Remote Access Disconnecting after 4 seconds

[sa2000]

@Savantism

Yeah I tried UPNP as well

Emby was able to pickup the server on my UPNP list, but Plex does not. Router on the latest firmware too.

could you try this in a browser and copy the response (if it works) to a text file and zip and send me by private message

http://192.168.0.1:1900/rootDesc.xml

The logs show that Plex Media Server is not detecting the Internet Gateway Device interface for the router (needed for uPnP auto port mapping - also for detecting and logging Double NAT)

[clwill]

@sa2000

Thank you - The connectivity tests to your public IP and port 20069 are not getting through

Clearly

@sa2000

What security software do you have running?

Just the standard Win10 Defender.

@sa2000

Is the network interface in windows showing as Private Network ? Sometimes windows switches to unidentified or public after windows updates

The Windows Network Status panel shows “Public Network”

@sa2000

could you add a port rule in the firewall
Protocol: tcp
local port = 32400
remote port = any
remote ip = any
Action = allow

There already is such a rule, for both inbound and outbound.

@sa2000

May be a double NAT issue?
Is the wan ip on the router the same as the 107.181.xx.xx IP and being the one you get from canyouseeme.org ?

No. They do not match. This PC is running a VPN. Always has. This worked until just a week ago.

There are port forwarding rules to guide it.

If that is now an issue, how do I resolve it?

@sa2000

I tried the IP and port 20069 and I could not reach your server

Me neither.

[sa2000]

@clwill

The Windows Network Status panel shows “Public Network”

That would normally stop remote access working. Look into getting that corrected. Should say “Private Network”

@clwill

No. They do not match. This PC is running a VPN. Always has. This worked until just a week ago.

There are port forwarding rules to guide it.

If that is now an issue, how do I resolve it?

You could use wireshark to see if a request from the outside to the public IP that shows on canyouseeme.org and the public port you have a forward for, does actually go through all your vpn routing and get the PC on 32400. If it does get through then it would be windows dropping it because of the “Public Network” property

[clwill]

@sa2000

That would normally stop remote access working. Look into getting that corrected. Should say “Private Network”

I have changed this (have to change it each time the VPN connects.) This makes NO difference whatsoever.

@sa2000

You could use wireshark to see if a request from the outside to the public IP that shows on canyouseeme.org and the public port you have a forward for, does actually go through all your vpn routing and get the PC on 32400. If it does get through then it would be windows dropping it because of the “Public Network” property

I have no idea what wireshark is. Check that. I found it. I have no idea how to run it or what it would tell me.

When I have my VPN set to 32400, I get “connection refused” from canyouseeme. Who is “refusing”?

[sa2000]

@clwill

I have no idea what wireshark is. Check that. I found it. I have no idea how to run it or what it would tell me.

wireshark is a network packet capture tool and when started, network packets are captured. You can select the network interfaces to start the capture on
Once the test is done, you stop the network capture - there are icons at the top for start capture and stopping
Then you save the capture as default pcap file
Zip and send to me
Together with what url was used to test

So Plex remote access connections would be using the public IP that plex.tv can see and that would be the IP Address that canyouseeme.org detects
Plex would then attempt to connect to that IP on the port that you entered with the manually specify port tickbox

so if 20069 is the manually specified port and you have port forward for it to forward 20069 to 32400 to 10.0.0.13 then it would be wan-ip:20069/web

I am going to use an imaginary IP
so you could have wireshark running capturing network traffic on the server and then on a device/computer that is outside your network (eg cellular connection or remote wifi), you would try http://107.181.111.111:20069/web

You would put in the WAN IP that plex sees and the same as http://canyouseeme.org detects

You then find the WAN IP of the device / computer making the request and note it down

We need then to see if that request from the noted down WAN IP (remote device/computer) gets to the server on port 32400

If it does then we know the routing in the router is ok

So if it arrives at 10.0.0.13 on port 32400 then we need to see what gets logged in the Plex Media Server.log file

So does the issue only arise when using vpn?

If your network is switching to Public, then you could try making sure all the plex related firewall rules apply to all network profiles - private and public

The plex rules being

• program rules allowing the .exe files (not port specific)
• incoming port rule for local port 32400, remote port and remote IP=any, Programs=any

[sa2000]

@Savantism

On my router, it says my IP address is 100.80.x.xxx, but whatismyip shows 175.142.xx.xx. Is this a problem ? I called my ISP, and they said we are using a Dynamic Public IP.

