Remote-access Guide

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by Alek Dickinson Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago

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! Your Plex Media Server is now enabled for secure remote access.

Full Answer

How do I enable remote access for Plex Media Server?

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 for the Port Restriction, and click “Add Resource”. Congrats! Your Plex Media Server is now enabled for secure remote access.

Why is my Plex server not available outside my network?

If you enable remote access to your Plex Media Server and see an error message like “Not available outside your network”, then you have a little trouble shooting to do. It’s important to note that the Plex Media Server can still reach the internet (the server is signed in), but the Plex system can’t access your Plex server from the outside.

How do I connect to Plex from a Windows PC?

You’ve now set up a Connector on your Windows PC, which enables remote access to Plex, or other services that you’re running on your computer (called a “Resource” in Twingate). Go back to your Remote Network and click on the “Add Resource” link. You’ll see a popup like the one below.

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.

Does Pia work with Plex?

Private Internet Access is a solid option for Plex users with their own media libraries that they want to stream from outside the house. PIA's apps include support for port forwarding, so you can remotely access your Plex server and stream content from anywhere.

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!

Does private Internet access have split tunneling?

PIA split tunneling is available on all PIA VPN desktop apps — Windows, Mac, and Linux — with an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). Split tunneling functionality is even available in our Android application under the name "Per App Settings."

How do I access Plex from anywhere?

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.

How do I access Plex server from another computer?

To open the Plex Web App from a different device than the server computer while still on the same network: Open a browser window. Type http://server.local.ip.address:32400/web into the address bar (e.g “http://192.168.1.5:32400/web”) The browser will connect to the server and load 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]

Does Plex need a static IP?

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.

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.

Does PIA use Tor?

Yes! To use PIA with TOR, please make sure that you run the TOR Browser after you have connected to the PIA service.

Does PIA have obfuscation?

There are a lot of options, and plenty of helpful answers on the PIA website on to how to use them, but some important security features are missing for the Android app. There are no obfuscated servers, which masks VPN activity to look more like regular internet activity.

Why is PIA so slow?

Your ISP-rated connection speed is based on connections to the ISP network under ideal conditions. However, VPN connections incur additional overhead due to the encryption process; using higher levels of encryption would slow the connection even more.

How do I connect to someone else's Plex server?

2:4510:09How to share your Plex Media Server with family and friends - step by stepYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIf you want to share with another person that has Plex so you can't share your media with.MoreIf you want to share with another person that has Plex so you can't share your media with.

Can anyone access my Plex server?

Plex Media Servers associated with your Plex account will be available. For each server, you can choose whether or not to share content with the friend. Select the server name to grant access to all libraries or you can unselect it to choose only individual libraries to share.

How do I find my Plex server IP address?

Find out the local IP address of the device on which the app is running. You will typically be able to find this in the device's system settings. In your Plex Web App, go to Settings > Server > Network .

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 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.

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 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.

Can you use Plex Media Server on a TV?

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. RELATED: How to Set Up Plex (and Watch Your Movies on Any Device)

Can you watch Plex on your phone?

One of the greatest things about the Plex Media Server platform, however, is the ease with which you can access your media from anywhere. With remote access enabled and properly configured, you can watch your favorite TV shows anywhere you have internet access: on your phone while you’re sitting in a waiting room, on your laptop while you’re vacationing, or even on a smart TV at a friend’s house.

Can you disable remote access on Plex?

During the initial setup of the Plex Media Server, the setup wizard prompts you to enable or disable remote access. While the default state is enabled, you may have opted at the time to disable remote access, or perhaps you inadvertently disabled it while messing around with the system settings later on. Regardless, it’s easy enough to check the status of remote access and enable it if it is currently disabled.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

How to run ncpa.cpl?

Press Windows + R, type “ ncpa.cpl ” in the dialogue box and press Enter.

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, resulting in an error like the screenshot below.

Prerequisites

The rest of this guide assumes that you have some components already installed. If you’ve already installed Plex, WSL, and Docker on your Windows PC, skip ahead to “Sign up for Twingate” below. 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 Windows PC, which enables remote access to Plex, or other services that you’re running on your computer (called a “Resource” in Twingate).

Download the Twingate client

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

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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