BlueIris: Record to NAS issues

Just adding on to this thread, I had to edit the windows registry to get the mapped network drive to show up in the "browse" to store clips over SMB. I'm using a synology NAS but I don't think it matters.

From here:
community.spiceworks.com

Mapped Network Drives not showing in application

I posted this in the Adobe forum ( http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/305866-reader-says-mapped-drives-are-disconnected ) but I wanted to post it here as well to see if any of your Windows experts can identify the problem. Basically, one of our user’s mapped network drives are not showing up...
community.spiceworks.com community.spiceworks.com

Code: 
Caution: Incorrect use of the Windows registry editor may prevent the operating system
from functioning properly. Great care should be taken when making changes to a Windows
registry. Registry modifications should only be carried-out by persons experienced in
the use of the registry editor application. It is recommended that a complete backup of
the registry and workstation be made prior to making any registry changes.

To configure the EnableLinkedConnections registry value, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
2. Locate and then right-click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type EnableLinkedConnections, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click EnableLinkedConnections, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

So far I'm not 100% it's working the way I want as I just got it up. I have it store 100GB of "new" which is local and then I clicked "moved to stored" which I assume means after 100GB it'll copy to stored. Then I have "stored" defined as my NAS blue iris archive.

BI appears to be able to now see it in the "browse" as well as under the [Status button] / Clip storage it appears to show accurate information on the NAS. It's definitely dumping junk in there as well so.... great?

I setup the service to run on a local account to be the same as the L/P for the NAS as mentioned above.
 
Manuel Noriega said:
Just adding on to this thread, I had to edit the windows registry to get the mapped network drive to show up in the "browse" to store clips over SMB. I'm using a synology NAS but I don't think it matters.

From here:
community.spiceworks.com

Mapped Network Drives not showing in application

I posted this in the Adobe forum ( http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/305866-reader-says-mapped-drives-are-disconnected ) but I wanted to post it here as well to see if any of your Windows experts can identify the problem. Basically, one of our user’s mapped network drives are not showing up...
community.spiceworks.com community.spiceworks.com

Code: 
Caution: Incorrect use of the Windows registry editor may prevent the operating system
from functioning properly. Great care should be taken when making changes to a Windows
registry. Registry modifications should only be carried-out by persons experienced in
the use of the registry editor application. It is recommended that a complete backup of
the registry and workstation be made prior to making any registry changes.

To configure the EnableLinkedConnections registry value, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
2. Locate and then right-click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

3. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type EnableLinkedConnections, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click EnableLinkedConnections, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

So far I'm not 100% it's working the way I want as I just got it up. I have it store 100GB of "new" which is local and then I clicked "moved to stored" which I assume means after 100GB it'll copy to stored. Then I have "stored" defined as my NAS blue iris archive.

BI appears to be able to now see it in the "browse" as well as under the [Status button] / Clip storage it appears to show accurate information on the NAS. It's definitely dumping junk in there as well so.... great?

I setup the service to run on a local account to be the same as the L/P for the NAS as mentioned above.
Click to expand...

The key to the problem you ran into there was "mapped drive". Don't map a drive. Just put in the UNC path. "\\SERVER\Blue Iris 1" for example. You can browse to the share in Explorer and then just copy and paste it if it's easier that way.

As long as the Blue Iris service is set to log on using a local account (the one you use is fine and makes testing easier) and the Synology credentials allow that local account to browse to it, that's it, nothing more is needed.

Windows has worked this way for over 20 years. In a business (and sometimes a home) different users and functions sharing a computer may have completely different access rights to network resources. So a service running with manager access could get to things that a random employee signing in could not.

I would undo the registry hacks and set it up correctly. After that, just keep an eye on BI updates. If it reinstalls the service for some reason (like upgrading versions) you'll need to redo having the service use the local account.

Mapping network shares to drive letters was a kludge to support badly written software that wasn't network aware waaaaayyyy back when. Other than using it as an easy way to get Windows to use a different set of credentials when connecting to a server, I can't think of a reason to do it nowadays.
 
