Is my VPN preventing remote access?

[Dan33702 0]

I cannot figure out how to access my content remotely. I'm pretty sure I'm configuring things correctly, but when I sign out of the wifi on my phone to test it out, I can't access Emby. However, everything works perfectly within my own network.

All of my content is on a Windows 11 PC. My VPN is Private Internet Access.

What can I do to get remote access? Is there a guide specific for those using VPN's?

[Luke 37114]

@Dan33702

Hi, it could be making things more complicated, yes. Have you tried disabling the vpn for comparison purposes?

[Dan33702 0]

It always worked before I had the VPN. I just can't figure it out now without having to remember to turn the VPN on/off.

[TMCsw 122]

Does PIA support "split tunneling" (or whatever they call it)? (most VPN's do at least on windows)

If so add emby as a trusted/bypass/(whatever they call it) app.

Also I believe PIA supports port forwarding (most VPN's don't) but you have to request it (not sure if it's free or not))

[Dan33702 0]

I've tried split tunneling to no avail. I'm so desperate, I even went to that that other media streaming client and couldn't get that to work either outside of my home network.

[caveman456 1]

I encountered the same issue a while back running ExpressVPN (using split tunneling), it worked perfectly until a recent update and then I noticed that even with split tunneling it would affect Emby server and change the Remote WAN and affect remote access. It was about the time my subscription was due to expire so I haven't been using a VPN since and am also keen to here of a solution as I would like to go back to using one.

[GrimReaper 3309]

3 minutes ago, caveman456 said:

so I haven't been using a VPN since and am also keen to here of a solution as I would like to go back to using one.

Try AirVPN with dedicated port forwarding, haven't had issues in a long time with it. 

[richt 73]

I have PIA, but don't use it on my Emby PC.  However did you try restarting Emby after allowing it to bypass the VPN in PIA?

[caveman456 1]

It's probably been 6 months since having a VPN so a lot of this is from memory but yes, tried restarting, rebooting, turning the VPN off. I did notice that Express VPN install a virtual network connection (TAP Server I think which routed through the Express DNS servers). Even with the VPN disable (but still installed) the IP of the computer was x.x.x.x (my actual IP address) but Emby had an IP of y.y.y.y.

[Luke 37114]

6 hours ago, caveman456 said:

It's probably been 6 months since having a VPN so a lot of this is from memory but yes, tried restarting, rebooting, turning the VPN off. I did notice that Express VPN install a virtual network connection (TAP Server I think which routed through the Express DNS servers). Even with the VPN disable (but still installed) the IP of the computer was x.x.x.x (my actual IP address) but Emby had an IP of y.y.y.y.

If you've tried to configure a VPN bypass, but notice that it isn't working, then it's possible it could be due to this:

https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/issues/47267#issuecomment-764624449

In other words, the vpn software having not implemented the bypass yet over ipv6.