Update: How To Install PlexConnect On Windows 10
Update: PlexConnect on Windows: How To Hijack iMovie Theatre Or WSJ Instead Of Trailers App
Update: OpenPlex App Installs And Manages PlexConnect on Mac OS X
Update: Plex On Apple TV Without PlexConnect Or Jailbreak via AirPlay
I’ve already reported about that PlexConnect still works on Apple TV Software 6.0 Beta (5.4 Seed 3, iOS 7) after the silent update from August, 27, 2013 and how to fix PlexConnect to get it running again on Apple TV 2 or Apple TV 3. However, getting PlexConnect installed on a Windows system like windows 7, 8 or 8.1 is a little bit tricky. Although Paul Kehrer published immediately a tweak to get PlexConnect working again on Apple TV 2 and 3, a lot of people are reporting about installation is failing, especially on Windows systems. The most common problem there is to get the certificate or profile correctly installed on the Apple TV. In the following I give you a simple step-by-step guide to get PlexConnect running again on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. For installing PlexConnect on Mac OS X follow the fix described on the post ‘PlexConnect still works on Apple TV Software 6.0 Beta (5.4 Seed 3, iOS 7) after the silent update‘.
I conducted the installation on my Acer Aspire 1810T (64-bit) running on Windows 8.1 with Windows 8 Media Center installed. This fix should work for Windows 7 and 8 as well.
Step 1: Prepare your Windows system!
- Download and install the latest Python version 2.7.6 (“Python 2.7.6 Windows Installer”) for your windows system (Do not install in any case versions 3.X nor “Python 2.7.6 Windows X86-64 Installer”!).
- Download and install Win32 OpenSSL Win32 v1.0.2o (Nor the light version, neither Win64 version!). If Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x64) is missing for installing OpenSSL, then download it from here. You need to install the version dated 11/29/2007!
- Download and install iPhone Configuration Utility.
- Download and extract the Plex Media Server, version 0.9.8.6.175.
- First, delete all previous files of older PlexConnect versions from your Windows PC. Then download and extract the latest PlexConnect ZIP-file from Github (Do not download from PlexConnect.org!) to the folder C:\PlexConnect (create the folder, if it doesn’t exist).
- Create the folder C:\Cert on your Windows root directory. Download the batch file ‘cert.create.bat‘ and copy the file into C:\Cert:
- Note: Some people face problems with ‘trailers.der‘. They got the error message ‘ValueError: unknown url type: /trailers.der‘ instead. In this case use the alternate file ‘cert.create-2.bat‘ which creates a ‘trailer.cer‘ file instead of a ‘trailers.der‘ file (Kudos to commentator Mark!). If you downloaded ‘cert.create-2.bat‘, you should change the command in step 2 to ‘cert.create-2‘:
Step 2: Getting started to create the profile for Apple TV!
- Open the windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Cert, left click on the screen below the name of cert.create.bat, so that no files are highlighted!
- Press the shift key and right click on the screen. You will see the following Windows open:
- Now click on ‘Open Command Window Here‘ and the command prompt will open and start at the folder C:\Cert.
- Run the cert.create.bat (alternate retype all the commands in the cert.create.txt file). The folder C:\Cert should now contain 5 files: .rnd, cert.create.bat, trailers.der, trailers.key and trailers.pem. And a window ‘Certificate‘ opens automatically:
- Click on the button ‘Install Certificate…‘, then click twice on ‘Next’ and at the ending on ‘Finish’. you should get the message ‘The import was successful‘.
- Close the command prompt window and click on the ‘Certificate‘ the ‘OK‘ button now!
- Go to C:\Cert select and copy the files .rnd, trailers.der, trailers.key and trailers.pem, navigate to C:\PlexConnect where you have extracted the PlexConnect ZIP-file on your Windows PC.
- Go to the folder C:\PlexConnect\assets and create a subfolder named ‘certificates‘.
- Go to the newly created folder C:\PlexConnect\assets\certificates and paste the copy of the files .rnd, trailers.der, trailers.key and trailers.pem.
