For exactly one week I was using an experimental version, 1.30.3.6509 and I had ZERO issues with remote connection, until literally an hour ago. Tried the latest stable version the website gave me, 1.30.2.6563.
Before we go down the whole troubleshooting guide thing - look - it was working, before I started having this issue at week ago it worked for years upon years. This isn’t my first rodeo.
@Plex Staff - there is something wrong with remote connection. This is not a user problem.
Further, on the same network, the same internet, the same equipment… My laptop running 1.27.2.5929 has ZERO issues, i don’t even have that IP or port forwarded and its open to everything …
To make this even more confusing, laptop on the latest version has no issues with remote access UNLESS i specify the port.
When I do not specify the port … work’s just fine and the port is accessible outside of the network …
This is all very confusing and very not how its been in the past, it makes absolutely no sense. The only thing I have left to do is completely wipe my desktop and start all over again …
(Laptop and the Desktop are same same chicken beef in terms of OS/Firewall’s/etc)
Are you running two PMS on the same network?
No, it was for testing purposes only, trying to eliminate as much as possible … in this case I was trying to eliminate any hardware problems
OK. Because that would definitely require the appropriate manual setup to get things working properly. And depending on how you setup the new server it could still have resulted in some residual issues. Also. if it was exactly one week as you stated, then it could have been a DNS lease refresh that might have caused it to stop working. Something to ponder.
So, just because something was working for ever and ever and now isn’t doesn’t mean you can just dismissively wave off actually going through all the troubleshooting and going through each component step-by-step to confirm things are setup optimally, or to identify the point of failure. There’s plenty that can change unbeknownst to you that could have impacted things (ISP changes, OS patches, installed software updates, etc.). Declaring that something is wrong with Plex and that it is not a user problem does not actually make it so.
There’s people here in the forums, including myself, that will be willing to work with you for as long as it takes and likely get you working reliably (or identify a legit bug if that is indeed the case), if you will work with us.
But if you think you know better and just want to huff and stomp, then at least post some logs so that one of the Plex staff might take a look to see if there’s anything that jumps out.
Up to you.
Would love to provide logs and figure this out - which ones do you need and at what level of logging?
I had my plex media fully remote, and just moved it locally/into my home and will be running it from here, it’s crucial I figure this out so the rest of the family can still utilize it.
Wasn’t trying to appear to stomp and puff and run off, I’m frustrated to the point of exhaustion, I’ve gone over the troubleshooting guide so many times I could probably recite from memory.
Look forward to working it out, cheers.
Right, can skip logs for now. There’s a lot of the basics to cover.
(And sorry, but before we proceed I am going to be that guy and point it out, because you’ve only just now disclosed it…
You have physically moved PMS locations and therefore changed significant portions of your setup regarding local network and internet which are integral to remote access!? So it was working for years and years, somewhere else. If I understand things correctly? I certainly understand and can empathize with being frustrated by things not working, but it seems very bold to overlook the above and point the finger straight at Plex being the issue. Anyway.)
OK. What’s your current setup:
OS?
Home network components from the wall to your PMS?
Ok, so for years I ran a remote PMS and a local PMS. Both have worked fine for years, no issues with remote access.
When I say “I moved” - I’m talking about the data. Let’s say I maybe had 1000 files on the remote PMS and 100 on the local PMS, all I did was overtime move those remote PMS files - so now I have 0 remote files and 1100 local files. I operated this way for years but it just became less reliable to run such a large system remotely.
Current setup:
Windows 11, AMD9 3950X, ASUS RoG Formula VIII Mobo, 128gb DDR4, 3x20tb Iron Wolf Pro’s (and many other SSD’s and M2’s)
From the NIC on the ROG Formula, Cat 6 Keystone Wall Jack, Cat 6 line through wall and ceiling to router - Ubiquiti UDM Pro. From the Ubiquiti is a line direct to the Fiber modem, 1gb up/down.
Start with confirming no CGNAT or Double NAT. In a browser get your public address from https://whatismyipaddress.com/ and compare it to the WAN address in you Ubiquiti.
Should not be in the range of
100.64.0.0 - 100.127.255.255
10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 -192.168.255.255
Since you mentioned Ubiquiti, have you added an exception for plex.direct into the DNS to stop DNS-Rebinding Protection?
There is no CGNAT.
