Android Roon Remote on Chrome OS unable to connect to Roon Server (ref#19OUTF)

Is Roon Server running?

· Yes, Roon Server is turned on and running.

What do you see on your screen?

· "Looking for your Roon Server"

Please try to restart your Roon Server by closing the Roon app in the taskbar or rebooting your Roon Server machine.

· No, the issue remains the same

Please try to restart your network setup by unplugging, waiting 30 seconds and then replugging in your networking gear.

· No, the issue remains the same

Please select how you've connected your Roon Server to the internet

· Roon Server is connected by *Ethernet*

Have you checked your firewall settings to ensure that Roon is allowed through?

· Roon still won't connect even after checking this aspect

Have you verified that Roon Server is on the same subnet as your Remotes?

· My Remotes and Server are on the same subnet and I still can't connect

Sometimes the issues can be resolved with a reinstall of your Roon Remote app. Let's try to perform a reinstall and see if it helps.

· I've reinstalled the Roon Remote but it did not help

What is the operating system of your Roon Server host machine?

· *Windows*

Select any of the following components that are present in your local network setup

· *VPN* installed on RoonServer or Roon Remotes, *Powerline Adapters*, *Antivirus* *software *installed on RoonServer _or _Roon Remotes

You mentioned a VPN. Have you tried disabling it?

· I tried disabling my VPN/proxy connection and Roon still won't connect

You mentioned powerline adapters in your network setup.

· I still can't see Roon Server even after bypassing powerline adatapter

You mentioned antivirus software. Please select the specific Antivirus you have from the list below

· None of the above

Describe the issue

Android Roon Remote on Chrome OS won't connect to Roon Server

Describe your network setup

Roon Server running on dedicated windows machine connected via ethernet to router. Many remotes, many different platforms (windows, android, iOS - multiples of each, with many and varying network topologies between them and the server) all connect to the server fine, performance is excellent, no complaints, etc. The only exception is android remote app on a chromebook. I'm aware there are issues specific to a chromebook e.g. https://community.roonlabs.com/t/how-do-i-install-roon-on-chrome-os/179649/2. Annoyingly, I managed to get it to work once - albeit not straight away - by manually entering the IP address. When I next opened it, it couldn't find the server and manually specifying the IP address went back to not working. What am I missing?

Some further info - re.: " What do you see on your screen?

· “Looking for your Roon Server”"

That’s what I now see on my screen, but it wasn’t what I first saw. That was the other option - sorry I forget the exact wording - something about it being unable to reconnect to my room server. Cancelling that and attempting to manually specify the IP address again was part of my troubleshooting and resulted in the ‘looking for your Roon Core’ (and failure) despite entering the same IP address that worked last time (and yes, I’ve checked and confirmed the IP address in both the router’s register and the server itself. It’s also manually set to a fixed one so shouldn’t change anyway.

Apologies (PPS) - to confirm/for avoidance of doubt, the Chromebook in question runs android apps and, for what it’s worth, is one of the plus models with 8GB of memory etc.

On the off-chance anyone’s actually looking at this, a couple of questions…

  1. why was this moved from ‘support’ to ‘tinkering’?

  2. I found a (somewhat suboptimal) workaround. If I start the android app first, then restart the server, the Android app quickly finds it… until the next time. I have to repeat this process every time I wake the machine running the Android app. Completely impractical of course (the Roon server is somewhat tucked out of the way + any displays need refreshing whenever the server restarts), but might be informational: what does the Roon server do upon starting that it isn’t doing the rest of the time (wrt to communicating with the broader network)?

It was moved because running Roon in a VPN is not supported. Folks in the Tinkering section who use VPNs may be able to help.

Hi Geoff, thanks for letting me know. Does it not count that I disabled the VPN to remove it from the situation?

For avoidance of doubt, I was describing a problem that was present after a VPN was no longer a factor (as I attempted to articulate in the formal part of the form). It’s still off, for what it’s worth (and the issue remains).

I only mentioned it because the other remotes worked whether or not a VPN was present, I imagined that might be informational.

I don’t think folks who use VPNs will have much to offer a situation that doesn’t (i.e. no longer) involve one.

Is there any chance of getting this pointed back to official support?

Ah - I see that now. I had assumed that the presence of the VPN was the reason it was moved, but it may have been moved for another reason. I see that you are attempting to run Roon Remote on a Chromebook - that may be the reason for the move.

The post was moved by a member of the support team - I’ll check with them.

Thanks Geoff, appreciated. I took the view that running Roon remote on a Chromebook was running an Android app on an Android device (as that’s what Chromebooks are, among other things, these days) and so therefore wasn’t particularly out of the ordinary (bar the one point mentioned elsewhere on the forums that I linked in my original post). If the support team feel otherwise, and you’re chatting with them, could you try to find out how it’s an exception (in the sense of what makes it one)? Knowing that might actually help me solve the issue, even if it transpires they can’t otherwise help because it’s not officially supported or similar.

PS. would you mind approving my earlier messages in this conversation chain? The workaround in particular might be informational for anyone else trying to troubleshoot a similar problem.

Done - noted - cheers