I have been experiencing issues with remote access to my Plex Media Server. The problem is intermittent, sometimes I or other family members that I have given remote access to my personal media libraries, experience spooling (movie never plays), other times it’s fine. It never used to be an issue, but recently it has gotten much worse.
I have 2 Plex Media Servers, one on a QNAP and the other on Windows 11, both have the same issue (current server version: 1.41.8.9834).
I own a Lifetime Plex Pass. Do I or others that I wish to grant access remotely to my personal media libraries for remote streaming now require a ‘Remote Watch Pass’?
This is your post on Reddit, I’m confused…
"As of April 29, 2025, we’re changing how remote streaming works for personal media libraries, and it will no longer be a free feature on Plex. Going forward, you’ll need a Plex Pass, or our newest subscription offering, Remote Watch Pass, to stream personal media remotely.
As a server owner, if you elect to upgrade to a Plex Pass, anyone with access to your server can continue streaming your server content remotely as part of your subscription benefits. Not sure which option is best for you? Check out our plans below to learn more. As always, thanks for your continued support.
I may have ended up resolving this myself (fingers crossed).
I ended up getting a static IP from our ISP, which would have then removed CGNAT, now everything appears to be fine, just doing some final remote access checks, but it’s looking promising.
Also since the static IP has been active, the ’ Fully accessible outside your network’ remote access in settings is locked on green and hasn’t dropped (yet), which it never did before.
At least the account that you use to post in here doesn’t have a Plex pass. If you have another Plex.tv account with a pass on it, ensure that your server has been claimed by that one.
Any update worth sharing? I’m having these issues and would love to hear if this was the fix before I go wrestle with my ISP to give me a fixed IP. Thanks!
Well, for now anyhow, my plex media server has been solidly running for 2 days and those I have granted remote access to have been able to watch my movies without any spooling and inability to play.
I should also add, after the static IP was added by my ISP, I ensured the Port Forwarding to port 32400 was added in my router to route to my Plex media windows server (which also has a static IP assigned). I also restarted my router and media server PC.
I would like to confidently assume the issue was one more of a network access one rather than plex itself. You may not need to go to the lengths of getting a static IP like I did (only another $5 a month for me from my ISP), but instead check with your ISP and see if they have CGNAT is enabled, if it is, see if they can disable it and check if that improves matters for you.
