stand alone server - no account - cannot skip login screen

General Discussions
1

I’m testing different plex server configurations (currently in virtual machines) and I keep having problems with plex forcing the account login screen when trying to access the server settings.

according to article @ https://support.plex.tv/articles/207538527-do-i-need-a-plex-account-to-stream-locally/

while albeit indicates ios, says that account is not required.

When I disable internet access, I can access the server settings with no problem.

I have disabled the ‘secure connections’ requirements and local discovery. (and restarted pms multiple times)

As soon as I enable internet access, and click settings, it forwards from the local web admin to the plex.tv authentication page. There is no option or link to skip logging in.

When I installed the server, I skipped the login.

I am accessing PMS web via http://127.0.0.1:32400/manage

and obviously I am accessing from the local host server that pms is running on.

the multiple servers I am creating I do not want cluttering up my account.

things seem to work fine without logging in except accessing the GENERAL server settings.

I can even access the OTHER server settings directly by http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/index.html#!/settings/server/server_id/network

Also, I have just now noticed that after setting the ‘secure connections’ to DISABLED, I have completely lost the drop box to change it.

is there no way to access local server settings on a local-non-logged-in pms with internet access, without disabling internet?!?!?

i found another related post ? @ https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/253441/how-can-i-access-plex-media-server-without-signing-in-to-an-account

2

Do you have the local LAN allowed for no auth? settings > networks > Local LAN

3

I have the same problem! What is going on with this shi*!?
I have local LAN allowed setting up and after newest update server want to login in my plex acount.
I dont want to claim my server or user plex account!!!
It was working before the newest update

4

@ dirty
yes I have local allowed, AND disabled secure connections, but I was only ever able to access those settings AFTER disabling the internet.

STILL it forwards to the login page when trying to go to settings general.

1 Like
5

@ChuckPA Any thoughts? I cant get it to reproduce this when i spin up a vm with a new server

6

for your local lan, this will work.
In Preferences.xml allowedNetworks="192.168.0.0/24" (local lan here is 192.168.0.x)

7

@ChuckPA said:
for your local lan, this will work.
In Preferences.xml allowedNetworks="192.168.0.0/24" (local lan here is 192.168.0.x)

Any word on whether or not this will be fixed?

I mean why would the general tab, the very first tab that the “settings” button redirects you to, forcibly redirect you to plex.tv login page? Surely this cannot be the intended behaviou.

8

Not really anything to ‘fix’. Plex Pass requires a connection by design.
What I’ve shown you is how to run during times, like now for me, when weather takes out internet. At least there is minimal (non-Plex Pass) usability

9

I have “192.168.0.0” in the network field, I’ll update it when I can with the /24 addition to see if that makes any difference.

Note; per the the very description, by default localhost and local network are supposed to be included, so specifically setting this to the exact same network should be unnecessary, and apparently (per the previous comments) has changed recently.

Comma separated list of IP addresses or IP/netmask entries for networks that will be considered to be on the local network when enforcing bandwidth restrictions. If set, all other IP addresses will be considered to be on the external network and and will be subject to external network bandwidth restrictions. If left blank, only the server’s subnet is considered to be on the local network

(note I missed the noted inclusion of the netmask above)

Perhaps this is complicated by multiple NIC/subnets on the local machine?

Either way, smells like a bug when leaving it blank should allow access without any auth when accessed via the local subnet (in particular the same machine as the server is running on).

10

@TeknoJunky

Use Case:

  1. User has 3 subnets
  2. Subnet 1 is for WAN based .bz domain work
  3. Subnet 2 is for external family on site VPN
  4. Subnet 3 is for local LAN

PMS sees all three networks.

Which one(s) get whitelisted?

11

Easy.

127.0.0.1 and localhost

remember, we are talking about accessing the PMS web from the same machine that is running PMS web.

I am, at least in this particular case, not trying to access from any other machines on any of the other subnets.

Now, I do understand your point regarding the 3 illustrated subnets, but those should only come in to play when accessing from a different machine.

To more seriously answer your question, the answer would be; when in doubt, bind to all adapters and networks, make it obvious/apparent to the admin, and let the admin decide.

12

I had this debate several years ago… and lost.
127.0.0.1 isn’t whitelisted. Trusted yes, whitelisted no. Not sure I understand the difference ok.

Go ahead. Try whitelisting and see what you get. See what you get. :slight_smile:

As for whitelisting everything? The emphasis was placed on security and protecting users from accidental but devastating mistakes.

if you want them all whitelisted, thereby disabling all authentication allowedNetworks= can be any number of subnets/masks separated by commas as you wish but it won’t be done automatically. Reason: Server in a datacenter. Whitelist the entire datacenter? Seems uncool to me. The technical person will think to look there whereas the non-technical probably never will unless there’s a clear network problem.

