I assume the networking is fine, but if there is some specific port which needs to be forwarded, I’d like to know what it is. I checked my rules last night and I never setup a rule for PLEX, but did have other ports for other services forwarding.

Also, my old server which used to run PLEX for years is also in the same configuration with nothing PLEX specific (but could have been another forwarding rule that may have been unknowingly enabling something).

But at the end of the day, if PLEX is being seen as an authorized device in the cloud, it seems connectivity is good. Or is that an incorrect assumption?

12

Why dont people use the RFC-1918 addresses that should be used? Server setup wizard not authorized - #10 by dbirch

Fix your networking to a public IP space and Im going to bet your issues go away. FYI the IP range you are using has been allocated to Stop Signs for Nora

13

Yes, that’s my address block :slight_smile:

14

As there is no conflict with this block, PLEX should not be confused by it. And, I already had PLEX working for years on the same address block. Unless there is some port that is not being forwarded, I don’t think it’s the LAN.

15

Being on a non-RFC complaint IP does cause issues.

The reason I bring that up is that this line Jan 03, 2026 23:35:30.212 [15692] DEBUG - MyPlex: Sending Server Info to myPlex (user=m*******@*****il.com, ip=, port=0) doesnt show an IP address.
Example from someone else’s logs:
Jan 03, 2026 10:51:30.347 [23041492773688] DEBUG - MyPlex: Sending Server Info to myPlex (user=n*******@***il.com, ip=7*.**.**.**5, port=10219)

Please note I did censor info on the forum so email addresses dont get published without permission.

Please try http://127.0.0.1:32400/web and see what that shows.

Second: http://<IP_OF_PMS>:32400/identity what does it show for claimed= (Please do not post everything)

16

That is a public address block, owned by an organization named “Stop Signs for Nora.”

NetRange:       199.254.235.0 - 199.254.235.255
CIDR:           199.254.235.0/24
NetName:        STOP-SIGNS
NetHandle:      NET-199-254-235-0-1
Parent:         NET199 (NET-199-0-0-0-0)
NetType:        Direct Allocation
OriginAS:       
Organization:   Stop Signs for Nora (SSN-2)

For your private networks, you should (read must) be using a private, RFC-1918 address block. This ensures that private routing works properly and that your internal network doesn’t collide with any public networks.

If you’re truly using that for your private network, you really need to renumber it.

17

lol, again, yes, that is my block. I own it, have had it since the mid-90’s. That’s my business name. It should not clash with any external IP’s unless someone else has tried using it. But I doubt it would be routable.

You say “must be using a private address”. I assume you are saying this because you are assuming it’s not my IP and it would be clashing. I think this is not an issue as I it is not clashing and I have seen PLEX work fine with this address before, unless the newer version I installed on my new server has started enforcing private IP blocks. But that seems unlikely.

Why do you say I need to renumber it?

But I will have a look at what you suggest above.

18

No. I’m saying that because private networks are private. And public networks are public. You need to have some separation between the two.

You should never expose your private networks to the public Internet.

Why in the world would you expose any public resource directly to the public Internet? You should have a router/NAT/firewall combo sitting at your network edge, all doing their jobs. Your public network should be routed and firewalled to your Internal network. Outbound requests from your private network should be NAT’d through this configuration.

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding your use-case. But putting any Window machine directly on the public Internet is a bad idea (unless you’ve got some serious, serious hardening in place).

In the end, Plex Media Server expects to live on a private network. There are scenarios where that can be circumvented, but it’s going to be tough on Windows.

And stop with the snark. We’re only on here to help you.

I wanted to add one more quick thing. It’s actually a reiteration of something I stated above. Plex Media Server expects to be run on a private network. It is, after all, a private media server.

It can be run on a public network, most commonly via hosted servers (VPSs). In that case, you must go through some additional steps to claim the server. Namely, those outlined in “On a Different Network” in this document.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/200288586-installation/#toc-1

You need to perform this whenever you’re using a public IP range, even if it “local” to you. It’s just the way it is.

19

I do. And, because it’s class C, I was not able to find any one who would route such a small block (or who wanted too much money). So, it’s going through NAT. My external IP is provided by my ISP.

No snark was intended (although your “why in the world” had a tint of snark itself :slight_smile: ). I lol’d because I would suspect that most would not expect me to have my own IP block from the 1990’s. Probably does not come up a lot.

This is where you are losing me. While it is a public address range, I am not externally routing it, and therefore it is effectively working like a private range. If there is more to it, I am not following and need your help. I’m expecting that PLEX would see the 199.x.x.x, which would get NAT’d to what-ever my ISP assigns. Then it would authenticate, come back in to my internal IP via NAT again.

So, back to the problem. Despite the weirdness of me using a public block in an isolated way, I would not expect PLEX to care about the IP unless you get into those larger private/public things you seem to be suggesting.

In the logs I noticed that there were quite a few authentications, which made me wonder if all the failed attempts have screwed up the PLEX back end, and when the client tries to talk to the server there is some sort of mismatch. Possible?

I also find it strange that the cloud authenticates my server and is seen as a legit device, but the local client cannot see my server. This made me think firewall, permissions, VPN, etc. But I have turned all that stuff off. But, is there any reason a web client would not see a local resource? Or does PLEX route local network traffic out to the cloud before bringing back to the client?

20

I think we’re losing the plot here. There is no NAT in your configuration, at least not for this server. Your server is sitting directly in that address range. Which is public and thus which Plex considers verboten for claiming.

Jan 03, 2026 23:35:19.724 [16560] DEBUG - Detected primary interface: 199.254.235.18
Jan 03, 2026 23:35:19.724 [16560] DEBUG - Network interfaces:
Jan 03, 2026 23:35:19.724 [16560] DEBUG -  * 12 Ethernet 2 {7AAF58A0-C2C0-4A66-B7D5-F5C8DA505F56} (199.254.235.18) (B4-2E-99-35-C3-C2) (loopback: 0)

PMS doesn’t care about that. It actively checks that it is being claimed by a private address range, specifically the RFC-1918 block (or localhost).

Plex cares about the IP address range, as you are experiencing. This isn’t a question of agreement.

“Plex” is a client/server system. It requires strong authentication and authorization. Part of that is the requirement to use a private address range for claiming (or the localhost address). You don’t have to like it or agree with it. But it is the state of things.

Look. I’m not trying to have an argument with you. I’m suggesting to you what’s likely going wrong and how you can fix it. If you can setup an SSH tunnel to your server as described in the article I linked above and follow the instructions there, it may help you claim your server.