Step 3: Installing the Certificate Profile on your Apple TV
Updates: iPhone Configuration Utility for Windows isn’t officially available anymore. You have to install the certificate files later on without USB.
- Start the iPhone Configuration Utility. You should find the iPCU.exe file there: C:Program Files (x86)\iPhone Configuration Utility and click on ‘Configuration Profiles‘. Then click on ‘New+‘.
- Give it a Name and Identifier (I suggest one word without any special characters).
- Scroll down and click on ‘Credentials‘, click on ‘Configure‘ and scroll down to find the certificate you just created and installed. It is named ‘trailers.apple.com‘. Click on it and then click ‘OK‘:
- Now plug in your Apple TV 2 or 3 to a power source, wait till the light stops flashing and then connect it to the Windows PC via a micro USB cable. Wait till your Apple TV is recognized by your PC and the iPhone Configuration Utility program.
- Click on your device and then the Configuration Profiles tab.
- Click the install button. Wait till this button will have changed from ‘Install‘ to ‘Remove‘!
- Close the iPhone Configuration Utility and disconnect the Apple TV from the computer and connect the Apple TV to your TV.
- Change the DNS of your Apple TV to the IP-address of your Windows PC on which is Plex Media Server is running, following the part ‘Configuring your ATV’ of guide on github.
Step 4: Finish!
- Restart PlexConnect.py from C:\PlexConnect.
- Go to your Apple TV and try the Trailers it should be working now. you should see the following:
Note: Normally, you should not need to make any changes in the settings.cfg file of PlexConnect. I used the unchanged PlexConnect files!
If you followed this installation guide step-by-step PlexConnect on your Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 PC should be fixed after the silent Apple TV update and should now work again on your Apple TV 2 or Apple TV 3! Does it? Let us know and comment! Does it not? Let me know and I try to help you!
Stay tuned! 😉
213 Comments
Thanks for the detailed instruction… everything went very smooth, no error or anything, however ATV3 says “trailers not available, try later”?
32 bit (Intel)]
19:24:40 PlexConnect: Host OS: win32
19:24:40 PlexConnect: IP_self: 192.168.1.81
19:24:40 DNSServer: started: 19:24:40
19:24:40 DNSServer: ***
19:24:40 DNSServer: DNSServer: Serving DNS on 192.168.1.81 port 53.
19:24:40 DNSServer: intercept: [‘trailers.apple.com’] => 192.168.1.81
19:24:40 DNSServer: restrain: [‘mesu.apple.com’, ‘appldnld.apple.com’, ‘appldnld
.apple.com.edgesuite.net’] => 127.0.0.1
19:24:40 DNSServer: forward other to higher level DNS: 8.8.8.8
19:24:40 DNSServer: ***
19:24:41 WebServer: started: 19:24:41
19:24:41 WebServer: ***
19:24:41 WebServer: WebServer: Serving HTTP on 192.168.1.81 port 80.
19:24:41 WebServer: ***
19:24:41 WebServer: started: 19:24:41
19:24:41 WebServer: ***
19:24:41 WebServer: WebServer: Serving HTTPS on 192.168.1.81 port 443.
19:24:41 WebServer: ***
19:25:00 DNSServer: DNS request received!
19:25:00 DNSServer: Source: (‘192.168.1.6’, 64063)
19:25:00 DNSServer: Domain: trailers.apple.com
19:25:00 DNSServer: ***intercept request
19:25:00 DNSServer: -> DNS response: 192.168.1.81
Hi Nuwanda,
it’s always the certificate (“golden rule” for PlexConnect issues). Check that your certificate is installed on your Apple TV (Go to Settings on your ATV). If not, install it again, if it is installed, delete the profile and install it again. if this does not help, the certificate file is defect. Generate it again and install it via USB method.
Cheers,
Gee Are
Pingback: jailbreak Apple TV 3 con PlexConnect (utenti windows) - AppleTvItalia
Pingback: PlexConnect on Windows: How To Hijack iMovie Theatre Or WSJ Instead Of Trailers App - miApple.me
hello, come with me following error. can I get help?
05:53:15 PlexConnect: ***
05:53:15 PlexConnect: PlexConnect
05:53:15 PlexConnect: Press CTRL-C to shut down.