13

Thanks for your comments and information.

I will spin up a few different vm’s with other windows/linux installs and see if I can continue to reproduce the forced login @ settings/general on a non-claimed/non-plex-user logged in fresh install.

I can understand the security implications involved in the binding to all adapters/networks.

I also understand that 127.0.0.1 / localhost cannot be open auth when registered to a plex account.

However I do submit, that in the edge case of an unclaimed server, with no user logged in, that 127.0.0.1 / localhost (at a minimum) should be open auth, because there is no user account, it is by definition not secured must be open to whomever accesses.

14

If you’d like to have some additional room to experiment,

Take the desktop into a forced non-PlexPass mode

  1. Sign the browser out and clear cache before you begin
  2. Spin up a new machine.
  3. At the very first “Sign In” screen, look to the lower right. “What’s This?”
  4. Take that path.
  5. Accept the limited functionality
  6. Proceed through what looks like normal setup
  7. Do not go to Settings - Server - General and sign it in
  8. Do not sign in the browser.
  9. Adjust for maximum fun
15

I booted up a brand new VM with a win2016 datacenter eval, did windows updates and installed pms and chome64 Version 65.0.3325.146 (Official Build) (64-bit), both from a shared folder.

There is only 1 nic configured for the vm connected via virtual switch to the host network, so it directly pulls an ip from router and is assigned an ip from my home network.

I did not start plex. I did not log in to chrome. I did not browse any websites.

I waited for the updates to finish installing, rebooted the vm and went to dinner.

I come back, plex auto started upon login, it opened chrome to the pms web setup wizard and I did exactly your steps through #6.

At number 7, I click settings (which obviously defaults to the general section), at which point I am forced into plextv login, with no way of skipping it.

I did not even get a chance to log in @ settings - server - general - sign in.

Since I am unable to access settings in the normal manner, I am unable to change any settings/server/network.

I disable the VM network adapter, disables the internet.

I am then able to access settings/server/general and all other settings as normal.

at this time, the option to disable secure connections is not shown at all (advanced options SHOWN).

at this point I add my subnet and localhost ips; 192.168.168.0/24,127.0.0.1

I exit PMS from the tray icon.

I restart PMS from the start menu.

I confirm that I can still access all settings. I download the logs from the settings/help.

I click home on the plex web.

I enable the network adapter/internet.

I click settings, and I am immediately forwarded from http://127.0.0.1:32400/web/index.html# to https://app.plex.tv/auth/#!?clientID=hvk6uxmgr1ma3eu5kckb09zm&context[device][product]=Plex%20Web&context[device][version]=3.37.2&context[device][platform]=Chrome&context[device][platformVersion]=65.0&context[device][device]=Windows&context[device][screenResolution]=1366x588%2C1366x768&context[device][layout]=desktop&context[device][environment]=bundled&forwardUrl=http%3A%2F%2F127.0.0.1%3A32400%2Fweb%2Findex.html%23!%2Fsettings%2Fserver%2Fb2da561b1438f494c13c6f991a22bab96b2af97a%2Fgeneral%3FpinID%3D105123475&code=inavxhce9o0pld2hvxsmxafuk

Except by disabling the internet or direct url to settings/specific-section, there is no other apparent way to access server settings.

Adding local subnet and 127.0.0.1 does not stop the forced login.

attached network settings image and server logs as downloaded by settings/help.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do or provide that will help narrow down and resolve this issue.

16

i didn’t know you were using Windows. Keys are stored in the registry so you weren’t really starting fresh

Use Linux. It’ll do what I’ve shared

17

Not sure what you mean, this is a brand new install of windows server from the installation ISO from microsofts website.

There was nothing else installed but chrome and pms.

Whatever keys were stored in the registry, were stored there by either the installer, or the PMS processes itself.

I went through the setup wizard and followed the steps to not log in.

It is only the page that loads settings/server/general that forwards to plextv.

The other settings pages appear to function fine (if you can get past the settings/server/general page).

18

Get OUT of windows.

19

@ChuckPA said:
Get OUT of windows.

This has nothing to do with widnows!!!
There is a bug in the newest plex server. When entering the server settings there is redirection to plex.tv with login screen!

20

This has nothing to do with Windows. I had the same issue when I upgraded PMS to v1.12.0 on my Ubuntu 16.04.4 machine. Even though I’ve always had the allowed networks field filled out, it still consistently tried to redirect me to sign in when trying to access the server settings. This issue made me rollback to PMS v1.11 which did not have this redirect problem. Something most certainly changed between those PMS releases and needs to be fixed.