PLEX won't allow me to login anymore

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
1

Server Version#:1.19.4
Player Version#:

I have been unable to login to PLEX Media Server on my QNAP for over a month now. I know the password is correct because I use a password manager that inserts the password and there is no possibility I am typing it incorrectly.

When I launch PLEX from the QNAP desktop I get a message from PLEX web that says the following:

“This application is at 192.168.7.242 and is not hosted by Plex. Continue only if you recognize this server and wish to grant access. There was an error signing in.”

It then shows me my email address (login) and there is a login button. If I click on it, I get the same message over again about “This application is not hosted by PLEX.” So I’m in an infinite loop.

I have a PLEX pass and have not changed by password. I HAVE updated the PLEX server software but this did not fix the problem.

I’m running QNAP firmware 4.3.4.1368 and everything else with my server is working fine. My browser in Windows 10 is Firefox 79.0. Windows 10 is up-to-date.

Can somebody help me find a solution?

Thanks

2

Sorry for the confusion.

What Plex/Web is telling you is very literal.

  1. You’re not using a Plex-hosted server (because it’s your server or a shared server)
  2. If you know it’s yours or was shared by a friend, then continue.
3

I own my own server. Until recently I had never been asked about a “Plex-hosted server” and I don’t understand why this is happening now.

As I wrote before, if I click “login” it just keeps taking me back to the same screen.

How do I login to Plex running on my local server? I have been doing this with no problems for about 4years. Then suddenly the login screens look different and I’m stuck in a loop.

How do I fix this? Plex seems to have changed how logging in works.

4

I am have the same problem with login to my server. OS Win10 64 v2004 Server 1.19.5.3112-b23ab3896. I can login on my Plex tv with the same login no problem. The server is running and I can stream from my client app which I’m logged into on another network pc but I can’t log into my server. I get into the same loop described by toddphi. I’ve tried everything and combed the forum but can’t find answers. Help would be appreciated. Thanks

5

Screenshot from 2020-08-05 00-33-43
Screenshot from 2020-08-05 00-33-43753×664 170 KB

So there is no confusion, the above screenshot is the popup everyone is having trouble with?

If yes,

  1. It literally is telling you where this server is hosted (my QNAP TS-128 development system in this case).
  2. It is doing this because there hasn’t been a recent login to this server and therefore is making certain I know the web page I’m about to give my Username AND PASSWORD to. ( This is anti-phishing protection ).
  3. Since it has my default Username (blurred out here), I need not change that
  4. I continue with “Sign In”
  5. It then completes the sign on and exchanges an extra token to keep track of this verification. Plex/Web will look for and use this until it expires again.

All this was done to improve your protection having received reports of “Plex-like” counterfeit pages

Therefore, if you don’t recognize the reverse-lookup Hostname / IP address presented in the pop-up, STOP.

If there is a problem, which seems to be the case reported above,

  1. Go to http://app.plex.tv
  2. Sign in there
  3. Wait a few seconds then sign out.
  4. Now go to your server as originally intended.
6

Yes. That is the same popup screen that I am seeing and which prevents me from logging in to my PLEX on my server.

If I click on the link you provided (http://app.plex.tv) I am able to successfully login with Firefox. However, when I logout and wait a few seconds as you suggested, I still cannot login by clicking on the PLEX icon on my QNAP desktop screen. I get the exact same problem again where I am caught in an infinite loop.

Surely PLEX developers did not intend to make it impossible to login from the QNAP desktop icon. That’s just weird and very unintuitive.

Is there anything that can be done to fix this? My QNAP server is on my local network and sits behind my firewall. I don’t understand why phishing protection is even needed – especially if it basically breaks the login process.

Thanks for your help.

1 Like
7

Todd,

Would you do the following please:

  1. Verify you have DEBUG logging enabled; VERBOSE disabled.
  2. Restart Plex
  3. Repeat what you did above
  4. Download the logs ZIP and attach it.

May I know your LAN config?

  1. IP address range?
  2. Any DMZ ?
  3. Own Certificate / Domain ?
  4. Accessing the server from the same LAN subnet?
8

Ok. I turned ON debug logging and saved changes. (This is under Plex Web—Debug.)

I attempted to restart PLEX from the PLEX Icon on the QNAP desktop. It failed, as expected.

