With 2 routers in succession, port forwarding must be set up on both devices. (If the server is connected to the second box in the chain.)
How do I know which router my Plex server is connected to?
By following the network cable 
I hope you have it connected by wire and not wireless?
I see what you mean I think. The Plex server - my PC presumably- is connected via ethernet to my Sky Router Hub, whilst my two Sky boxes are connected to the router via wi-fi. The wi-fi on my PC is currently disabled but I don’t know whether it makes any difference if it is connected as well as the ethernet. I’ve been experimenting with the wi-fi connection whilst I have been having issues.
As for port forwarding I don’t know how to do that but I didn’t notice any options in the Sky Router setup.
I await your further advice - and thanks for your input so far.
Which one is this? Is it the first in the cascade (seen from the outside/internet)?
Do you mean the network profile shown at the top of the network status screen? If so Ethernet 5 is shown (which is my Sky router) and it’s set up as a private network.
I attach some screenprints which may help explain my set-up. I have deleted the “incoming connections” item as I experimented with a VPN. The first Ethernet adapter shown is I think a legacy from my previous set up ( I have recently replaced my motherboard) and can probably be deleted.
OttoKerner
Plex Ninja (Moderator)
November 21
geoffwbaplex:
Sky Router Hub
Which one is this? Is it the first in the cascade (seen from the outside/internet)?
Private Network = good
I am a bit confused by your network adapters. Why are there 4 of them?
And why are they all active?
Your server should only use one.
When I asked about the router I thought you had two of them. And they are connected behind each other. Is that the case or do you have some sort of complicated network structure?
Thank you. I have disabled two of the adapters , leaving only the Ethernet 5 one. I think this has probably arisen because of me not fully understanding network and internet connections. I only have the one Sky Router as I am a normal home user so it shouldn’t be complicated at all.
When I go into the Plex network screen -if I can get that far-why is my PC not showing in the list? All I see is icons for the web browsers and other things connected to my home network. I was going to send you a screen shot but at the moment I am getting the usual message of “server settings not available”
I hope you can help me resolve things soon as this problem’s driving me mad! As I previously mentioned I might have to delete my account and Plex completely and start from scratch, but I wonder whether there would be complications arising from remaining registry entries ?
After disabling the network adapters, you need to stop the Plex server (using the task tray icon).
Then wait a few seconds and start it up again.
Are you using Kaspersky anti virus on this computer? I’m afraid you may have disabled something essential by disabling the leftmost adapter in your screenshot.
I have now re-enabled that adapter but since the entry related to the adapter on my old motherboard I’m not sure how it can actually affect things. I have also enabled KAspersky Secure Connection as I do have Kaspersky. I can get into Plex via the tray icon and I attach a couple of screenprints. You will see the entry in the left hand menu for geoffwbaplex with a little yellow exclamation mark and it prompts me to claim the server, after which I get a spinning circle and message saying server settings not available. My desktop icon is still not showing in the list of authorised devices, whereas it used to appear before I started having trouble. I can actually get as far as trying to add media files but when I select the folder for downloading them, firstly there is no option to change the language from the little drop down thing and then I get an error “your changes have not been saved”. I have also made sure that the folders I am trying to download from my PC allow access to everyone. As you can appreciate I am getting very exasperated with this so unless you have any more suggestions I am just going to completely remove Plex and my account and start afresh.
Following on from my last message, I attach a copy of the registry entries for Plex Media Server. None of the entries mentioned in the troubleshooting page are there. MAybe something is missing that should be there?
The inability to ‘claim’ a server is almost always caused by a network issue. When the browser and/or the server cannot reach plex.tv securely.
Try to claim your server with this software: https://github.com/ukdtom/ClaimIt/wiki
Sorry, but tried the claimit software and it throws up an error message (see attached) . I have tried the 127.0.0.1 address and also 192.168.0.30 which is my Desktop.
I have also tried resetting my Sky Router but nothing seems to work.
Plex Media Server was working fine until a few days ago and I don’t see how my network is causing an issue so I am at a loss as to what to do next.
Try run my script again, directly on the server, and instead of using 192.168.0.30 as the IP address, use 127.0.0.1
When/If it fails, zip the log directory, and upload here
Latest update- I deleted everything relating to Plex yesterday and set up as a new user using a different email. I did this in Windows safe mode and it seemed to work - for a time. If I try to use Plex in Windows normal mode I am still having issues so I plan to repair/reinstall Windows as I feel there is some corruption and/or malware somewhere which I am unable to pin down. Malwarebytes picked up some PUPs which have been quarantined but strangely Kaspersky has not found anything ! It’s a bit of a pain having to reinstall Windows as I will have several apps to be reinstalled but at least I have backups.
Further to my last message, I have not reinstalled Windows yet as my PC now seems to be free of any malware. The present position is that I can run and use Plex Media Server but only when the PC is in safe mode . It won’t run when in normal mode (maybe some other app or file interfering with Plex ?). Whilst it does seem to work in safe mode I find that when I browse for a media folder on my PC Plex will find a folder but when I try to add it to my library I get a message “you must be lost”. The folder itself has the necessary access permissions as far as I can see . Any ideas ?
Windows will not load some additional, 3rd party drivers and extensions when in safe mode. Which indicates to me, that you still have some piece of software in there which interferes with regular operation.
Thank you for your reply. Somehow, and I don’t know what happened, the Plex Media Server is now working as it should. Firstly I opened it up in Safe Mode and suddenly it allowed me to claim the server- this option caused it to hang until now. After that I booted the PC in normal mode and suddenly it all now just works , with no errors appearing on the start meniu.
I am crossing my fingers that I will get no more problems as this has taken about 2 weeks amd much head-scratching to resolve! Thanks for your input.
I spoke too soon ! Whilst Plex works ok when the PC is in safe mode, it has stopped behaving correctly when in normal mode, saying that my server is unavailable or unreachable. If there is some software or file which is causing this issue is there a way of finding it, either in windows 10 logs or in the Plex logs? I will check Kaspersky again but I don’t believe that is causing the problem.
Sorry, I can’t help you there. It could be anything.
