Emby Connect not working with VPN

[Dan33702 0]

After nearly a year of not being able to connect remotely, I finally got it working today...only to realize that my VPN had been turned off. As soon as I realized that, I turned it back on. A few hours later, my girlfriend, who only got access to my media for a brief time, called to let me know that she could no longer connect.

What can I do? Other than canceling my PIA VPN account, which I really don't want to do.

[richt 94]

The suggested answer is to enable Split Tunnel in settings and add a rule for Emby Server with Bypass VPN.  However, this may or may not work per this thread Is my VPN preventing remote access?  - but it is worth trying.

[Dan33702 0]

I've set up split tunneling and it seemed straight forward setting up, but apparently that's not the correct solution for me.

[Luke 42077]

2 hours ago, Dan33702 said:

I've set up split tunneling and it seemed straight forward setting up, but apparently that's not the correct solution for me.

Hi, why do you think it's not the correct solution for you?

[Dan33702 0]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, why do you think it's not the correct solution for you?

It's just not working. I can't connect remotely at all.

[Luke 42077]

Hi @Dan33702 were you able to figure out remote connectivity with the VPN?

[Dan33702 0]

No, I haven't. You have helped me, my VPN provider has helped me. Unfortunately, none of the solutions worked.

[Waldoo 14]

I just got mine working today, heres what i did.

Forward ports 80 443 on your router and open those ports in the incoming system firewall.

buy a domain from google domains and set up your A records to point to your public ip.

get caddy from caddyserver.com set up a reverse proxy  that points your google domain to your private ip. That will get you ssl.

In the network tab for the remote 8096 put 80 and the 8920 port put 443

Put in your domain you bought and

for connection type: reverse proxy 

use mulvad for the vpn keep emby server not split tunneled but split tunnel the browser you use and radar and Sonarr if you use them. I’ll probably make a guide tomorrow 

with mullvad i can keep emby server vpn-ed and keep my public ip connected to remote server 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Waldoo

[Luke 42077]

@cayars may have some PIA VPN tips to share.

[Carlo 4560]

On 12/14/2022 at 5:08 PM, Waldoo said:

I just got mine working today, heres what i did.

Forward ports 80 443 on your router and open those ports in the incoming system firewall.

buy a domain from google domains and set up your A records to point to your public ip.

get caddy from caddyserver.com set up a reverse proxy  that points your google domain to your private ip. That will get you ssl.

In the network tab for the remote 8096 put 80 and the 8920 port put 443

Put in your domain you bought and

for connection type: reverse proxy 

use mulvad for the vpn keep emby server not split tunneled but split tunnel the browser you use and radar and Sonarr if you use them. I’ll probably make a guide tomorrow 

with mullvad i can keep emby server vpn-ed and keep my public ip connected to remote server 

 

That seems rather complex.

Did you by any chance follow the instructions here? https://support.emby.media/support/solutions/articles/44002137137-remote-setup

There are some diagnostic steps listed that will let us know what is and isn't working.
If you didn't follow that guide can you step back from your current setup and try this simpler approach?
 

What I'd suggest for step one is to forward 8096 on the router directly to Emby Server.  In Emby's network menu set these options:
Public http port number: 8096
Secure connection mode: Disabled
Allow remote connections to this Emby Server: This should be check marked

Leave these blank:
External domain:
Custom ssl certificate path:
Certificate password:

Do you have anything in these fields?
LAN networks:
Local IP address:
Remote IP address filter:

Uninstall the Port Mapper plugin.
Stop Emby
Turn VPN completely off

Reboot the computer running Emby.  After it restarts and you can log into the web interface open another browser tab and run the canyouseeme test using port 8096.

Follow the section "If this doesn't work continue with how to verify your public IP and port."
Private Message me your trace route results as well as your WAN address and I'll run a test from my side to see if I can make it to your router or if I get a login page.

Carlo

[zebo51 22]

I too am trying to get mine working while still being able to have VPN active.  I"m using Nordvpn.  I have statically mapped the port I'm using so everything works when VPN is disabled.  But when enabled obviously Emby is grabbing the external IP of the VPN.  I turned on split tunneling and added the Emby Server process but that doesn't work, still showing VPN external IP.  I did restart emby after making the change.

 

EDIT Nevermind, after rebooting it is now working.  Weird that starting and stopping my VPN, and starting/stopping emby server didn't work, took a complete reboot.

Edited December 22, 2022 by zebo51

[zebo51 22]

Spoke too soon, while it works for that part, it couldn't go out and find meta data/identify content and download it.  So while the split tunneling allowed regular surfing to go out over VPN and for a remote user to watch my media, emby itself couldn't reach the internet.  Turn off VPN and all works normal. 

So I guess for now I'll have to leave it disabled :(.

[Luke 42077]

Let us know if you're able to figure it out with the VPN. Thanks.

[greenmaniv 1]

Hello.

I'm having the same issue as zebo, with NordVPN and Emby not working even if the VPN is disabled for Emby.

Did anyone find a solution for this since ?

[Luke 42077]

7 hours ago, greenmaniv said:

Hello.

I'm having the same issue as zebo, with NordVPN and Emby not working even if the VPN is disabled for Emby.

Did anyone find a solution for this since ?

Hi there, what exactly is not working?

[greenmaniv 1]

While NordVPN is active, I am unable to access to my Emby server. The error being a "Connection Failure". Even when I am split tunnelling Emby with my VPN, it gives the same error.

[Luke 42077]

On 2/1/2023 at 8:20 PM, greenmaniv said:

While NordVPN is active, I am unable to access to my Emby server. The error being a "Connection Failure". Even when I am split tunnelling Emby with my VPN, it gives the same error.

OK thanks for the update.

[RDSII64 4]

On 12/25/2022 at 7:50 PM, zebo51 said:

Spoke too soon, while it works for that part, it couldn't go out and find meta data/identify content and download it.  So while the split tunneling allowed regular surfing to go out over VPN and for a remote user to watch my media, emby itself couldn't reach the internet.  Turn off VPN and all works normal. 

So I guess for now I'll have to leave it disabled :(.

I know this is an old post, but if my memory is correct ExpressVpn supports split tunneling. Maybe you can give it a try.

[caveman456 2]

To add my 2 cents worth that may help, I was running Express VPN for 3 years with split tunnelling active and no issues with remote access, the remote (wan) ip was the same as my actual ip address. Then after both had an update (not sure what version, around 4.6) the remote (wan) for emby then changed and was somehow being affected by the TAP server network connection that Express VPN installs, the only way to get Emby back to my actual IP address was to uninstall Express VPN.

[Bradum 15]

Just wanted to add to this; I have tried split tunneling with both Proton VPN and Mullvad VPN and am experiencing the same issue.

[Luke 42077]

On 1/10/2026 at 1:04 PM, Bradum said:

Just wanted to add to this; I have tried split tunneling with both Proton VPN and Mullvad VPN and am experiencing the same issue.

Hi, how exactly did you try it?