Emby Theater UWP app stopped working with my server

[LiaraAlis 15]

Hi together,

I'm using Emby Theater for Windows for a longer time from my work and my local network. In the past, there are no problems with this.

Last week, on my PC at work, the app stopped working and can't connect anymore to my Emby server. No matter if I try to connect via Emby Connect or with direct connection. In both cases, a message with title "Connection failure" appears

Connecting to my Emby server with the normal desktop app or via browser works without any problems. It also works from my PC at home. Emby server is running on my Synology DiskStation. Connecting to my local network via VPN tunnel does not help, even if I try to connect using local addresses.

Is there a way to debug connections?

Edit: I updated to DSM 7 last week. Maybe this has something to do with this issue?

Thank you and best regards,
Alexander Pankow

Edited November 1, 2021 by LiaraAlis

[Luke 42078]

@LiaraAlis are you still running into this?

@FrostByte are you able to connect the windows store app to your Synology server?

[FrostByte 5392]

Yes, no issues here.  Been playing music all day

However, I'm only using it from home on my network.

Edited November 2, 2021 by FrostByte

[LiaraAlis 15]

@LukeYes. But as I said only from my pc from work. It's fine from local network. Emby via browser or mobile app is working fine.

[LiaraAlis 15]

@Luke Problem still persists. Do you have any ideas how I can debug this?

[Luke 42078]

I'll not sure at this point. It sounds like something is blocking the outgoing traffic on your work machine.

[LiaraAlis 15]

26 minutes ago, Luke said:

I'll not sure at this point. It sounds like something is blocking the outgoing traffic on your work machine.

I think too. I ask a colleague from IT if he has any ideas.

[Luke 42078]

Let us know what you find. Thanks.

[LiaraAlis 15]

I asked, but he can not find any service that are blocking requests.

Is there a logfile for the UWP app anywhere?

[Luke 42078]

There isn't. Is anything in windows event viewer?

[LiaraAlis 15]

Can't see anything in the event viewer.

[Luke 42078]

Are you still running into this?

[LiaraAlis 15]

@Luke Yes.

[LiaraAlis 15]

@Luke Any ideas? Problem still persists.

[Luke 42078]

As it is specific to your network environment, I'm not sure at this point.

[LiaraAlis 15]

Is there no logfile or something else?

I tried Emby Theater with another server and with this server it works without any problems. Maybe it's a server problem?

[Luke 42078]

It's possible you may have configured the network settings on the server in such a way that it's being rejected.

[LiaraAlis 15]

What configuration can cause blocking traffic from Emby Theater UWP app but not from the normal desktop app and not from accessing from web?

Using the normal Emby Theater desktop app, Emby mobile app or using Emby from Browser works perfectly,. no matter if I'm connected to an external network or to my local network.

[LiaraAlis 15]

@LukeUnfortunately I still have this problem. It's curious that it is working with the desktop app. Can you explain what the differences are between these both clients? The solution must be hidden in these differences.

[LiaraAlis 15]

Hello @Luke,

this problem still exists. When I open a VPN connection and connect with local address, it is working.

Could it be that there is a problem with ssl? I always connect with ssl when connecting from outside my local network.

[Luke 42078]

6 hours ago, LiaraAlis said:

Hello @Luke,

this problem still exists. When I open a VPN connection and connect with local address, it is working.

Could it be that there is a problem with ssl? I always connect with ssl when connecting from outside my local network.

Yes it is probably worth trying plain http in order to rule that out.

[heffeque 78]

Quick comment.

I'm not sure I mentioned this before, but Microsoft Store Emby Theater app doesn't work with "https://serverURL" (port 443)
This didn't work last year, still not working today (1.1.431.0)

It also doesn't work with "https://local_IP" (I don't remember the port), but it works fine if it's connecting with "http://local_IP" (I don't remember the port)

Desktop Emby Theater (3.0.15) and the Web app both work fine with "https://serverURL" (port 443)

Haven't tried with http because I don't have the proper port forwarded, but either way, I'm not 100% sure I'd want to use http on a remote location, and I'd prefer to avoid VPN for performance reasons.

Thankfully I'm OK with using either Desktop or Web app, but there might be people out there that may need to use the MS Store app and might not be able to use "https://serverURL"

Thank you in advance

Edited August 6, 2022 by heffeque

[Luke 42078]

1 minute ago, heffeque said:

Quick comment.

I'm not sure I mentioned this before, but Microsoft Store Emby Theater app doesn't work with "https://serverURL" (port 443)
This didn't work last year, still not working today (1.1.431.0)

MS Store Emby Theater app works fine if it's connecting in the local network with "https://local_IP" (port 443)

Desktop Emby Theater (3.0.15) and the Web app both work fine with "https://serverURL" (port 443)

Haven't tried with http because I don't have the proper port forwarded, but either way, I'm not 100% sure I'd want to use http on a remote location, and I'd prefer to avoid VPN for performance reasons.

Thankfully I'm OK with using either Desktop or Web app, but there might be people out there that may need to use the MS Store app and might not be able to use "https://serverURL"

Thank you in advance

It's probably rejecting your SSL certificate. Where is that coming from? We currently have no way to force it to accept your certificate if the platform doesn't trust it by default.

The new Windows app that we're working on might be able to do this though.

[heffeque 78]

Edited my previous post.

Tried with https local_IP and it didn't work (I thought it did).

"http://local_IP" is fine because it stays local, but... yup, for https, only Desktop and WebApp work in my case.

My certificate is issued by R3 (Synology's default "Lets Encrypt" certificates).

Edit: Oh, and Android app is also working OK with "https://serverURL" (443)

Edit 2: I don't know if it would help, but I'm using a Reverse Proxy from https (443) to http (local port) because for some reason Reverse Proxy from https (443) to https (local port) isn't working for Emby Server (it's working OK with other services)

Edited August 6, 2022 by heffeque

[Luke 42078]

Right on desktop and android we have ways of working around untrusted certificates, but not with uwp.