How to troubleshoot login issues?

[chudak 23]

Hello

I have Emby clients working on two Fire TV sticks, Roku etc.

Got a new Fire TV 4k + today and no matter what I do, I can’t make it login to the server, http, https, internal and external name, IP addresses - nothing works

is there a way to troubleshoot it ?

 

Thx

[Luke 37116]

Hi there, what happens when you try?

 

[chudak 23]

11 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi there, what happens when you try?

 

So I hit emby.media/pin, all looks good, and the click on Next (do I need to click?) and see no server shown to select

enter server name manually, IP and error connecting shown on the bottom after awhile 

[Luke 37116]

HI, I would suggest checking out our Connection Troubleshooter:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001849007-connectivity

Please try the steps listed there and let us know which one succeed and which ones do not. Thanks !

[chudak 23]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

HI, I would suggest checking out our Connection Troubleshooter:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001849007-connectivity

Please try the steps listed there and let us know which one succeed and which ones do not. Thanks !

Sure thx.
 

Thinking aloud , wouldn’t it be great if Emby connection process was as simple as YouTube is?  E.g. enter PIN and the app refreshes and connects ?

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by chudak

[Luke 37116]

1 hour ago, chudak said:

Sure thx.
 

Thinking aloud , wouldn’t it be great if Emby connection process was as simple as YouTube is?  E.g. enter PIN and the app refreshes and connects ?

 

We already have that with our Emby Connect login feature.

[ebr 14930]

12 hours ago, chudak said:

Thinking aloud , wouldn’t it be great if Emby connection process was as simple as YouTube is?  E.g. enter PIN and the app refreshes and connects ?

Hi.  Yes, we do already have that. The difference is YouTube does not need to connect to a machine on your own local network and we do - so our system will require the appropriate network configuration to allow that.

 Remote Setup

[chudak 23]

I think emby connect is not acting as other modern systems.

Here is what I see.

After sing in to emby.media I see:

need to connect to a machine on your own local network

What does it mean?

Add server never works, sign in with Emby Connect again, etc.

 

I think majority of users expect - emby client shows a verification code, user logins in to a URL, enters a code and client is in.

If we need "need to connect to a machine on your own local network" then let's allow emby connect to list those servers.

Note: I do have all ports forwarded and working.

 

Thanks for replies.

 

[Luke 37116]

Quote

Add server never works

Add server works just fine, unless of course, your server can't be reached. In this case, the problem is in your connection, not the software.

[Luke 37116]

Quote

need to connect to a machine on your own local network

No this isn't necessary. if you're seeing this, then you most likely haven't linked your local user to emby connect:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001160340-emby-connect

[chudak 23]

5 minutes ago, Luke said:

No this isn't necessary. if you're seeing this, then you most likely haven't linked your local user to emby connect:

https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44001160340-emby-connect

 

As I said - that is an indicator that emby connect is not "easy" usable.  I don't know of any other services saying go do anything on your network in order to connect, do you?

I bet lots of users just use manual connect because of such issues.

I don't want to be negative, I love Emby, but this area need more love

[Luke 37116]

5 minutes ago, chudak said:

 

As I said - that is an indicator that emby connect is not "easy" usable.  I don't know of any other services saying go do anything on your network in order to connect, do you?

I bet lots of users just use manual connect because of such issues.

I don't want to be negative, I love Emby, but this area need more love

Right but Netflix and YouTube aren't connecting to your home server.

[chudak 23]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Right but Netflix and YouTube aren't connecting to your home server.

 

Sure, but so what?  I am not sure about actual code implementation, but on user level it seems that the Emby connect is trying to answer the question "is the server connection string alive or not" and I wonder why does it need to know this?  Why can't I login to emby connect and specify say internal IP/hostname + external IP/hostname + DDNS names and that's it?  And it this is not correct that is a user problem and needs to be fixed.

[ebr 14930]

1 hour ago, chudak said:

Sure, but so what?  ...  Why can't I login to emby connect and specify say internal IP/hostname + external IP/hostname + DDNS names and that's it?