Last edited:
This thread got my Synology NAS running with BI, in particular the two posts below:

BlueIris: Record to NAS issues

Hi guys, You all have been so helpful lately that I wanted to try one more question. I am setup with 4 Hikvision DS-2CD2042WD-I cameras. I have Blue Iris installed on a PC and have all the cameras setup. Currently, I am having to record to a WD 2TB USB drive because I cannot get Blue Iris to...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

BlueIris: Record to NAS issues

Hi guys, You all have been so helpful lately that I wanted to try one more question. I am setup with 4 Hikvision DS-2CD2042WD-I cameras. I have Blue Iris installed on a PC and have all the cameras setup. Currently, I am having to record to a WD 2TB USB drive because I cannot get Blue Iris to...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

FWIW, I 'mapped network drive' and it's currently working fine for me, but Zanthexter's comments on network drive mapping may prompt me to change this habit.

One thing I will add is that my non-expert reading tells me that this is independent of BlueIris, though BlueIris could probably have some kind of explicit built in location for this login info. Reason is that running as a service keeps working regardless of what user is active, but when I map a network drive, I believe it's specific to a particular user, therefore it makes sense that something running as a service doesn't see a network drive I've mapped for myself.

docs.microsoft.com

Introduction to Windows Service Applications - .NET Framework

Read an introduction to Windows service applications. Services let you create long-running executable applications that run in their own Windows sessions.
docs.microsoft.com

I also found that the repair DB button in the Blue Iris Status > Clip Storage tab gets my cams writing to the new location immediately, and that for my particular Synology my BI (4) knows the size of the drive.

Synology info: DS118 running DSM 6.2.2-24922 Update 4. BI user is a non-admin account with read/write privileges on the target volume.
 
Last edited:
richtj99 said:
Hi,

Curious, does the user account you use on the windows PC running BI need to be the same account on the NAS?

So

BI PC - Rich/123
NAS - Rich/123

OR can i Use
Rich/123
Dich/546 but change the service login to this info?

Thanks,
Rich
Click to expand...

The username and password need to be an exact match. They cannot be different.
 
mezger said:
One thing I will add is that my non-expert reading tells me that this is independent of BlueIris,
Click to expand...

Correct, it isn't a Blue Iris problem. You can go back as far as you can Google, 20, 30 years ago, and you'll find people having this same issue. Not just with NAS boxes, but with Windows computers and servers too.

It's also not a Windows problem. Like many Windows "problems" this is a working as designed. And it was designed for a corporate environment that might have thousands of users and need complicated permissions.

mezger said:
though BlueIris could probably have some kind of explicit built in location for this login info.
Click to expand...

Debatable. Creating the service using the LocalSystem account things "just work". What you're asking is for Blue Iris to add the capability to create, delete, manage, and hide user accounts. I'm not a programmer, but I gather that adding the capability would take significant resources to create and maintain to solve a problem that just doesn't come up much because NAS use is rare even among Blue Iris systems.

Instead, page 146 of the manual simply states, "If you are using a NAS or other remote storage device, you should use a username and password on that device that is identical to your service login. This will allow the service seamless access to the device. " Obviously people don't read the manual. And he put a lot of effort into it too, it's nicely done in v5. You can even print it!

And it takes less than 2 minutes to get things working once you understand the problem.


mezger said:
when I map a network drive, I believe it's specific to a particular user, therefore it makes sense that something running as a service doesn't see a network drive I've mapped for myself.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what the problem is. Except it's not a problem, it's a feature, works that way by design, because computers are often shared by several people.

As normally set up, the Blue Iris service is signed in as "LocalSystem", which is not the account you sign in with. If you update the service credentials to your username and password, anything you can see, the service can see.

Because you're likely to both change your password at some point and forget to update the Blue Iris service with the change, I recommend using an account dedicated to Blue Iris service use, but that's optional.

Here is the right way - BlueIris: Record to NAS issues

Blue Iris folders should be set to use network share locations in this format "\\NAS-ServerName\BlueIrisShare\BlueIrisFolder" NOT mapped drive letters!

When you do it right, no registry hacks or psexec are required.

Of course you have to "do it right" both on the Blue Iris computer and the NAS, and folks that have problems with the NAS sharing will probably blame Windows. Could be not understanding permissions and sharing on a quality NAS like Synology, or just using some janky box that has issues sharing at all.
 
