Remote-access Guide

plex remote access public ip with red x

by Reginald Cartwright Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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Login to your Plex Web App. Go to Settings > Server > General. Then click Remote Access.

Full Answer

Should you remotely access Plex Media Server?

If you primarily use Plex Media Server for watching content on your local network (like streaming your favorite shows to your HDTV or smartphone), you may not have given much though to the benefits of remote access.

How to manually open a port on a router using Plex?

Click “Apply”. If you don’t see the manual port option in your settings, you need to click on the “Show Advanced” button in the upper right navigation bar. Once you’ve turned on the option in Plex, it’s time to access your router’s admin page.

How do I check the status of remote access on Plex?

Regardless, it’s easy enough to check the status of remote access and enable it if it is currently disabled. While logged into your Plex Media Server’s web control panel, select the Settings icon from the upper right toolbar. Within the Settings menu select, the “Server” tab. Then, from the left hand navigation pane, select “Remote Access”.

How to get Plex to use the correct public Wan?

Running plex on a windows server and have assigned a static IP for it. Setup port forwarding to 32400. Have also tried UpnP in the router, and then switched back to manual port forwarding when that didn't work. Have reset the server and rebooted the system numerous times. However, can still not get plex to use the correct public wan.

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Why can't I access my Plex server remotely?

Open Plex Web App and make sure you're signed in to your Plex account on the server under Settings > Server > General. Go to Settings > Server > Remote Access. If needed, toggle the Show Advanced button to ensure the appropriate options are visible. Enable the Manually specify public port checkbox.

How do I access Plex without port forwarding?

Click on the “CIDR Address” box, choose a Label name for the Resource, enter the private IP address of Plex (it's listed under Plex Settings > Remote Access and is likely 10. x.x.x or 192.168. x.x ), choose 32400 for the Port Restriction, and click “Add Resource”. Congrats!

Do I need a static IP for Plex?

A Public Static IP is not needed, largely because the AT&T "dynamic" address changes so infrequently that Plex will have no trouble tracking you down.

Does Plex remote access work with a VPN?

Does Plex Work with a VPN? Yes, Plex can be used with VPNs. However, you shouldn't settle for any provider as not all of them support Plex. PureVPN, on the other hand, is fully compatible with the media center and empowers you to enjoy a private, throttle-free, and limitless streaming experience!

How do I enable remote access on Plex?

Enable access to your Plex Media Server from outside your local network so that you can reach it when away from home or for sharing content with family or close, personal friends. You can do this under Settings > Server > Remote Access in Plex Web App.

Does Plex use TCP or UDP?

The most important port to make sure your firewall allows is the main TCP port the Plex Media Server uses for communication: TCP: 32400 (access to the Plex Media Server) [required]

What IP addresses does Plex use?

NAS Devices Type http://[Plex Media Server IP Address]:32400/web (e.g. http://192.168.1.25:32400/web) The browser will connect to the Plex Media Server and load Plex Web App.

How do I set a static IP for Plex?

RELATED: How to Set Static IP Addresses On Your Router You'll need to identify your Plex Media Server computer on the network and then look for an option in your router to create a “static IP”, “static lease”, or “DHCP reservation” to permanently associate the Plex Media Center with a given IP address.

Is it safe to open port for Plex?

Yes, port forwarding Plex is safe. Just make sure your internet connection is secured with AES 256-bit encryption for optimal online privacy and security.

How secure is Plex remote?

Plex has teamed up with Let's Encrypt to provide our users with high-quality secure certificates for your media servers, at no cost to you. There's no need to set up VPNs and no need to create and install your own certs. You can safely and securely connect to your media no matter where you are.

Can you bypass VPN?

You can often bypass a VPN block by switching servers or going to a different VPN provider. The organization blocking your access may have focused on only the more popular VPNs when choosing what to block, so you may be able to gain access using a less popular service.

How do I get Plex to work on NordVPN?

To make this possible, you'd need to set up NordVPN on a supported router. Once you have NordVPN running on your router, you can connect the device with your Plex server setup to the router, and any traffic transferred over the connection will be behind a NordVPN server.

What is Plex relay?

What is Relay? In a nutshell, if your app isn't able to make a direct connection to your Plex Media Server when you're away from home, we can act as sort of a middle man and “relay” the stream from your server to your app.

Is Plex remote access secure?

