Remote Access Trouble (still) - Please Help

[thill]

I’ve been unable to get remote access to work for over a year now. I’ve tried and given up multiple times but I am determined to get it to work…

I’ve read (basically) every thread about remote access on here so I’m going to provide as much information as possible based on what I’ve read.

Here’s the basic rundown:

My machine: Windows 10 Education Version 1903. Core i5-9400f, 32gb RAM, GTX 1660ti.

I used to have a Google WiFi router, but I started to think that maybe Plex wasn’t working because of some security settings in their app (it’s not very customizable) so I went out and bought a Netgear Nighthawk AC1750. This has way more options to customize via the web portal and I can plug my PC into it directly rather than using a gigabit switch with the Google WiFi. Sadly, the new router did nothing to improve remote access.

I believe I have everything set up correctly. DHCP reservation in the router for my PC:

Windows set to Private Network:

I’ve tried turning Windows Firewall (my only firewall installed on the PC) completely off with no luck. I also set up a rule specifically to allow the port through.

I’ve toggled UPnP on and off multiple times with no success. Interestingly enough though, this is what it says in the router, making it seem as though it’s kind of working? It’s seeing the port 32400, just not sure why it can’t get through all the way…

As a note, with UPnP enabled, no port forward set up, and no port specified in PMS, it takes a while to try and connect then immediately says not available. However, when I specify a port in PMS and set up the port forward in my router, it goes green as available for maybe 5-10 seconds, then it’s back to not available.

It’s also worth noting that I’ve called the ISP for my apartment and asked them to give me a public IP and I verified that they did (router public IP matches whatsmyip.org, etc.). I also asked them multiple times if they block any ports and they said no. My ISP does not issue a modem, rather I just plug directly into my wall. Side note - speed is not an issue.

I’ve tried plugging my PC directly into the wall, all firewalls off, and still no success. This is the main thing that’s throwing me for a loop - could it be an ISP blocking issue despite them saying otherwise?

One last thing I thought of - in the router logs, this event shows up whenever I try and turn remote access on. It seems to be doing the correct things (or at least trying)??

I think I’ve covered everything I can think of. Logs are attached. Any help is very much appreciated! Let me know if there’s any other information that’s needed and I’d be happy to provide it.

Server Version#: 1.18.1.1973
Plex Media Server Logs_2019-10-31_18-17-50.zip (1.2 MB)

[FlyMeFriendly]

OK - here’s the $10,000 question: Have you actually TRIED the connection from outside your network or are you just going by what the console says? Because there’s a bug that will show “no remote connection”, when in fact there is one and it’s working. So try before you go nuts LOL

[thill]

Good question, I totally left that part out. Yes I’ve tried it and it’s definitely not working. I can access content indirectly, but direct access doesn’t work

[thill]

Any other suggestions? Still haven’t had any luck and no one else has replied unfortunately

[FlyMeFriendly]

Maybe give Plex Relay a shot? https://support.plex.tv/articles/216766168-accessing-a-server-through-relay/

[certuna]

Plex Relay gets activated automatically when a direct connection isn’t available, it’s not something you can turn on or off.

More importantly, do other applications that need incoming connections work? Can you ssh into your computer, vnc, run a web server, etc? In other words, is it your connection or only Plex that isn’t reachable from the outside?

[BigWheel]

what does canyouseeme.org say?

@thill

My ISP does not issue a modem, rather I just plug directly into my wall.

Who is your ISP?

[thill]

@FlyMeFriendly

Maybe give Plex Relay a shot? https://support.plex.tv/articles/216766168-accessing-a-server-through-relay/

Yes it does work through relay, but it’s not ideal. Takes forever to access and can’t stream full quality unfortunately.

@certuna

More importantly, do other applications that need incoming connections work? Can you ssh into your computer, vnc, run a web server, etc? In other words, is it your connection or only Plex that isn’t reachable from the outside?

I remote into this specific desktop I have running PMS all the time via Jump Desktop. That’s what really confuses me - the technology for remote access should be somewhat similar no? Not sure why this would work but not Plex remote access.

@BigWheel

what does canyouseeme.org say?

thill:

My ISP does not issue a modem, rather I just plug directly into my wall.

