Errors and Troubleshooting

Note: The ClaimIt project currently supports IPv4 addresses only!

IP Address

In order to claim a Plex Media Server (PMS), both the server itself, as well as the workstation or NAS trying to claim it, must be on the same subnet and using a Private Network IP Address.

This means, that both your Plex Media Server (PMS) as well as the workstation or NAS it is running on, must have an IP Address within the following ranges.

RFC1918 specification for local LAN (Private) Addresses

Subnet Size	IP Address Range	Number Of Addresses
24-bit block	10.0.0.0 - to - 10.255.255.255	16,777,216
20-bit block	172.16.0.0 - to - 172.31.255.255	1,048,576
16-bit block	192.168.0.0 - to - 192.168.255.255	65,536

If your IP Address does not fall within the above address ranges, or you are running IPv6, then you MUST run ClaimIt on the PMS server itself and use 127.0.0.1 as the IP Address, when prompted.

Subnet

In general, if you access your router settings using E.G.: 192.168.0.1, then all devices in your network must have an IP Address that starts with 192.168.0.x, where x is a different number for each device.

If all of your devices start with the same IP address, then it means that all of your devices are on the same subnet.

If for example, you had one device with an IP address of 192.168.1.22 and all other devices in your network had an IP address of 192.168.0.x, then that one device is NOT on the same subnet.

Error Messages

21: Syntax error

If you are using Linux and your Linux distro is setup to use bash as the main shell, then you may see a similar message to this when you try to run the Claimpms.sh file:

root@plex:/home/downloads# ./claimpms.sh
./claimpms.sh: 21: Syntax error: "(" unexpected
root@plex:/home/downloads#

Note: If running Ubuntu or Debian, type bash claimpms.sh instead of ./claimpms.sh, since these two distro's have bash as their default shell.

If using bash claimpms.sh fails to run, then as a last resort, you may need to change the first line of the script file so that the script file will use the bash shell by default.

Open the Claimpms.sh file using a Linux based text editor and change the first line:

#!/bin/sh

so that it reads:

#!/bin/bash

Save the file and then try running it again using the command ./claimpms.sh or bash claimpms.sh.

Note: Make sure you use a Linux based text editor when editing the Claimpms.sh file. Using other text editors may write incorrect line endings to the file which may prevent the file from being run in Linux.

401

1. This usually means your server is already claimed, see: why am I locked out of server settings and how do I get in
2. Your current PMS or workstation IP address does not comply with the requirements outlined in IP Address or Subnet above. You should double check your IP address and if needed, reboot the modem/router and everything connected to it, including any wireless devices.

Note: PMS = Plex Media Server

500

This means that your PMS had an internal error, and is most likely caused by:

1. You edited your Preferences.xml file, but made an error doing so, so restore your backup of the file, and try again. (Remember to set the file and ownership permissions after editing the file)
2. Bad PMS install, so re-install PMS
3. PMS can't access the internet. On the box itself, try ping ping-test.net and if that fails, either access to the internet or DNS isn't working on your PMS machine. Reboot the modem/router and everything connected to it, including any wireless devices, if the problem persists, check your network settings and equipment.
4. Your DNS server is too slow, so try using 8.8.8.8and/or 8.8.4.4 as your DNS server address.

Note: PMS = Plex Media Server

We failed to authenticate towards plex.tv

The error message indicates three possibilities.

1. You misspelled/mistyped your username/password
   If you recently changed your password at Plex, then make sure you enter the updated password.
   If using extended characters in your password, the release version does not URL encode them :(
   Try using this branch: https://github.com/ukdtom/ClaimIt/tree/passencode-fix/linux instead.
2. You have a poor internet connection to plex.tv
   Check and correct your internet connection. At least, reboot your modem/router and all devices connected to it.
3. Your server and/or machine IP address are NOT compliant with RFC1918
   Make sure your network is compliant with RFC1918. See IP Address above

General Networking

If your network is unable to properly communicate with the WWW then you cannot expect PMS to function correctly. There are many facets to networking and having a working connection on one device is NOT an indicator of a fully working network connection.

You need to make sure that your workstation or NAS can communicate on all IP addresses and ports and not just some of them. This is not an easy task and unfortunately, there are few tests available to verify that all connections are indeed functioning.

At best, the most you can do is to reboot your modem/router and all devices connected to it, including any wireless devices. This ensures that your DNS cache is refreshed and hopefully, free from errors.

And remember, the authors of ClaimIt and Plex, are NOT responsible for the health and configuration of your network.

Additional Error Messages

If you receive an error message that is not listed here, then please visit ClaimIt Issues and submit an issue, thanks.