Plex has teamed up with Let's Encrypt to provide our users with high-quality secure certificates for your media servers, at no cost to you. There's no need to set up VPNs and no need to create and install your own certs. You can safely and securely connect to your media no matter where you are.

What happens if you don't set up a static IP address?

If you don’t do this every time your router assigns a new internal address to the media server it will break your port forwarding rule. If you need more information on setting up a static IP address you can search for documentation for your specific router and read up on static IP addresses here.

What happens when you double up a NAT system?

When a NAT system is doubled up with another NAT system, however, it can create issues for apps (like the Plex Media Server) that rely on UPnP to create automatic port forwarding rules. This occurs commonly when you have a router/modem combo supplied by your ISP and your own router plugged into that unit.

How to set up static IP address on Plex?

You’ll need to identify your Plex Media Server computer on the network and then look for an option in your router to create a “static IP”, “static lease”, or “DHCP reservation” to permanently associate the Plex Media Center with a given IP address. Below you can see an example of what adding a static IP address looks like, via our DD-WRT router.

How to port forward on Plex?

First, let’s turn on the manual port mode in Plex. To do so navigate to Settings > Server > Remote Access (as we did in the previous section of the tutorial).

What does it mean when a server says "Not available outside network"?

If your server is currently not configured for remote access, it will say “Not available outside your network” as seen above. Click the large orange button that reads “Enable Remote Access”.

What does the control panel indicate on Plex?

In addition to telling you that the server is accessible, the control panel will also indicate the internal IP address and port number of the Plex Media Server on your local network as well as external, or public, IP address and port number.

How to check if Plex is disabled?

While logged into your Plex Media Server’s web control panel, select the Settings icon from the upper right toolbar. Within the Settings menu select, the “Server” tab.

What is an advanced firewall?

Like mentioned before in the causes, advanced firewalls are notorious for blocking connection streams which are sent by Plex media server and are necessary in order for it to work properly. These advanced firewalls include pfsense or similar products.

Why does Plex Media Server buffer?

This scenario usually occurs when your internet connection is not sound which forces the server to use less bandwidth in order to provide access to the media.

Why is Plex server error?

This usually occurs because Plex is a heavy application with numerous parameters going on simultaneously. If any one of these gets into an error state or load a bad configuration, it might be unusable.

Why is Plex not working?

There are many instances where several bugs are induced into the Plex application which causes it not to work as expected. Software all around us get updates every once in a while and sometimes these updates are not compatible with Plex. Hence its engineers roll out an update targeting this issue solely.

What is plex media?

Plex is a client-server media stream and software suite. It has a Plex Media Server desktop application which is available on Windows, Ubuntu, and macOS. This applications allows you to organize different media files in your computer and allows players over the internet to access them if given the correct credentials.

How to find my router's IPv4 address?

Find and note down your router’s External IPv4 address/WAN. You can easily find this in the status page present in your router settings.

What is double NAT?

Double NAT: NAT (Network address translation) handles the task of managing all network requests coming into your public IP against all the internal IPs. There are situations where a ‘double’ NAT occurs which causes a lot of issues and causes Plex Remote Access not to work.

Plex remote access not working?

Plex offers a remote access feature that relies on port forwarding, but the configuration may not always work or there may be other common issues like Double-NAT. Using port forwarding also exposes an open port to your home network that can potentially be exploited.

Prerequisites

The rest of this guide assumes that you have some components already installed. If not, please following these instructions first.

Sign up for Twingate

Twingate Starter is a new free plan that is designed for home and personal use. If you don’t have an account already, please click here and follow the simple steps to sign up for a Starter account and begin the initial setup.

Add a Connector

After completing the steps above, you should now have a Starter account with a Remote Network set up. The next step is to deploy a Twingate Connector, which is a piece of software that allows for secure access to your remote network and the devices connected to it.

Add a Resource

You’ve now set up a Connector on your device. This Connector enables remote access for any device or service on your home network (called a “Resource” in Twingate). For now, we’re just interested in enabling access to Plex, so we need to add it as a Resource.

Download the Twingate client

All that’s left to do now is to install Twingate on your device (we support Windows, Mac, Linux and have apps for iOS and Android) and access your Plex Media Server. As an example, let’s walk through setting up the Twingate client on iOS.

Sharing is Caring

Do you want to share access with a family member? You can easily do this from the Twingate web UI. Just go to the Team tab and click “Invite User” to send an email invitation. The recipient would simply follow the same steps to download the Twingate client, join your network, and get access to Plex, or any other resource you set up!

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