Thanks for letting me know that you have upgraded your ISP Plan and the issue with the CGNAT public IP has now been resolved

[TrialMaster]

Well done sa2000.

[rufo28]

Dear sa2000,

I have same issue , just couple of seconds it will be back to “not available outside your network”.
Please advise.

[clwill]

Thank you for your help.

I just gave up trying to make Plex work through a VPN, no amount of fiddling could get it to work. So I built another dedicated server, and moved everything except Plex to that machine. Then opened the Plex server to the world. It works flawlessly.

One of two things is true: either Plex just simply can’t work behind a VPN or I’m too stupid to figure it out.

[sa2000]

@clwill

I just gave up trying to make Plex work through a VPN, no amount of fiddling could get it to work. So I built another dedicated server, and moved everything except Plex to that machine. Then opened the Plex server to the world. It works flawlessly.

One of two things is true: either Plex just simply can’t work behind a VPN or I’m too stupid to figure it out.

All I can say is that Plex would use the public IP it sees at plex.tv - this would be the IP you would see when you go to http://canyouseeme.org and with that public IP it adds the port you manually specified in the server settings and for which you have a port forward in the router or the auto mapped uPnP public port if not manually specifying a port

How that would go through to your machine through a VPN, I cannot help with. It needs to reach your local router on that public port and then end up on local port 32400

[sa2000]

@rufo28

I have same issue , just couple of seconds it will be back to “not available outside your network”.
Please advise.

I think that just means it is not available.

Will need to look at diagnostics to investigate

See

Remote Access Disconnecting after 4 seconds

Yes there are other forum threads but the issues vary and each long forum topic has many different causes for drop out of remote access. Each case needs to be investigated to try and understand the cause and if there is a common theme So please ensure debug logging is enabled on the server See https://support.plex.tv/articles/201643703-reporting-issues-with-plex-media-server/ Restart the server to make sure fresh log files are created Then when the issue arises, please take screenshot of …

[rufo28]

Hi sa2000,

If i will give you logs, please specify which files as i don’t want to share all the logs in the zip files.
I checked everything are available there.

br,
rufo

[sa2000]

@rufo28

please specify which files as i don’t want to share all the logs in the zip files.
I checked everything are available ther

The various logs give different information about the environment and highlight potential issues. Whilst some may seem not relevant they actually do add value - as an example the Plex Tuner Service logs tell me the times you restarted the server. Also the com.plexapp.system.log files tell me if there are issues internally to communicate between Plex Media Server processes. Also the crash uploader logs tell me if the server is crashing

As minimum i would like these logs as well as the Plex Media Server.*.log and Plex Media Server.log files plus router setup screenshots for port forward (if any) and dhcp reservation - and time when the issue arose

[kroix007]

Yeah plex don’t care - total silence from them.

I’m cancelling my sub and going with Emby.

[Busaman_VA]

@kroix007 I haven’t been able to figure out how to securely play Emby remotely like on PLEX. It’s not as easy to setup from what I read and gave up. Hope it works out for you with Emby.

[matthewsedwards]

i’m also getting this issue now after the most recent update. I’ve been a plex user for years, never had an issue with remote access, now all of a sudden, nothing…

[Moenster]

Same issue here. I have been using Plex Media Server for many years, and never had this issue before.
When using canyouseeme.org I can see other services from my network, but not Plex on 32400 TCP. Bottom line, my other forward rules are working just fine, and Plex used to work just fine until sometime during spring time. Plex switches to indirect connection. If I disable the Relay feature, no connection is possible at all.
Plex is running on Ubuntu 18.04 with UFW disabled.
What has changed on the Plex side in the latest releases?

[oefrom]

Same issue after upgrade to 1.16.3.1402. Frustated.

[tramp78]

his happened to me yesteday when I swapped out a UBEE modem for an ARIS version. Had to go into the port forwarding area and put in 32400.

WAn - default
inbound port 32400-32400
Type BOTH (udp or tcp)
Private IP address (put in the ip for your PLEX server)
Private port 32400 -32400

that ended up working. I really wish router manufacturers would make all of their interfaces look the same.

[zeiroe]

Same thing happened to me around the time of the 1.16.5 updates. After years of being problem free, this happened. Users can only connect indirectly.