05:53:15 PlexConnect: ***
05:53:15 PlexConnect: started: 05:53:15
05:53:15 PlexConnect: Version: 0.4+
05:53:15 PlexConnect: Python: 2.7.6 (default, November 10, 2013, 19:24:24) [MSC v.1500
64 bit (AMD64)]
05:53:15 PlexConnect: Host OS: win32
05:53:15 PlexConnect: IP_self: 192.168.192.12
05:53:15 DNSServer: started: 05:53:15
05:53:15 DNSServer: ***
05:53:15 DNS server: DNS server: DNS Serving on 192.168.192.12 port 53rd
05:53:15 DNSServer: intercept: [‘trailers.apple.com’] => 192.168.192.12
05:53:15 DNSServer: restrain: [‘mesu.apple.com’, ‘appldnld.apple.com’, ‘appldnld
.apple.com.edgesuite.net ‘] => 127.0.0.1
05:53:15 DNSServer: forward to other higher level DNS: 8.8.8.8
05:53:15 DNSServer: ***
05:53:15 WebServer: started: 05:53:15
05:53:15 webserver: Failed to connect to HTTP port 80 on 192.168.192.12: [Errno
10013] Access to a socket was due to the access rights of the socket
unzulõssig
05:53:15 WebServer: started: 05:53:15
05:53:15 WebServer: ***
05:53:15 WebServer: WebServer: Serving HTTPS on 192.168.192.12 port 443rd
05:53:15 WebServer: ***
Hi Pat,
the port 80 is occupied by another application. First, reboot your computer and try again. If this doesn’t help, you must look for the application which is using port 80 (FTP client?) and then deactivate it.
Cheers,
Gee Are
If i want to use iMoves instead of “trailers” on Apple TV, what changes in the steps that you have documented above?
Hi Usman,
to use iMovie Theater app instead of Trailers app, do the following:
Get the latest version of PlexConnect from GitHub and run it, it will add the “hosttointercept” config parameter. You’ll need to add another cert onto your ATV. It can be installed alongside the one you’ve already installed in your profile
Change the “cert.create.bat” to:
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.exe req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -out C:.\imovie.pem -keyout C:.\imovie.key -x509 -days 7300 -subj “/C=US/CN=www.icloud.com” -config C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.cfg
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.exe x509 -in C:.\trailers.pem -outform der -out C:.\imovie.der
type C:.\imovie.key >> C:.\imovie.pem
imovie.der
Then, run the “cert.create.bat” as described in this post.
Next, edit your “Settings.cfg” file to hosttointercept = http://www.icloud.com.
Finally, add the new certificate as a new profile to your ATV as described in this post, restart your PC and ATV.
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee,
Thanks – i will try it out today and let you know my findings. Hopefully it should go smoothly, but if not, will come back to you asking for more help 🙂
appreciate your help…
–Usman
Update:
first things first:
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.exe req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -out C:.\imovie.pem -keyout C:.\imovie.key -x509 -days 7300 -subj “/C=US/CN=www.icloud.com” -config C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.cfg
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.exe x509 -in C:.\trailers.pem -outform der -out C:.\imovie.der
type C:.\imovie.key >> C:.\imovie.pem
imovie.der
*****
in the above, the command you have recommended:
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.exe x509 -in C:.\trailers.pem -outform der -out C:.\imovie.der
I am assuming is a typo, where it says C:.\trailers.pem? this should be C:.\imovie.pem… do I have that correct?
Assuming that it was a typo, I replaced trailers with iMovie.
I moved the certs to the C:\PlexConnect\assets\certificates folder.
When I try to push the certificate to my Apple TV (with the following command http:///imove.der, I am getting the following error on the Apple TV:
Unable to add profile
An error occurred while adding the profile [4001]. Check the URL and try again.
Also, when I run the PlexConnect on the machine where I have my PMS, I am getting following it shows it cannot access the 443 port (even though it is open and allows for incoming connections.
Would that have any issues?
Any thoughts on what the issue could be, that is preventing the certs from being added to the Apple TV?