Hi.  Because networking just doesn't work that way - for security reasons.   You must configure your local network properly to allow external access to your server.  Otherwise the whole world would be able to easily get into your home network.

[chudak 23]

48 minutes ago, ebr said:

Hi.  Because networking just doesn't work that way - for security reasons.   You must configure your local network properly to allow external access to your server.  Otherwise the whole world would be able to easily get into your home network.

it has nothing to with networking and unsecure access to my server, it's a simple use case support

Edited November 10, 2021 by chudak

[Carlo 4330]

4 hours ago, chudak said:

 

As I said - that is an indicator that emby connect is not "easy" usable.  I don't know of any other services saying go do anything on your network in order to connect, do you?

I bet lots of users just use manual connect because of such issues.

I don't want to be negative, I love Emby, but this area need more love

 

2 hours ago, chudak said:

 

Sure, but so what?  I am not sure about actual code implementation, but on user level it seems that the Emby connect is trying to answer the question "is the server connection string alive or not" and I wonder why does it need to know this?  Why can't I login to emby connect and specify say internal IP/hostname + external IP/hostname + DDNS names and that's it?  And it this is not correct that is a user problem and needs to be fixed.

In order for a service to be available on the Internet it can't be hidden away in a network without at least one open port to allow an Internet service to connect to it.

Netflex, Prime and any website you access on the Internet will normally have ports 80 and 443 open or you would never get to them.  This isn't a matter of "easy" but the way the Internet works.

Almost every home router will allow outbound connections but not inbound connections unless a computer on the inside requested something. In that case the router tracks this and will allow communication back to that host on a specific port for X amount of time (until connection is closed).  This is done for security reasons as well as how basic networking has worked for 50 years.

Some underhanded software once installed in a local network can/will open a tunneled connection to the outside and can allow anyone in and this is exactly how exploits and security issue abound on the Internet.  It's also why you get pop up messages from firewalls asking for your permission to allow the outgoing connection.  This type of software is highly objectionable to anyone that cares about safety and security.

When you want to allow Internet based services into your network on purpose (ie you run a server) like when running a web or media server you the admin take responsibility for doing this by opening the needed port(s) on your network to allow those connection types to access your server while blocking everything else that shouldn't get through the firewall.

Opening a single port on your firewall is a 2 minute operation for anyone who has done it before and maybe a 20 minute exercise if you need to Google instructions for your router.

That assumes as a home network your ISP allows inbound connections to your network as not all do and actively block such requests.

With all that said, we're not about to start doing things differently then the rest of the Internet or do things considered bad practices.  However we would love to help you open the port on your home router so remote users can use your server and so Emby Connect will work for you.

Have you followed our Guide for setting up Remote access?
https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44002137137-remote-setup

[chudak 23]

@cayars

Thank you for details reply, but you are helping with remote server connectivity issue and that's not what I am asking.  You assumed that I have problems connecting to my server.

That's NOT the case, if you read what I said above - "Note: I do have all ports forwarded and working.

The problem is how Emby manages users, and the Emby connect links to the correct servers.

Say I have emby running on local IP 192.168.0.33 and external IP 123.123.123.123 and make it interesting let's say it on http and https 8096 and 8920 ports.  And you have a user "dummy" who wants to access emby from local and public networks.

How does the emby connect handles all these options?

 

 

[Happy2Play 8296]

38 minutes ago, chudak said:

@cayars

Thank you for details reply, but you are helping with remote server connectivity issue and that's not what I am asking.  You assumed that I have problems connecting to my server.

That's NOT the case, if you read what I said above - "Note: I do have all ports forwarded and working.

The problem is how Emby manages users, and the Emby connect links to the correct servers.

Say I have emby running on local IP 192.168.0.33 and external IP 123.123.123.123 and make it interesting let's say it on http and https 8096 and 8920 ports.  And you have a user "dummy" who wants to access emby from local and public networks.

