It’s possible that in some cases, your Plex account might be flagged as requiring a password reset before you can continue to use it. Here’s how to handle that.
Request a Password Reset
To reset the password on the Plex account:
- Open a Private/Incognito browser window.
- Go to the password reset request page (https://app.plex.tv/auth#?resetPassword). (Or if you’re concerned about phishing, go to the main Plex website in the Private/Incognito browser window, choose to Sign In, then click the Forgot? link on the sign-in form.)
- Enter the email address of your Plex account and submit the form.
- Assuming a Plex account exists linked to that email address, we’ll send the password reset email. (This should normally arrive within a minute or two, but could be delayed in some cases either on our side or being delivered on your mail processor’s side.)
- Take the link from the password reset email and paste it into the Private/Incognito browser window.
- Choose a new, strong, unique password. (Do not use the same password as any other website or service.)
- You can optionally enable the Sign out connected devices after password change checkbox when resetting the password. That helps secure the Plex account by signing all your player apps and any Plex Media Server you own out. You’ll then need to sign back in to your account in each app/server.
Tip!: If you do choose to “Sign out connected devices after password change” as part of your password reset, then you’ll need to sign in again to any player/client apps you use as well as any Plex Media Server you own. You’ll find information below on how to do so.
Not receiving password reset email
If you’ve waited a couple of hours after requesting the password reset and can’t find the email, there are a few things to do/check:
- Make sure you spelled the email address correctly when requesting the reset.
- Check your spam, trash, promotions, or similar mailboxes in your email account. “Automated” emails like a password reset can sometimes be flagged incorrectly by your email.
- Add the following two addresses to your allowed/approved sender list and then request another reset:
[email protected]and[email protected] - Particularly for users with a Microsoft-controlled email service (hotmail.com, outlook.com, live.com, etc.), be sure to check under the “Rules” section of your email account settings and ensure there aren’t any rules affecting Plex-related emails.
Note: If you request more than one reset email, please keep in mind that only the reset link in the most recent reset email we send will work. In some cases, that newest email may not have arrived yet. Requesting a new reset will invalidate all previous ones.
Sign In/Claim Your Plex Media Server
Claiming a Plex Media Server with your account can sometimes be a bit more involved than simply signing in to a player app. Please refer to our “Sign in to Your Plex Account” article for more details.
Related Page: Sign in to Your Plex Account
Sign in to Your Player/Client Apps
In cases where your connected devices were signed out as part of the password reset, you’ll then need to sign in to your Plex account in the apps again. There are two main methods of signing in to your Plex account in an app:
- Apps where you can easily type things (e.g. mobile apps, the web app, and our website) will allow you to directly sign in to your Plex account. You can sign in using the standard methods: Email & password, Google Login, or Sign in with Apple.
- Our big screen apps (such as Android TV, Apple TV, smart TVs, etc.) generally allow you to connect the app to your account by way of a 4-character link code. This allows you to connect to your account without having to laboriously enter login credentials via an on-screen keyboard or similar. The app will display the 4-character link code, which you then enter on the https://www.plex.tv/link/ page (once signed in on the website).
Related Page: Connect a Player App to Your Plex Account
Related Page: https://www.plex.tv/link/
Troubleshooting Plex Media Server Claiming
Once you load up the local/bundled version of the web app, most people have no issues claiming their Plex Media Server. But if you do have trouble, the most common problem will be that no server entry appears in the sidebar when you open the Settings in the web app. Some things to try:
Make sure you’re accessing from locally on the machine
If your Plex Media Server runs on a machine different from what you normally use every day (e.g. the server runs on a NAS and you use a laptop for normal usage), you need to make sure that you’re connecting locally. Review the information from the previous section again.
Try the third-party “ClaimIt” tool
The simplest thing may simply be to use the third-party “ClaimIt” tool. That’s a script that will prompt you for your Plex account username/email and password as well as the IP address of the Plex Media Server and then claim the server using that account.
That said, this is a third-party tool and you should always be careful of providing account login information to third-parties.
Related Page: https://github.com/ukdtom/ClaimIt
Related Page: ClaimIt Tool Wiki
Try the troubleshooting steps in our “Locked Out” article
You can try the steps in our regular article about being “locked out” of a Plex Media Server.
Related Page: Why am I locked out of Server Settings and how do I get in?
Use our Forums
For users running their Plex Media Server on a QNAP device, a helpful, summary post has been created.
If you still have issues with claiming a Plex Media Server, please post specific details in our friendly forums.
Related Page: Forums: General Discussions