Unable to connect to Plex server securely

Server Version#: 4.152.0
Player Version#:
<If providing server logs please do NOT turn on verbose logging, only debug logging should be enabled>

Something weird is happening - Plex keeps saying it is “Unable to connect to the server securely”.

It’s affected access from outside my home network. I tried disabling then enabling remote access - it goes green for a minute then the error returns.

What am I missing? It worked fine before.

Same problem on windows as of the last couple days.

@rv13

DSM version 6 or 7?

Verify your PMS version - 1.41.x, 1.42.x, etc. Look in Settings → Server_Name → General.

Can you access the Plex server OK when on your home network?

Remote access is never working. Plex “optimistically” says it is available while trying to register your server with plex.tv. When that fails it returns to “not available…”

This document can help with getting remote access working: The Basics of Remote Access Troubleshooting

Sorry for the late reply as I was travelling (without access to my Plex server :woozy_face: )

Anyway, I did some troubleshooting and it was the VPN - I use NordVPN since the beginning but for some reason the UDP protocol stopped being compatible with Plex. So I switched to TCP and it’s working now

Plex only uses UDP on the local LAN for discovery purposes
All authentication and streaming has always been TCP

  • TCP: 32400 (access to the Plex Media Server) [required]

The following additional ports are also used within the local network for different services:

  • UDP: 1900 (access to the Plex DLNA Server)
  • UDP: 5353 (older Bonjour/Avahi network discovery)
  • TCP: 8324 (controlling Plex for Roku via Plex Companion)
  • UDP: 32410, 32412, 32413, 32414 (current GDM network discovery)
  • TCP: 32469 (access to the Plex DLNA Server)

NordVPN has either UDP or TCP for server-based connections. UDP was working before until 1 Oct 2025 then it stopped working. Switching to a TCP-based VPN connection resolved the issue