How does the emby connect handles all these options?

 

 

My understanding is if you do not link a Connect user to a local user account, that individual has to manually enter your connection information.

This image to me suggests you have not linked Connect user account to Local user account. 

Then that connection will select LAN or WAN via the "/system/info/public" query against your server.

Now http/https will be chosen via your Network option "Secure connection mode" or overall Network setup as HTTPS requires your certificate input.  At the same time there can be complications with your certificate on some device.

But there still is the issue as you have to ensure you are connecting to the HTTPS version of app.emby.media.

[Luke 37116]

Correct. If you don't do the linking process, then there is no way to know that an emby connect account is associated with a given server. 

[Carlo 4330]

Right.  Also I'd suggest if you have both http and https working to set this up for required and block the port used for http to your server.
Then make sure if any user is using app.emby.media to always use https://app.emby.media.

Having it mixed can cause issues because of the way browsers now handle CORS.

[chudak 23]

2 minutes ago, cayars said:

Right.  Also I'd suggest if you have both http and https working to set this up for required and block the port used for http to your server.
Then make sure if any user is using app.emby.media to always use https://app.emby.media.

Having it mixed can cause issues because of the way browsers now handle CORS.

What is https://app.emby.media./ and why is my traffic gets redirected to it?

[Carlo 4330]

Click it.

That's the Emby Connect website for browser use.  A user would have to use that since they don't know how to get to your server.  If you have a domain or even a dynamic domain then there is no point in using Emby Connect as it's an extra layer you don't need to "find" your server.

The apps do this automatically, you just don't see it.

[chudak 23]

2 minutes ago, cayars said:

Click it.

That's the Emby Connect website for browser use.  A user would have to use that since they don't know how to get to your server.  If you have a domain or even a dynamic domain then there is no point in using Emby Connect as it's an extra layer you don't need to "find" your server.

The apps do this automatically, you just don't see it.

Look I’m not saying it’s useless, I’m saying it needs more love and can/should be improved.

As in my use case, very difficult to manage multiple URLs/ports/DDNS, seems like it capable to handle only one, etc.

But thanks for useful discussion, I hope maybe @Luke will get some ideas from it

[Carlo 4330]

But you just said you're running DDNS.  If you have DDNS you have a URL that will always get to your Emby Server so you don't need Emby Connect.

All you have to do is open a port on your router and forward it to your Emby Server.  Done
If you happen to have a cert for your ddns you can open up port 443. Otherwise port 80 can be ideal to setup.

Then from any browser you can use either:
http://ddns
https://ddns

If you use ports other than 80 or 443 like the defaults of 8096 and 8920 you would do this:
http://ddns:8096
https://ddns:8920

In the apps you have to supply the port so it's not as big a deal there.

This is what Emby Connect does for you by keeping track of your server's IP and knowing what ports you have setup to connect users to.  But if you have a name users can use directly then it's only the port they need to know.  In that case no Emby Connect is needed.

 

[chudak 23]

6 minutes ago, cayars said:

But you just said you're running DDNS.  If you have DDNS you have a URL that will always get to your Emby Server so you don't need Emby Connect.

All you have to do is open a port on your router and forward it to your Emby Server.  Done
If you happen to have a cert for your ddns you can open up port 443. Otherwise port 80 can be ideal to setup.

Then from any browser you can use either:
http://ddns
https://ddns

If you use ports other than 80 or 443 like the defaults of 8096 and 8920 you would do this:
http://ddns:8096
https://ddns:8920

In the apps you have to supply the port so it's not as big a deal there.

This is what Emby Connect does for you by keeping track of your server's IP and knowing what ports you have setup to connect users to.  But if you have a name users can use directly then it's only the port they need to know.  In that case no Emby Connect is needed.

 

Yeah and that’s what I do and advocating that the Emby connect has to do the same - maintain the list of *any* Url and just try it without any redirect 

(maybe I’m not thinking of all details now, but in short - simplification)