So I came here looking for answers and I found them. I finally got the videos recording to my Synology 220j NAS. Yay! My solutions was this:

1) On the network share/NAS box create a user account for "BlueIris" as the username and a password that you pick.
2) On the network share/NAS box grant that account FULL (read/write) permission to the shared folder/drive
3) On the Windows computer, create a LOCAL account called "BlueIris" with the same password.
4) On the Windows computer sign in using the new account and attempt to save a file to the NAS. This is to confirm the account is set up correctly and matches the credentials on the network share. Do not regularly use or sign in with this account. It's for the BlueIris service only. Optionally edit the registry to hide the account from the logon screen.
5) On the Windows computer open the properties for the BlueIris service and change the LogOn to "This account" by browsing to the BlueIris account you created and typing in the password you picked earlier.
6) Restart the BlueIris service. If the credentials are correct, it will restart. If not, it won't. Restarting the service is REQUIRED for it to use the new credentials.
7) Set the desired BlueIris folders to the network share. Things should work at this point.


However, my new issue is that I can't view live video in the console no matter what I do. Any thoughts on what I can do to get the live video back in the console?
 
Brian K Bertalot said:
So I came here looking for answers and I found them. I finally got the videos recording to my Synology 220j NAS. Yay! My solutions was this:

1) On the network share/NAS box create a user account for "BlueIris" as the username and a password that you pick.
2) On the network share/NAS box grant that account FULL (read/write) permission to the shared folder/drive
3) On the Windows computer, create a LOCAL account called "BlueIris" with the same password.
4) On the Windows computer sign in using the new account and attempt to save a file to the NAS. This is to confirm the account is set up correctly and matches the credentials on the network share. Do not regularly use or sign in with this account. It's for the BlueIris service only. Optionally edit the registry to hide the account from the logon screen.
5) On the Windows computer open the properties for the BlueIris service and change the LogOn to "This account" by browsing to the BlueIris account you created and typing in the password you picked earlier.
6) Restart the BlueIris service. If the credentials are correct, it will restart. If not, it won't. Restarting the service is REQUIRED for it to use the new credentials.
7) Set the desired BlueIris folders to the network share. Things should work at this point.


However, my new issue is that I can't view live video in the console no matter what I do. Any thoughts on what I can do to get the live video back in the console?
Click to expand...


UPDATE: I figured out my issue. For whatever reason, I had to make sure that I was signed on to the correct Windows login account (the same that is setup for the NAS) for being able to see the live video stream and still record to the NAS. It may be a setting within Blue Iris 4 that I may need to tweak, but I found a workaround for now.
 
Just wanted to chime back in here.

A lot of time has passed since I posted my method of inserting a credential into the Local System account for NAS access using psexec and I still find it to have worked flawlessly long-term. I've not had a problem in what feels like a year or more.
I worry about running services under an account that was not intended. Will updates to BlueIris change the account the service runs under back to the default, etc? Or will there be other unintended consequences of changing the intended service account? I don't know, probably not to be honest.

However I am certain those are the only two ways you would be able to do it, short of allowing free-for-all write access to the share. In both cases you create an account on the NAS for the service to authenticate with that can write to the share. Then you either change the service account to match, or you insert that credential into the local system's credential manager for use when it connects to that IP address, as detailed in my earlier post...
 
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sorka said:
This is the ONLY thing that worked for me.
Click to expand...

After hours of aggravation I did as you suggest here and now all is well with my clips recording perfectly to the NAS folders once again. It turned out that the info in the Windows 10 Services Login appears to have been change after an update. It was an easy fix but took time to get to the bottom of this. Thank you!
 
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Old thread, sorry for bumping. Many of the fixes in this thread may work well. There is a much easier solution to get your credentials sorted out.
Windows 10 > Control Panel > User Accounts > [Manage Your Credentials] link on left > Windows Credentials > [Add A Windows Credential].
Fill in your login and pass to your NAS, done..
 
Matthew Page said:
I thought I would add my experience with this. The fixes above will work but I didn't find this place first. I also think I like my way better than running the application under a service account it wasn't necessarily designed to use, so I'll add it here.

