Blue Iris on MacOS without Virtual Machine or Boot Camp

rnatalli

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Hopefully this proves helpful to folks, but I thought to post a quick guide how to get Blue Iris working on a Mac without using a virtual machine or Boot Camp. The below guide intends to install Blue Iris version 5; not sure it will work with version 4. It actually works pretty well with minimal glitches, at least on my Mac Mini Server.

Caveats:
I may have forgotten some items, but these come to mind:
  • Hardware acceleration may or may not work depending on your hardware.
  • Sometimes in the mobile app, videos don't show a preview image.
  • CPU usage does not always report correctly and often shows a very unusual value such as a negative.
  • In General Settings under Clips and Archiving, check “Do NOT Monitor free space.”
  • In General Settings under Startup, ensure only “Require run-as Administrator…,” “Prevent the Windows screensaver while Blue Iris…,” and “Prevent power management from…”
  • In General Settings under Web server, change C:\Program Files\Blue Iris 5\www to C:\Program Files\Blue Iris 5\ui3
Step-by-Step:
  1. Head over to Gcenx/WineskinServer and click on “View Raw” to download the “WineskinWinery.app.tar.7z” file.
  2. Fully decompress the file you just download and move the app file to your Applications folder.
  3. Launch the Wineskin app.
  4. Ensure the box “Hide engines that require XQuartz” is checked.
  5. Once presented with the main window, click on the “+” sign and add the newest engine. The name will start with “WS10WineCX64Bit.”
  6. Now click “Create New Blank Wrapper,” type “Blue Iris” for the name, and click Ok.
  7. Wait for a minute or two. If you get a warning about Wineskin not being optimized for your Mac, just click Ok. If you receive any warnings about NET or Gecko, allow it to install.
  8. Once the completion window appears, click “View wrapper in Finder” and move the “Blue Iris” app to your Applications folder.
  9. Launch the Blue Iris app.
  10. Once launched, click on “Advanced” and navigate to the “Options” menu.
  11. Unclick “Map User Mac OS X folders in wrapper.”
  12. Navigate to the “Configuration” menu and click “Install Software” and then “Choose Executable Software.”
  13. Select the Blue Iris exe file downloaded from the Blue Iris website.
  14. Go through the Windows installer as you normally would leaving all install locations as default. It will likely ask to install C++ so be sure to do so by clicking “Next.”
  15. Upon completion uncheck “Launch Blue Iris” and “Read Documentation” boxes.
  16. A pop-up will come up asking you to choose an executive. From the pulldown, select the one ending with “BlueIrisAdmin.exe.”
  17. Go to your Applications folder and right click on the Blue Iris app and select “Show Package Contents.”
  18. Navigate to drive_c --> Program Files --> Blue Iris 5
  19. Unzip the ui3.zip file.
  20. OPTIONAL: Go back to your Wineskin window which should still be open and on the “Configuration” menu.
  21. OPTIONAL: Click “Browse” under “Icon” on the right and navigate to Blue Iris app --> drive_c --> Program Files --> Blue Iris 5 --> ui3 --> ui3 and select “launcher-icon.png."
  22. Quit Wineskin.
  23. Launch the Blue Iris app and setup as usual.
  24. Enjoy!
 
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fenderman

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25. Buy a 100 dollar windows pc that includes legal w10 license.
26. Stop wasting resources on your overpriced mac using a half assed solution.
 

rnatalli

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Mac Mini was a freebie so save $100 dollars; and at least it will last past a few years unlike the stack of PCs I have many of which have hardware defects. Although I still run my actual surveillance on an i5 mini PC; was just testing it with Mac and know many users on the forum are Mac users. I've also been testing Security Spy 5 and its new motion detection I'm finding has less false positives than BI 5.
 

fenderman

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Mac Mini was a freebie so save $100 dollars; and at least it will last past a few years unlike the stack of PCs I have many of which have hardware defects. Although I still run my actual surveillance on an i5 mini PC; was just testing it with Mac and know many users on the forum are Mac users. I've also been testing Security Spy 5 and its new motion detection I'm finding has less false positives than BI 5.
Not sure what kind of crap you're buying I have over 20 blue Iris pcs most of them running for over 5 years zero issues, several as old as 2012. Foolish to use a Mac NPCs are cheap enough and just as reliable if not more so.
 
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rnatalli

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Not sure what kind of crap you're buying I have over 20 blue Iris species most of them running for over 5 years zero issues, several as old as 2012. Foolish to use a Mac NPCs are cheap enough and just as reliable if not more so.
None of the cheap $100 PCs I have ever bought go the distance; machines I build myself do, but also cost more as I don't skimp on parts. I have had luck with Qotom boxes and still use them for routers as I find my old go to boxes (PCEngines) are under-powered for any real usage such as VPN at high speeds.
 

fenderman

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None of the cheap $100 PCs I have ever bought go the distance; machines I build myself do, but also cost more as I don't skimp on parts. I have had luck with Qotom boxes and still use them for routers as I find my old go to boxes (PCEngines) are under-powered for any real usage such as VPN at high speeds.
you are confused about cheap machines machines I'm referring to are business machines by HP and dell. Hundreds of folks here have been using them with no issues. it is foolish to build anything yourself you're paying significantly more for wasting your time and perceived reliability.
 

rnatalli

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The point of the post was not to discuss the superiority of PC vs. Macs or Build vs. Buy; folks have done that for decades. I'm actually agnostic as I use Mac, PC, and Linux. There are people out there who already own Mac hardware who would like to use Blue Iris and some simply don't wish to buy PC hardware.
 
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Rakin

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I think this is cool and I’m glad you have done it, and just for the heck of it if for no other reason. I like Mac and own one. I also like my optiplex for BI5.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

fenderman

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The point of the post was not to discuss the superiority of PC vs. Macs or Build vs. Buy; folks have done that for decades. I'm actually agnostic as I use Mac, PC, and Linux. There are people out there who already own Mac hardware who would like to use Blue Iris and some simply don't wish to buy PC hardware.
The point of the response was that it's foolish virus on a Mac, I guarantee you will have issues with crashes. Even if you didn't you can sell your Mac, and buy a proper PC, and have change left over.
 
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