Who is your ISP?

canyouseeme.org always says that it cannot see my service on that port (32400), reason is that the connection timed out. Every time, have tried it for other ports as well. However, I’ve looked in the router logs and I see this multiple times: “[LAN access from remote] from xxx.xxx.xx.xx:59489 to 192.168.1.5:32400, Tuesday, Nov 05,2019 18:12:03” Doesn’t this mean that my port 32400 is able to be accessed on my server?? Very confusing.

My ISP is a company called Fastel.

Thank you all for your input.

[thill]

Not sure if this means anything, but I just tried toggling remote access on and off again. Per usual, it shows green for 5 seconds, then back to red.

Checked the router logs after doing this and this is what I found:

“[LAN access from remote] from xxx.xxx.xx.xx:50588 to 192.168.1.5:32400, Wednesday, Nov 06,2019 16:32:05”

“[LAN access from remote] from xxx.xxx.xx.xx:50600 to 192.168.1.5:32400, Wednesday, Nov 06,2019 16:32:42”

Is it normal that those external port numbers are different each time? I have UPnP turned off right now, port forward set up in the router to forward 45633 to 32400 (TCP/UDP, have tried just TCP as well, same result), and I have the PMS manual port specification set to 45633 as well.

[certuna]

It’s not really the same, Jump Desktop (like TeamViewer) uses a NAT traversal technique called UDP hole punching so it doesn’t need portmapping. Plex is TCP based so it can’t use that.

If you set up Windows 10’s Remote Desktop (and open UDP and TCP port 3389 on your router, can you access that from the outside?

[thill]

@certuna

It’s not really the same, Jump Desktop (like TeamViewer) uses a NAT traversal technique called UDP hole punching so it doesn’t need portmapping. Plex is TCP based so it can’t use that.

That makes more sense. Thank you for filling me in.

@certuna

If you set up Windows 10’s Remote Desktop (and open UDP and TCP port 3389 on your router, can you access that from the outside?

Good idea. I’m going to give it a try and will report back with the results.

[thill]

@certuna

If you set up Windows 10’s Remote Desktop (and open UDP and TCP port 3389 on your router, can you access that from the outside?

Okay I cannot get remote desktop to work for some reason. I checked the port 3389 in the PowerShell and it failed to connect. I did also try port 32400 in the PowerShell too and that one worked though…

PS C: \Users\thill> tnc 192.168.1.5 -port 32400

ComputerName: 192.168.1.5
RemoteAddress: 192.168.1.5
RemotePort: 32400
InterfaceAlias: Ethernet
SourceAddress: 192.168.1.5
TcpTestSucceeded: True

[certuna]

By the way from your screenshots I see the router maps port [external ip]:24434 to 192.168.1.5:32400, but your manual setting in Plex shows you’ve specified port 26701. That’s never going to work, external clients will now be instructed to connect to [external ip]:27601 which isn’t mapped.

Try unticking “manual specify port” in the PMS settings, turn on UPnP in the router, power down and restart both the router and the Plex server, what do you see then?

[BigWheel]

Have you tried just using 32400 rather than 26701. I have seen some routers that are just are bad at forwarding an external port different than the internal.

also in your port forward set up did it ask you for TCP? i don’t see it in that rule but maybe it only shows that when creating/editing

[thill]

@certuna

By the way from your screenshots I see the router maps port [external ip]:24434 to 192.168.1.5:32400, but your manual setting in Plex shows you’ve specified port 26701. That’s never going to work, external clients will now be instructed to connect to [external ip]:27601 which isn’t mapped.

Apologies for the slow reply. I must have taken those screenshots at different times because I did have the forwards set up correctly in the router and in Plex. Both were set to 26701.

@certuna

Try unticking “manual specify port” in the PMS settings, turn on UPnP in the router, power down and restart both the router and the Plex server, what do you see then?

Let me give this another try and report back. I’d done it a few times previously but haven’t tried it in a minute.

@BigWheel

Have you tried just using 32400 rather than 26701. I have seen some routers that are just are bad at forwarding an external port different than the internal.

Just now gave port 32400 a try and same thing. It’s green for about 5 seconds, then right back to not available.

@BigWheel

also in your port forward set up did it ask you for TCP? i don’t see it in that rule but maybe it only shows that when creating/editing

While setting up the port forward in the router it does ask if I want to use TCP, TCP/UDP, or UDP. I’ve tried TCP and TCP/UDP with the same results. Most recently I tried setting it up using TCP only, 32400 on the router and PMS with no success.