Network device - can access files but displays as offline

[garimh]

I set up Windows OS8.1 (standard) on a headless server (Mediasmart ex490). My goal is to run Plex on this server and use it as a media server. Because standard version doesn't have Remote Desktop, I want to use TeamViewer to remote in.

From my desktop (Windows 10), the server shows up in my network under Media Devices (is that right?) and I can access the files on it. However, when I try to remote into it using TeamViewer, it's listed as offline. The Plex server I installed on the drive also shows up under Media Devices in the network but that is also offline.

I took the hard drive out of the server and dropped it into my desktop and everything works fine. I can remote into it using TeamViewer, Plex shows up on network, etc. but as soon as I put the drive back into the server, the above problems happen.

As the server is headless, I've set the power settings on the drive to never sleep and tried setting it to auto login to desktop without password and still no luck.

Any ideas? Can't really see why this drive would behave so different in my desktop than it does in my server. Although when drive is in my desktop, the connection is wifi. In the server, it's connected via ethernet. Could that have something to do with it?

Thanks

 

[Barman58]

Just a quick check, You have Teamveiwer running on both systems and you have the Local LAN option checked on both systems and the autoconnect settings are set up From your system the "plex" system should show on the sidebar in Teamviewer

BTW if you set up Teamviewer correctly and allow Login support you can add a password and actually log-in remotely which is the normal way with a server

 

[garimh]

Thanks for reply. Teamviewer is running on both systems and I set up unattended access on OS8 drive. However, I don't recall if I have Local LAN option checked (wasn't aware of that one) so will have to pull drive and make sure it's checked.

I don't understand what you mean about Plex showing up in Teamviewer sidebar. Other than being able to remote in to OS8 desktop and then perhaps make changes to Plex settings if needed, I didn't think there was any connection between Teamviewer and Plex. Why would Plex show up in Teamviewer sidebar?

Regarding correct set up of Teamviewer, do you mean I would be able to remotely connect to computer that is logged out so I wouldn't need to leave that remote computer logged in? That would be preferable although I don't know if computer would need to be logged in in order for Plex to work. Will have to look into that.

I will try checking Local Lan options on both computers tonight and update. Thanks.

 

[Barman58]

By "Plex" System I just meant the System that you are or intend to run Plex on - sorry for any confusion. Teamviewer has a side bar that actually shows which devices are in your groups and which are available, you can set this up to either group things together and / or which are On-line /Off-line

The basic teamviewer setup assumes that all devices are connected to the internet to allow access from anywhere worldwide, In cases where the devices are in the same location the LAN option makes use of local connections rather than using the TeamViewer Servers, you can also set this local connection to be the only one you use as this can save a number of un-needed messages to and from the net

 

[garimh]

Thanks. One additional question as you seem to know Teamviewer very well

I set up a Teamviewer account so I could easily remote into my home server. Although I don't have Teamviewer on my computer at work, I did log into the Teamviewer website from work and it shows my home server as being offline. Does that not mean that the LAN Option check boxes are not my problem as the server should show up as online if I'm logging into the Teamviewer website from a computer outside my LAN?

 

[Barman58]

By server are you talking about the actual server and not a Teamviewer Server (Local Teamviever server Is always left Blank on my set-ups)

The things I always do are ( some are in the Advanced setup)

set up a specific personal password for each device ( this can be the same or different for each System)
Enable the LAN option ( I set it to allow LAN but not do do it Exclusively
Assign each device to my personal TeamViewer Account
Set Access to Full
Set "Full access control when a partner is connecting to the windows Login Screen" to On
Set windows login to Administrators Only
Start Teamviewer with Windows ON for at least the server
Inactivity Timer - Off
Use UDP - On

And I see any systems which are in my lists but I will only be able to access those that are switched on and running a Teamviewer session




None of the devices are switched on apart from my actual system in use others are shown in the off-line group, but would move to the available group if switched on as the all start Teamviewer with windows

 

[garimh]

Thanks for replies. There must be some sort of hardware limitation with my ex490. Like I said, the drive works perfectly fine in my desktop and is easily accessible using Teamviewer. However, when I put the drive in the ex490, Teamviewer shows it as offline even though I can access the files on it. I tried turning the firewall off completely and that didn't work. There's only one account on the drive and that's the admin account. I've run out of things to try. Very frustrating.

 

[garimh]

Think I figured this one out. From what I've read, Teamviewer uses the mac address of the computer to set up the ID number. So when I'm swapping the hard drive over to another computer, the mac address no longer matches and it won't connect. As there is no way for me to install Teamviewer on completely headless machine, looks like my only option is to upgrade to 8.1 Pro and use Remote Desktop.

Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated!

 

[Barman58]

The MAC address is just related and Unique to the network Interface Card - changing the HDD should not change the MAC address.

What I would do when setting up a Headless unit is temporarily connect it to a Monitor and Keyboard, (I came from an age where a mouse was optional so find it's an option, and I can navigate windows without one ), I have a VGA port available on a few TVs here so can always find a spare monitor and always keep a USB and PS2 keyboard "in stock"

 

[garimh]

HI Barman. Unfortunately, the machine that I'm swapping the hard drive into (an HP Mediasmart ex490), doesn't have inputs for a monitor. It used to run Windows Home Server and is completely headless so there's no way to do an initial install of Teamviewer on it without moving the hard drive to another machine, installing TV and then swapping back.

I'm confused by what you're saying about the mac address though. If I put the hard drive in my Dell desktop, install TV on the hard drive and then move that hard drive into the HP machine, won't the mac address of the TV ID be tied to the NIC of the Dell? That's the only explanation I can come up with as to why it's not working.