So this is my issue. When enabling remote access I have no problem. I click ‘Enable Remote Access’, it connects and I get the message ‘Fully accessible outside your network’. I will then have remote access for a random amount of time, could be an hour, could be a day and then ‘Couldn’t connect to server’. I then have to log into the server locally and go to Settings \ Server \ Remote Access (which has the red exclamation mark icon now), click ‘Disable Remote Access’ and then click ‘Enable Remote Access’ to get it working again.
Although all of the troubleshooting information I have been able to find refers to not being able to enable the remote services at all, I followed those instructions and have set my server to a static IP address and set up manual port forwarding as instructed here (https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200931138-Troubleshooting-Remote-Access). Still, same results. It will work for a random amount of time and then fail. I’m banging my head against a wall here. Any suggestions?
Mine started playing up recently with the manual port set. Untick the box and restart the server to see if that changes anything?
Yeah, that is what I do.
“I then have to log into the server locally and go to Settings \ Server \ Remote Access (which has the red exclamation mark icon now), click ‘Disable Remote Access’ and then click ‘Enable Remote Access’ to get it working again.”
Thanks for the suggestion though.
@Stampy5000 said:
So this is my issue. When enabling remote access I have no problem. I click ‘Enable Remote Access’, it connects and I get the message ‘Fully accessible outside your network’. I will then have remote access for a random amount of time, could be an hour, could be a day and then ‘Couldn’t connect to server’. I then have to log into the server locally and go to Settings \ Server \ Remote Access (which has the red exclamation mark icon now), click ‘Disable Remote Access’ and then click ‘Enable Remote Access’ to get it working again.
Although all of the troubleshooting information I have been able to find refers to not being able to enable the remote services at all, I followed those instructions and have set my server to a static IP address and set up manual port forwarding as instructed here (https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/200931138-Troubleshooting-Remote-Access). Still, same results. It will work for a random amount of time and then fail. I’m banging my head against a wall here. Any suggestions?
Stick to using a manually specified port and with the port forward in the router. It should be more reliable. So do not untick the manually specify port box and what would like see are the server logs covering time from when it was working and then not working.
There is an issue at the moment with the accuracy of the status of remote access on the settings page but that is not known to give rise to failure to connect remotely
Make sure you do not have both wireless and wired active
So together with logs, the output from ‘ipconfig /all’
The port forward setup page on the router
The dhcp reservation table screenshot
And the server logs - see support.plex.tv
sa2000, thank you so much. When I try to enable the manually specified port it fails. I will upload the items requested.
@Stampy5000 said:
sa2000, thank you so much. When I try to enable the manually specified port it fails. I will upload the items requested.
Is there a port forward in the router?
The IP Address of the PC is a DHCP Reservation? or static outside DHCP Range ?
What security software is running on the PC ? Internet Security / Firewall / Anti Virus
Any proxy software in use ? vpn ?
Is there more than one active network adapter?
sa2000, here are the uploads requested. The server logs and the screen shots.
- I setup port forwarding as best as I understood how.
- The only thing active is windows firewall and windows defender.
- No proxy software or vpn.
- There is only one active network adapter.
Also attaching screen shots of all the port forwarding rules on the router (I added the Plex-Access rule) and the windows firewall allow list.
Also, I missed your question about the IP address.
It is set to static on the DHCP server (the router) in the DHCP’s issued range and then set to static on the servers network card.
@Stampy5000 said:
sa2000, here are the uploads requested. The server logs and the screen shots.
- I setup port forwarding as best as I understood how.
- The only thing active is windows firewall and windows defender.
- No proxy software or vpn.
- There is only one active network adapter.
Thanks - the DHCP Reservation coupled with making it static IP on the PC for 192.168.1.11 is fine - so reserved in the router and also set as static.
The logs show you had uPnP automatic port mapping in place - port 19653 and this was in place and you noticed a problem with remote access at 09:50 10th April. A plex app requested to start Plex Relay (indirect) at 09:47 - so an app could not get through to the server. Plex Media Server was re-instating the mapping with the router every hour and the last two before this were
Apr 10, 2017 08:23:06.158 [3280] DEBUG - NAT: UPnP, mapped port 19653 to 192.168.1.11:32400.
Apr 10, 2017 09:23:06.147 [13240] DEBUG - NAT: UPnP, mapped port 19653 to 192.168.1.11:32400.
Lets try and switch from uPnP to manual port.
On the router delete the port forward uPnP entry for 19653
So we just have the tcp port 32400 port forward entry in the router
On the Remote Access server settings (show advanced) page, enter port 32400 in the box next to manually specify port and click APPLY
Wait for it to complete
If at the end it shows not available, click Retry and wait for it complete - do not click more than once whilst it is busy
If still not available, lets make sure there is a port rule in the windows firewall and reboot router and PC
So first Control Panel Firewall settings
Advanced Settings
Create inbound Port Rule with following settings
Protocol TCP
Local Port 32400
Remote Port Any
Remote IP Any
Programs Any
Scope All Profiles
Action Allow
Save and reboot the router and the PC and check the status of remote access in server settings
If still a problem get me fresh logs (the zip should have the log file for when it was converted to manual port before the reboot - assuming only 1 reboot)
and screenshot of the port forward router screen and firewall rules
There would be two separate set of rules - ones should already be in place for the Plex program files allowing all ports and the new rule for the specific port allowing inbound to tcp port 32400 - this rule would not specify any programs and is just a port rule
I do not see a uPnP entry for 19653 on either the routers Firewall port forwarding list or its Port Forwarding Rules list. Do you see it on screen shots you requested?
