Server Version#: 1.41.3.9314 (x64)
Player Version#: N/A
I run my Plex server off a Windows 10 laptop with the following specs:
Intel Core i3-1005G1 CPU @ 1.20 GHz
4 GB RAM @ 2667 MHz
Windows 10 Home 22H2
My server is accessed by my TCL Google 50" TV with the latest Plex app, my Google Pixel 9 smartphone, and a friend’s Hisense Google TV. The issue I have with my system is that after a period where there is no activity against the Plex server, it shows offline on the Remote Access page. Things I have done to address this include:
Setup port forwarding in my router:
Internal IP: 192.168.68.54
Internal Port: 32400
External Port: 12604
Protocol: TCP & UDP
I have also setup the Plex Server’s Remote Access options with the following:
I have set the IP address on my laptop statically to prevent it from grabbing a new address in case the network is rebooted. I have verified that Plex Media Server is in the Inbound Rules section of my firewall.
On my laptop, I have set this up with a custom power plan that does not set the system to sleep/hibernate or shutdown when the lid is closed. In fact, I have set everything in Advanced Power Options to Never so that I do not run into issues with the laptop becoming inaccessible. No matter what I do, for some reason, the Plex server always goes offline and at random intervals of time. I have not been able to determine the root cause and I would love some feedback from the community as to what may be causing this.
One key point to make, if I access my Plex server from my phone when it shows in an OFFLINE state, if I access my Library multiple times, eventually the Plex server wakes up and I can access it again. This makes no sense to me.
Update
ISP changed my connection from CGNAT to Static IP and it still has not resolved my issue.
I also changed my router from a TP Link Deco X25 to a Netgear Nighthawk AX1800 router RAX10 configured the same way. I even made sure UPnP was enabled.
As a last-ditch effort, I uninstalled the software, deleted the Plex folder, and reinstalled it, and the same damn thing happened.
Plex, I need a solution, and I’d like one sooner than later. This is incredibly inconvenient.
Update
Upon further testing I switched back to the original network setup with the TP Link mesh system, set port forwarding and made one simple change in the Plex Server app. From the Remote Access page, I unchecked the option to manually configure the forwarding port. I did make one additional change on my system and that was in the power settings changing the Turn off monitor option and setting that to 5 minutes. With these changes it seems to be stable. It’s been nearly a day and I have attempted multiple times to access the server with no issues.
Conclusion: I believe choosing to manually set port forwarding in the Plex Server app is the culprit. I will be testing this further but I believe this configuration works and will continue to work.
Updated 2-4-2025
I have yet to see the server go into an offline state, and therefore believe the cause was the Manual port forwarding option on the Remote Access page. Removing that seems to have stabilized my server and has not gone down in 2 days. This is the longest it’s been available, so I believe this is resolved and others who use the standard ports should also avoid using the manual port forwarding option.
