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Preventing auto-login as Home Admin profile (reddrefuge.com)

submitted 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I host a Plex server for our household, which includes a couple of teenagers. All members of the household (myself included) have a PIN protected managed user profile on our Plex server.

The problem is, if I let the teenagers have my Plex account password to login to our Plex server, it automatically logs them in with the Home Admin profile, whereas I'd much rather it force them to select from the list of profiles on our server (eg. just like Netflix does).

This means that, every now and then, I have to manually go to whichever new device they want to run Plex on (such as a Playstation) and handle the login process myself, so I can be certain they're logged in with their own user profile - not the Home Admin profile.

I've set a PIN on the Home Admin profile, but that doesn't help unless you've already logged in first, then go to use fast user switching to select a different profile. On very first login, Plex will always auto-select the Home Admin profile.

I've searched high and low, but can't find any info or settings that help me change this behaviour.

So, my question is simple: is it possible to prevent auto-login as the Home Admin profile, and force selection from the list of managed users instead?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I should have provided more details about what I've tried so far. We have tested out using a separate Plex user account for the oldest kid, as all the reading I did suggested she would "inherit" my server's Plex Pass rights when streaming from it.

But, we found that the iPhone app could still stop playback after a minute. Plus we couldn't log her account onto the shared Chromecast TV, so she could watch her shows on the house TV. So we ended up moving her back to a managed user profile on our server.

EDIT 2: after some more reading, it now seems the mobile app must either be logged in with a Plex Pass account (mine, in our case) or the user has to pay a once-off fee to unlock it.

I could've sworn it was different when I first read about it a year or two back, where the app would "inherit" the server's rights, but I guess that's either faulty memory or they changed the rules. The once off unlock fee isn't a big problem, so that's one hurdle overcome.

The second problem is how to use multiple Plex accounts on the Plex app for Chromecast, so the kids can enjoy their content on the big screen when they want to. Has anyone cracked the code on how to achieve that?

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I ran into this problem in a similar situation, and the answer was to have them set up their own real-deal Plex accounts and add them as friends with limited access. That way, they can set up their own devices.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah - tried that with one of the kids and she couldn't use her account on the Plex app on our Google Chromecast TV, and the iPhone app was limited to playback a minute at a time. I was under the impression clients inherited the Plex Pass rights of the server they were using, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

[–] breadsmasher 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Can you instead setup a second, regular account which is invited to the server but can’t administrate

edit - the issue is, like you have said, you need to sign into plex before you can select a managed user. So I think the solution is to have a second account which allows access, and from that account choose which managed account to be?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I don’t think other Plex accounts can select managed users under my Plex account. They can only be granted access to libraries separately.

[–] jacksilver 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think they mean you should set up a secondary account for your kids to use. The idea being that when they sign into that account, they are only given access to the content you've shared with that account.

Its not a perfect plan, especially if you have plex pass (or whatever it's called), but it does "fix" your issue.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The problem there is you can't use multiple accounts on the Plex app for Google Chromecast TV, plus we found that the iPhone app doesn't inherit the Plex Pass rights from my server - it limited playback to a minute at a time.

[–] jacksilver 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

For Chromecast youd still use your account. Since you set it up once, you don't have to worry about it initially logging into your root account. For iPhone/other apps, yeah that's what I meant by "not a perfect solution.

I have the same issue as you, but my stipulation is I log in/configure the app, so that way others don't have my root credentials. There sadly isn't a "right/good" way around it right now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Yeah, gotcha. I'm starting to think my best approach might be to:

Have the kids setup their own Plex accounts
Activate the app on their iPhones
Let the kids' VLAN access the house Chromecast, so they can just cast from their phones as needed

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Why are you sharing your account credentials though?

In our household everyone has their own Plex account and associated library access, and the living room TV has a PIN for each account.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The Plex app for Google Chromecast TV doesn't let you use multiple separate Plex accounts. Also, I tried that path with the oldest and she had problems using Plex on her iPhone - it didn't inherit the Plex Pass rights from my server, and limited playback to one minute at a time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Ah right, yeah she would need her own Plex Pass for that. IIRC you can playback in a browser for as long as you want, even fullscreen. Maybe give that a try too. It’s a bit less user friendly than the native app which I assume is what’s on there now.