I’ve never done an exception for plex.direct for DNS rebinding protection, i have made sure to allow traffic to the “IP Worker Addresses” from the guide, i’ll look in to the dns rebinding protection unless you have a handy guide.
Cheers
Ah OK. That was my misunderstanding then. When you said moved your plex media I thought you meant the PMS itself, not just the files, which shouldn’t have any bearing on this.
Will wait on the resolution of the DNS rebinding before looking at anything else. As I understand it, that can cause issues until it is configured for plex. Hopefully that will be enough to get things connecting reliably for you.
Ok, so, I operate a UDM Pro, it seems since 2019 there hasn’t been a way to do this DNS rebinding, the configuration capability no longer exists.
Let us not forget that prior to “it worked for a week” it had worked for years, ~ 14 months on the UDM Pro itself (prior to that it was an ASUS router).
Update: So it looks like this can be done but requires a custom firmware and a lot of unofficial configurations … considering this did work before, I have a hard time believing this is the issue.
OK, can proceed without then. Still plenty to check over.
Do you recall the day/date your current issues started?
So, W11:
Network profile is Private?
No 3rd party firewall, internet security or VPN software?
Wired LAN only, onboard wifi is disabled?
In Update history, does anything in Quality Updates or Driver updates coincide date wise?
Fiber modem is just that? Modem only, or in bridge mode.
Is your fiber Fios by any chance? I seem to recall that their Home Network Protection stuff does not play nicely with Plex remote access.
If not, you may also want to check that your provider does not have any other sort of ‘smart’ protection active that could be interfering.
PMS:
Are you using standard public port (32400) or manually specified?
Anything non-standard set in Setting > Network?
UDM:
Any idea on when the most recent update installed?
Static IP is set for PMS machine?
Confirmed that UPNP is disabled?
Manual port forwarding is set to static IP for Plex port?
W11:
Private profile, firewall/security is built in W11, no VPN
Wired Lan, Wifi is Off (not available)
Updates, but no obvious updates to coincide
Fiber Modem is just a modem, not FIOS. I’ve used this provider for nearly 3 years (with working remote access), but I’ll send them a message to see if they changed anything.
PMS:
Using a specified port, port forwarded
UDM:
Last update is their last stable release, months before the issue
Static IP to PMS
Port Forwarded
UPNP is disabled by default, but can easily enable
Looking at ways to identify the status I found if I opened two browser tabs to app.plex.tv with one on the console and another on remote networking I could see the status from Plex.
On the console tab if you filter for dnsRebindingProtection and then on the remote networking tab try to enable then you will end up with a status line that will indicate:
DNS failure
NAT protection
DNS Rebinding Protection
HTTPS support
This will narrow down where the issue is.
Oh that is brilliant. I like it!
@afviolettes please let us know what the above indicates. Hopefully will help further focus efforts.
Sounds good, I haven’t forgotten I just haven’t had the time to sit down and go through this … hopefully in the next few days.
I will definitely update once I check all this out.
So, at the current time I do not have a VPN, I did a long time ago, use NordVPN.
After trying to see if the dnsrebiningprotection was an issue, which it wasn’t, I was at a loss. I was going to do a complete computer refresh, which I wasn’t entirely looking forward to.
Upon some random searching and looking at places “just to see” I noticed some NordVPN remnants. After searching to see if there were anymore, I removed a few folders, a few registry entries and some networks … kind of strange that those were still hanging around, but maybe the uninstall didn’t work properly. I had taken for granted that it did apparently …
I do not know if it’s related, but, after doing this i have no remote connection issues to plex. I have no idea the how/what on if any of that did anything … if somehow Plex was being routed through a dead network connection all of a sudden, I truly don’t know.
After figuring this out, and making sure it wasn’t a fluke, I decided to reinstall NordVPN to see if I could figure it out (because now I’m curious).
The way I had used NordVPN was via split-tunneling. So I’d only use it on chrome or firefox and not the entire desktop. My understanding doing this was that it ONLY affected that specific program … however, when NordVPN was active it not only put the specific program under the VPN but it closed all the ports on my computer … my VPN knowledge is weak, so I’m not sure what it’s doing or why that’s happening.
Bottomline, the issue is fixed. It may or may not have been due to remnants of NordVPN from long ago … It works now. I hate networking.
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