@Stampy5000 said:
I do not see a uPnP entry for 19653 on either the routers Firewall port forwarding list or its Port Forwarding Rules list. Do you see it on screen shots you requested?
There was an active entry in the router screen shot you provided
I’m sorry, I dont see a uPnP entry for 19653 on either the screen shots provided or currently on the router.
Attached are the two provided router screen shots. The Port Forwarding Rules list and the Port Forwarding Applied Rules list. If you can point out what you would like me to delete I would be happy to.
With the router Port Forwarding settings as they are, I created the port rule in the windows firewall, as requested. Manually set the port to 32400 in Plex (attempted to enable remote connection and it failed) and then rebooted the PC and the router. On reboot the Plex remote access was established with the port being manually set.
As previously stated, I have had the remote access successfully enabled from its initial setup, but it will randomly fail, so I’ll keep a watch and repost here if this wasn’t the solution. Thank you, sa2000.
For those keeping track at home. The Port forwarding rules were established on the router for port 32400, a rule to open that port was added to windows firewall on the Plex server, Plex remote access was manually set to use port 32400 and then both the router and the Plex server were rebooted. This then allowed remote access to be enabled.
@Stampy5000 said:
Attached are the two provided router screen shots. The Port Forwarding Rules list and the Port Forwarding Applied Rules list. If you can point out what you would like me to delete I would be happy to.
It is not showing in applied rules anymore - so nothing to delete
sa2000 - thanks. I have had a similar problem. Plex remote access would work fine for some amount of time, then it wouldn’t. It seemed to be related to some Windows update (currently on Win 10).
I had port forwarding set up with the router. SOmetimes when I ran into the problem, I would turn uPnp on and off, reset router, turn port forwarding on and off, turn firewall on and off - eventually I’d get something to work. I could never tell what did the trick.
I have run into the problem again - I think related to a win 10 update this past week.
My regular tricks didn’t seem to help, and I could only get it to work if I turned off the firewall under “Private Network Settings”. I will admit I don’t understand how you can turn it off for PUblic and not Private…I don’t really get this firewall thing.
Anyway - I didn’t like the idea of leaving this turned off. Then I found your post about adding a port rule in Windows Firewall settings. I followed your advice - and now it seems to be working.
THANKS! Let’s hope it continues to work. This is all over my head as far as why or why it doesn’t work.
@kguarnotta said:
sa2000 - thanks. I have had a similar problem. Plex remote access would work fine for some amount of time, then it wouldn’t. It seemed to be related to some Windows update (currently on Win 10).
I had port forwarding set up with the router. SOmetimes when I ran into the problem, I would turn uPnp on and off, reset router, turn port forwarding on and off, turn firewall on and off - eventually I’d get something to work. I could never tell what did the trick.I have run into the problem again - I think related to a win 10 update this past week.
My regular tricks didn’t seem to help, and I could only get it to work if I turned off the firewall under “Private Network Settings”. I will admit I don’t understand how you can turn it off for PUblic and not Private…I don’t really get this firewall thing.
Anyway - I didn’t like the idea of leaving this turned off. Then I found your post about adding a port rule in Windows Firewall settings. I followed your advice - and now it seems to be working.
THANKS! Let’s hope it continues to work. This is all over my head as far as why or why it doesn’t work.
Thanks - please stick to a manual selected port and a port forward in the router (together with your firewall port rule). Do not switch to uPnP automatic port setting
Hi All,
I am having the exact same issue, but it is enabled for approximately 1 second before being disabled. It previously worked, but I am at a loss as to where to find the issue. I have setup the port forward rules as suggested, and my Plex server runs upon a Jail in FreeNAS so I am not contending with firewalls or any of those issues. Is there a specific log to look at to help with troubleshooting ?
@“williams.andrewj@gmail.com” said:
Hi All,
I am having the exact same issue, but it is enabled for approximately 1 second before being disabled. It previously worked, but I am at a loss as to where to find the issue. I have setup the port forward rules as suggested, and my Plex server runs upon a Jail in FreeNAS so I am not contending with firewalls or any of those issues. Is there a specific log to look at to help with troubleshooting ?
There would be FreeNAS specifics and jail specific aspects that may apply -so best to raise the issue not in the windows server forum.
For remote access issues, it would normally be necessary to have screenshots of the router port forward settings, confirmation with appropriate screenshots that the local IP of the Plex Media Server is fixed (DHCP reservation or static outside dhcp range), screenshot of the server remote access settings with show advanced to show that the manually specify port is ticked and the public port entered, confirmation that there is no Double NAT. and the server log after restarting the server and attempting to enable remote access
See
https://support.plex.tv/articles/201643703-reporting-issues-with-plex-media-server/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/
https://support.plex.tv/articles/200931138-troubleshooting-remote-access/