Then I logged in using https://app.plex.tv/desktop as before. When I go to look at the log I find that debug logging is turned OFF again. I repeated the process of turning it back ON and attempting to login and it again resets to the log being turned OFF. Perhaps this is another bug??

I’ve copied the log below, but I’m not sure if it helps you or not since I can’t seem to force DEBUG logging to stay ON. I don’t see any way to “save” the log to a file.

Thanks

------- copy and paste of the log file -------

[
{
“type”: “info”,
“host”: “app.plex.tv”,
“userAgent”: “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:79.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/79.0”,
“browser”: {
“platformVersion”: “10”,
“id”: “firefox”,
“name”: “Firefox”,
“version”: “79.0”,
“gecko”: true,
“platform”: “Windows”,
“platformID”: “windows”,
“platformModifierKey”: “ctrl”
},
“version”: “4.39.1”,
“primaryServerUrl”: “https://192-168-7-242.087482f153ad4fd9a2c824a453288a2c.plex.direct:32400/”,
“primaryServerAuthToken”: true,
“username”: “toddphi”,
“cloudUrl”: [
{
“scheme”: “https”,
“address”: “plex.tv”,
“uri”: “https://plex.tv”,
“testState”: “connected”,
“isBundled”: false,
“isFallback”: false,
“relay”: false,
“isUntested”: false,
“isPending”: false,
“isConnected”: true,
“isUnauthorized”: false,
“isUnavailable”: false,
“isFailed”: false,
“isAborted”: false,
“isLoopback”: false,
“isPrivate”: false,
“isHttps”: true,
“isSecure”: true,
“isPlexDirect”: false,
“currentTest”: null,
“sources”: [
{
“id”: “internal”
}
]
}
]
}
]

9

May I know your LAN config?

IP address range? [I'm not sure how to find this.]
Any DMZ ? [Don't think so.]
Own Certificate / Domain ? [Don't think so.]
Accessing the server from the same LAN subnet? [Yes]
10

Todd,
May I have the server log zip also please? If you have the “PlexData” share or the “PMSLibShare”, you can navigate to them in File Station. Create a ZIP of the “Logs” directory and attach it please.

As for IP address range. An alternative is:

  1. What’s the LAN IP of the QNAP ?
  2. What’s the LAN IP of your computer ?
11

LAN IP of the QNAP is 192.168.7.242
LAN IP of my computer is 192.168.7.149

12

Have you tried another browser besides FireFox?

13

Also, I’ve looked around in File Station and can’t find any directories related to PLEX.

Can you tell me the path to where the PlexData or PMSLibShare would be so I can look for the log files?

Thanks

14

I’ll try, but I’ve been using Firefox for a couple of years now with PLEX and never had a problem before.

15

I tried Microsoft Edge and it does not work either. Same infinite loop happens as with Firefox.

16

Todd,
This package is authored and maintained by one of the Plex Ninjas.

https://github.com/ukdtom/PMSLibShare/releases

17

Logs.zip (5.9 MB)

Thank you for the package. My logs file directory is zipped and attached here.

Thanks for your help.

18

Todd,

My apologies for the delay.

You signed into the server from something.

Aug 05, 2020 11:16:32.661 [0x7fd192ee8700] DEBUG - Auth: authenticated user 1 as toddphi
Aug 05, 2020 11:16:32.661 [0x7fd193257700] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.7.149:61286 (Subnet)] GET /player/proxy/poll?deviceClass=pc&protocolVersion=3&protocolCapabilities=timeline%2Cplayback%2Cnavigation%2Cmirror%2Cplayqueues&timeout=1 (7 live) TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (toddphi)
19

Yes. I as I mentioned above, I am able to login using https://app.plex.tv/desktop in my browser.

However, if I click on the PLEX icon in the QNAP desktop it takes me into the infinite loop (with the popup screen) described above (and which the other user in this thread was experiencing).

Something in the login process on QNAP has been broken and I suspect it has to do with the anti-phishing features recently added. But I’m not an expert and am hoping you can help me resolve this.

20

where I’m getting twisted up is that Plex/Web (whether from hosted or bundled) uses the same login tokens in the browser so it will remember either way.

The link on your QNAP is by direct LAN IP to load Plex/web – which then launches
whereas app.plex.tv/desktop loads from there – then launches.

Both perform the same steps in the same sequence. What’s different?