Can remote connect to emby from my phone but not from my laptop

[Riptide126 24]

Hello, I tried to remote connect to my emby server via emby connect on my laptop and it says the the server is not running or needs to be checked, however when I access on the emby app on my phone it works totally fine so I am trying to figure out the difference.

[Luke 42081]

HI, are you using the Emby web app on your laptop?

[Riptide126 24]

Yes

[davelee 1]

I'm gonna pop in on this post and ask about similar situation. The other day I went through the process of making sure that I had Windows Firewall, allowing IP addresses through from my devices that I want allowed to connect remotely to the remote(WAN) IP Address. I was able to connect from my phone. I also was able to connect successful from my daughter's laptop. I forgot about my school laptop. I tried today and obviously it didn't work. I added inbound and outbound rules for connecting.

So now I'm home and got the IP Address added to the list. I tried to connect again and am getting the same time out error from the laptop. But this time, I opted to run the troubleshooter just to see what it would say. It claims I have everything set up correctly but the IP Address is not responding? I had a friend try it from their house the other day and they at least got their iphone to pull up the black screen with the Emby logo but it never loaded the library. Not as worried about that as my school laptop right now but just didn't know if that info would help or not.

Any thoughts? I went through all the troubleshooting and changes as I went through it yesterday and am not finding the same success. Please let me know. Thanks.

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by GrimReaper
WAN IP hidden

[pwhodges 2012]

It seems you are operating a very restrictive policy in your Windows firewall.  Nothing inherently wrong with that, of course.  But it might be worth testing briefly with the firewall off to check that your Emby settings are correct, and you can connect through to it with any desired external device.

If Emby is working OK, then the issue is specifically one of your Firewall settings.  Phones, and laptops on other networks, are liable to have their IP address change regularly, using DHCP.  This will make it hard to enable strict two-way rules through your firewall ("pinholes") which work consistently.

But perhaps I have misunderstood something...

Paul

[davelee 1]

Ah! That would actually make sense. And this laptop was a new one purchased for school. So I haven't done a lot with those settings. Other than, trying to add the rule exception for the IP address inbound.

I have remote access set up now, via remote desktop connection, so when I'm on campus, away from home today I can test everything. But it sounds like it definitely would be an outbound rule or permission issue, as my other devices can all still connect remotely.

I'll test it out with the firewall off and dig deeper to find which one is holding it up. Thank you! 

[visproduction 315]

Davelee, for your security, you could edit the photo to remove your direct IP address.

[davelee 1]

@visproductionShoot! Thank you! I missed doing so. Thank you!!

[Riptide126 24]

Ok so quick update, I disabled the SPI firewall on my router and it seems to be working now, not sure if that is safe or not though so do I need to keep it off or is there something else I can do

[pwhodges 2012]

For most people the NAT in their router is sufficient safeguard, so long as the port forwarding is set up only to pass what is specifically required.  If, however, there is a DMZ-type setup passing everything through to one or more machines, then firewall settings will be essential.  

You need to get clear what's actually going on in your router, ensure that all the security you need is present, and simplify away what's not required to avoid this kind of difficulty.

Paul.