–Usman
Hi Usman,
first, you’re right it is a typo: It should be iMovie… 🙂
Second, you have to point to http://your-computer-IP-address/imovie.der. If you try to install the cert file without USB and you get still stuck, check the installation via USB and iPhone Configuration utility. It seems that there are general issues without USB. I got similar problems at the moment.
Third, shut down PlexConnect and PMS and reboot your PC. This should solve the 443 issue. After that, start PMS and PlexConnect again.
BTW, I’m writing a detailed step-by-step tutorial about this right now. I hope I can finish it within the next days (maybe on Monday). 🙂
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee,
Thanks – I will give the cert installation via USB a try just now.
I tried shutting down the PMS, PlexConnect and Server and rebooting it, but I am still getting the same issues. Cannot seem to figure out why this is happening.
Will report back how the cert installation goes, with the USB option.
Will be looking forward to the detailed tutorial (do try to include as many screenshots as possible. I have found that screenshots are very helpful 🙂
–Usman
don’t know what the problem is, but for some reason my notebook does not recognize the Apple TV when I connect to it via USB….
any suggestions?
Hi Usman,
check another micro USB cable. I got 5 micro USB cables and only one (a HTC) is working. don’t know why, but there seems to be quality differences in the USB cables.
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Usmann,
first, check your original set up with the trailers app. This should work before you start to set up any alternative. Which ATV software version do you use? And which ATV model do you have? Is it jailbroken or not?
If you got problems with the iMovie certificate, check this alternative:
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.exe req -new -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -out C:.\trailers.pem -keyout C:.\trailers.key -x509 -days 7300 -subj “/C=US/CN=www.icloud.com” -config C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.cfg
C:\OpenSSL-Win32\bin\openssl.exe x509 -in C:.\trailers.pem -outform der -out C:.\trailers.der
type C:.\trailers.key >> C:.\trailers.pem
trailers.der
Only the “www.cloud.com” is changed. Maybe there could be a problem of PlexConnect to recognize other names as “trailers.xyz”.
My tutorial will contain a lot of screenshots. 🙂
Right now, I’m also struggling with some issues. I don’t know, maybe something is changed… We will see.
I’ll be back…
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee,
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try using a different USB cable and see if I am able to get thru recognizing the device on my notebook.
I do not want to mess with the current certificates on my Apple TV, because I have Plexify running perfectly fine. That’s why I wanted to go the iMovie route.
I don’t want to get into a position where the PlexConnect does work and my Plexify installation also gets messed up 🙂
if you know what I mean.
Having PlexConnect run via a Windows notebook, will be more awesome, as I will be able to free up my mac air.
I am running Apple TV 3, with fw 6.2 and it is NOT jail broken. Does that change any of the steps?
–Usman
Hi Usman,
thanks for your information (the more information I get, the better I can help 😉 ). There’s a much simplier way for you: 🙂
– use OpenPlex on your Mac (https://miapple.me/openplex-app-installs-manages-plexconnect-mac-os-x/) instead of Plexify which is outdated. You can easily use iMovie or WSJ app with OpenPlex.
– your Windows machine can keep on using Trailers app with PlexConnect
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee,
Thanks for the suggestion. But the whole idea is to free up my mac book 🙂
I want to use OpenConnect on a Windows platform, so that I am free to take my apple notebook around with me, right now, since I have Plexify running on it, and Plex is heavily used at my home… I have to leave my mac at home 🙁
so, seeing the option of running OpenConnect on a windows box is making my mouth watery, since I can take back my mac air for my own use 🙂
thoughts?
–Usman
Here we are: https://miapple.me/plexconnect-windows-hijack-imovie-theatre-wsj-instead-trailers-app/ 😉
Hi Gee,
Many thanks for the steps.
Any thoughts on how I can free up the 443 port? I have not been able to figure out which app is using the 443 port? when I check for open ports, I can see that 443 is open, but everytime I run PlexConnect, I get the same error:
“Failed to connect to HTTPS on 10.x.x.x port 443: [Errno 10013]. An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions”
very baffling… any suggestions/thoughts here?
