Windows app not connecting on LAN, says "No Active Profile"

[PBX_Programmer]

I have an on-premises 3CX V20 setup which is running as a Debian virtual machine on a physical host PC. I was able to use the 3CX Windows app and the Android app via the local network until recently, but now neither of those apps works any more. I don't know if it stopped working when I upgraded to V20 or when I replaced my router a few months ago. The Windows app does not provision when I install it from the web console and hit the provision button. It opens the app ok, but within the app it says "No Active Profile". If I try to set it up manually with the FQDN, extension number and password, it says "Unknown host" against the URL/FQDN and the "Login" button is greyed out. The options to log in via Google or M365 are also greyed out.

The router I've been provided by my ISP does not allow me to set up split DNS, so as a workaround I have edited the DNS "hosts" folder on my PC to include a static entry to translate my FQDN to the local IP address of the 3CX system (192.168.0.191). If I ping or nslookup my 3CX FQDN from within Windows it does successfully translate to that internal IP address, so I thought that would fix it - but it still doesn't work.

I have a similar issue with the Android app, I scan the QR code and it appears to provision but it just sits as "Connecting", it never actually connects. My 3CX, Windows app and Android app are all the latest version available.

We have some customers with 3CX systems which we remotely support, and I can provision users from those systems on my Windows apps and my Android apps without any problems at all. So it seems to be a problem only when I'm trying to provision to my own local 3CX VM within my own LAN. Everything's on the same subnet and I never use the apps outside of my LAN.

Any ideas please? Has anyone else had the same issue and resolved it? I have been trying things for days with the help of other forum posts and I just can't figure out why it doesn't work.

Thanks!

 

[Alejandro_3CX]

To use the 3cx applications in the same local LAN split dns must be configured. Once done, you may access the web client using https and the fqdn for provisioning the softphone or scanning the qr code. The smartphone connected via wifi must use as DNS the IP where you have the split dns configured.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

To use the 3cx applications in the same local LAN split dns must be configured. Once done, you may access the web client using https and the fqdn for provisioning the softphone or scanning the qr code. The smartphone connected via wifi must use as DNS the IP where you have the split dns configured.

Ok thanks for confirming Alejandro, I thought that was most likely the case. I was reading somewhere that if split DNS is not possible then a possible workaround may be to add a static entry to the "hosts" file on the PC which is running the 3CX Windows app. Indeed, after adding the entry I can now access the 3CX web client locally using the FQDN in the format https://system-name.3cx.uk:5001 and it works great (Google Chrome). But obviously that's no good for the 3CX Windows app, then? If not then I may be at a dead end, I think, as my garbage ISP-provided router is very basic and allows the changing of virtually no settings.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

I think I might have been able to solve the problem using PiHole - but it's new to me, and I'm not sure if it will 100% work yet. My Android 3CX app has connected ok when I set the device to use the PiHole address for its DNS server. I'm yet to try the same thing with Windows and the 3CX Windows app. I'll report back if anything interesting happens.

 

[SteveITS]

I haven't tried but would think the hosts file would work for the PC. Did you close/reopen the app? The goal is just to get the FQDN to connect to the 3CX server so the hostname+certificate are seen as valid.

Also if you're provisioning an app via QR, ensure you're logged in to the web client using the FQDN otherwise the QR generated may use the LAN IP or whatever you're currently connected with in the browser.

Does your ISP router provide for NAT reflection? That can work also.