2FA not notifying when login attempted on remote machine

[prestonmcafee]

I have several home PCs that I access remotely through NoMachine, which has been a terrific product.  I’m as of today on the free home user NoMachine, version 9.0.188.  All PCs are running Ubuntu 24.04, GNOME desktop, and my phone is a Pixel 8 pro, Android 16.

Today I upgraded to version 9, installed the phone app, and created an account on my phone.  On the PC I want to access remotely, I set Settings/Network/Machine to 2FA enabled.  Then when I try to access from a laptop, it says a 2FA notification is requested, but the request does not show up on my phone.  I have tried waiting and also tried resending the request.  However, if I choose Settings/Network/Login and enable 2FA there, when I log into NoMachine on that PC, I receive the request on my phone and accepting it is necessary to log in.  Receiving the request to login suggests that I have properly configured my user account and 2FA, but then why doesn’t it trigger when a remote access event arises?

If I turn off 2FA on Settings/Network/Machine in the remote machine, I have no difficulty accessing the machine.  So it isn’t a problem with remote access, just in receiving the 2FA request.

I have my account as a user on all instances of NoMachine, and all of my PCs appear in the list of machines.  The PCs are currently all on the same LAN and see each other (showing up in the list of machines).  In all cases I use the NX protocol over port 4000.

I’m the only user — I primarily use NoMachine to log into my home PCs when I’m travelling.  I also use it to reach the PC that runs Docker since that doesn’t have a monitor, even when I’m home.  I love the idea of preventing anyone else from logging in via 2FA — my network is scanned for open ports daily and only ports leading to NoMachine are open.  Does it matter that there is only one user?

What else should I try?  Thank you.

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