–Usman
Hi Usman,
which app are you trying to hijack? Does it work with trailers app? Have you already tested WSJ? I got some problems with iMovie, WSJ is running seamlessly…
Cheers,
Gee Are
Have not tried with WSJ – what changes in the settings would I need to do if I wanted to hijack WSJ? if you can give me the changes, I can give that a shot right now.
It’s all in my latest post: https://miapple.me/plexconnect-windows-hijack-imovie-theatre-wsj-instead-trailers-app/ 😉
Hi Gee,
Awesome – thanks. Sorry, didn’t notice it before.
Let me give that a shot and will report back with any new issues I run into.
Many thanks for all your suggestions and advice… and not to mention the detailed steps 🙂
–Usman
Hi Gee,
So I was finally able to successfully install the certificate on the Apple TV.
I followed the WSJ certificate. Now the issue I am seeing is that the WSJ on the Apple TV is returning trailers not found error.
I was also able to isolate the 443 port, turned out it was Remote Access controlling this port, so I disabled it.
Any thoughts, why I am seeing this issue?
Hi Usman,
please, check the following:
– Check that the cert is installed correctly. On your ATV go to ‘General’, scroll down to ‘Send datat to Apple’ and press the Play-button of your ATV remote. Now you should see your profile/certificate.
– Stop and Restart Plex and PlexConnect.
– Reboot your Apple TV (before rebooting switch back to automatic DNS, then switch back to your Plex Media Server DNS
If this all doesn’t help then most properly the cert file was not either generated properly or installed. Then you should repeat the entire process.
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee,
Just to be clear, the “send data to apple” should be showing “no”. Right? Because that is where it is set to right now as well.
–Usman
Yep. 🙂
I keep on getting ” value cannot be null parameter name : cert tried several times same thing and ideas ??
Hi Pat,
at which step do you get this error message?
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi, Great tutorial. Got everything working fine, profile is installed etc except when I go to the trailers app on my ATV 3 it opens the normal trailers page, even though I have Plexconnect running. Any ideas?
Hi Sam,
did you change the Apple TV’s DNS to the IP address of your computer? Is Plex Media Server running on your computer?
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hello,
(I’m not sure if my last comments from a few days came through as they were not posted on the site)
I had followed the instructions you laid out with the greatest of ease, thanks for taking the time to post this up, it was a great help.
Once I followed these instructions, I went into the Trailers app on the ATV3, and it worked without a problem. Once the device is off, and I tried to get back into it later, it tells me that it is unavailable, on top of that, I cannot access anything on the ATV, it is like there is no internet connection and the only way to get the basic ATV functions working on it is to change the DNS address back to what it was.
As per some of the other suggestions you left for other users, I tried to repeat these steps, with the exact same thing happening again.
Your help would be greatly appreciated as I do not know what I have done wrong here.
Thank you very much.
Sorry mate, just saw the reply to my original post – yes, I set the ATV to manual and entered in the PC’s IP address.
I did not turn the PC off, but, maybe it was in sleep mode, does this effect it? Is that why it worked initially but not after I tried to access it at a later date?
Hi davemikhael,
if you PC is in sleep mode, the Plex Media Server is off, too! The PC has to be running all the time. Change the settings: Switch sleep mode off and hard disk always on.
BTW, you can automatically follow by email these comments by activating “Follow Comment”…
Cheers,
Gee Are
Hi Gee Are,
Ok, I got it, I will check it out tonight.
Thank you for your assistance, and the time you have put in!
Thank you very much worked like a charm!!
I have followed your instructions, did not get any error messages.
Im on a win7 pc.
But when I go to trailers, it starts accessing trailers, and then after a minute or 2, it say: Trailers is unavailable. Try again later
Any suggestions?
Hi Leif-Harald,
this message is typical for a not correctly created or installed certificate file or for a not running Plex Media Server on your Windows 7 PC.
First, check that Plex Media Server is running on your PC while trying to access Plex on your Apple TV.
Second, if this doesn’t help, create again the cert file and install the cert file / profile following this instruction: https://miapple.me/plexconnect-installling-certificates-on-apple-tv-without-usb/
Cheers,
Gee Are