First of all, Blue Iris should definitely include a field for network share credentials to be put in when setting up network shares. I'm very surprised they haven't.

Second my diagnostic step in this (before I found this forum) was to set open permissions on the share, at which time video upload to my 'Stored' location began fine, confirming what I suspected was a permissions problem.
That also confirmed that it ran under the credentials present on the Service Account (Local System by default). I did briefly consider creating a different account on the PC to run the service under and giving it log on as a service rights, matching one with write to the share on my NAS. This didn't seem the best solution.

Microsoft makes available some very handy tools in the Sysinternals suite. You can download this from microsoft.com itself. Sysinternals download page.

One of the handiest tools in the suite is psexec. Aside from being able to run command line tools on a remote computer, you can also use it to run on your local PC as the system account. There is also another tool, already included in Windows called cmdkey.exe. It is the command line version of the Credential Manager tool. Using both of these, you are able to add a credential for use with your NAS to the System account on your local PC.

1. Download and extract the Sysinternals suite from MS that I linked above. I always extract to C:\pstools to make navigating there with command prompt easier.
2. Run an administrative command prompt in the folder where you extracted the Sysinternals suite. This should be the folder where psexec.exe resides.
3. Run a variation of the following command relative to an account you have made on your NAS that has been granted write permission to your NAS share.

psexec -s cmdkey /add:ServerNameOrIP /user:username /pass:password

(Bold items are variables that you must fill in. The -s switch for psexec tells the command you are using psexec to run to do so as the local system account. The rest should explain itself.)

4. Restart the BlueIris service. Your computer's Local System account (which is running the BlueIris service) should now use the credential you set whenever it connects to the remote device. I found this information unrelated to BlueIris specifically by googling 'credential manager system account', because I had no idea how to save a credential under the system account until I found an article on superuser.com.

I have had this working correctly to transfer files to my NAS using stored credentials for several days now.

Cheers,
Matt.
Click to expand...

This worked better. In my case I run a NAS device. On this NAS Device I have a local SMB user and I use those creds to Map a network drive on my BlueIris server. Using the method you described definitely avoids having to create a local Windows account matching the NAS user account to run the BlueIris service with.
I also agree that BlueIris needs to implement saving network share credentials separately.
 
Domingo Ugarte said:
This worked better. In my case I run a NAS device. On this NAS Device I have a local SMB user and I use those creds to Map a network drive on my BlueIris server. Using the method you described definitely avoids having to create a local Windows account matching the NAS user account to run the BlueIris service with.
I also agree that BlueIris needs to implement saving network share credentials separately.
Click to expand...

Windows does mounting of shares and managing account credentials so I can’t see why the developer of BI would reinvent all of this for inclusion in BI.
 
I've been struggling with this NAS connection issue for a while, but finally found a solution that builds on Brian K Bertalot's answer.

The problem stemmed from a mapped drive using my login credentials. My Samba server revealed multiple login attempts for the same connection, which interfered with BlueIris using its own username and password.

Here's the fix (assuming your NAS credentials are blueiris/blueiris):

  1. Create a local account on your BlueIris machine with the same username and password (e.g., blueiris/blueiris).
  2. Delete all users on your NAS share except for the newly created "blueiris" user.
  3. Run NET USE on the blueiris computer and press Enter to check for existing connections.
  4. Delete all NAS connections on the blueiris computer to the BlueIris NAS Server with net use delete.
  5. Connect to the NAS using its name or IP address (e.g., \\SERVER\NAS) without mapping the drive - just validate the connection works. (net use \\SERVER\NAS /user:blueiris blueiris)
  6. Once verified, run net use delete again to clear any lingering connections.
  7. Go to Services and ensure BlueIris is running as user blueiris with the correct password.
  8. Restart the BlueIris computer and cross your fingers
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
 
I beat my head in for a few hours and the issue for me was I browsed for the shared folder on my synology NAS in BI (using the 3 dots) and even though the end result the browser correctly showed the same pathname it kept coming up NAS LOGIN FAILURE... Once I copied and paste the path from file explorer it worked..
 
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