Need help with move to a new PC

[erkme73]

I've attempted to resolve my choppy video and instability on my original i7 PC, but any version beyond 5.5.0.15 was a no go. I finally threw in the towel and upgraded my hardware to a Dell Optiplex 7050 with i7-6x and 16GB ram (going to 32 when it arrives).

After getting all the new PC gyrations completed, I installed a new copy of BI from Ken's site. I installed using a temp key that he provided. It came up just fine. I then imported the .reg settings from the old PC (which was still on 5.5.0.15). While everything appeared to come up, the program became unresponsive. Spinning circle, "not responding" in the taskbar processes, etc.

Interestingly, if I disable the network card, BI resumes as normal. Of course, the cameras all drop signal. So either I can have a functional BI console, or cameras, but not both at the same time.

I have all HWA turned off globally.
I attempted to uninstall BI to start from scratch, but apparently uninstalling leaves all the directories, old files, and registry settings, because a new install returns with all the cameras and settings still present.
Windows task manager indicates 150+mbps receive when the network is enabled and BI is "not responding"
Each of the cameras are accessible and for the once-per minute or so that BI become responsive (or a click or two) the cameras do update.

I suspect something in the .reg import is not playing nice with my hardware. But without a clean way to wipe the settings/configurations, I'm stuck.
Ultimately Id like to rebuild the system by importing one camera at a time to see which one buggers it up, but I need a clean slate to make that work.

 

[sebastiantombs]

Importing the reg file or importing previous setting may not work out well. Given it's a new install I would have re-created everything from scratch. Yes, it takes longer but you can also eliminate any little things you might have done wrong in the original and avoid any possibility of having corruption in the reg file.

 

[Mike A.]

But without a clean way to wipe the settings/configurations, I'm stuck.
Ultimately Id like to rebuild the system by importing one camera at a time to see which one buggers it up, but I need a clean slate to make that work.

Can't you just delete everything in the registry for BI and then do a clean install?

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Perspective Software\

 

[erkme73]

That's what I did. Ran out of time to play this evening but will start with a clean slate as time permits. For now, I'm running on the old system to avoid down time.

I was just hoping that my specific set of circumstances would point to something obvious that I'm overlooking.

 

[fenderman]

If you were going to start from scratch, do a clean windows install with the media creation software.

 

[eeeeesh]

Here is what I would do

1. On the working/old computer, do a full registry export of the Blue Iris section using registry editor or better yet - install Blue Iris Update Helper and have it make a backup. GitHub - bp2008/biupdatehelper: A Windows service which helps manage Blue Iris updates
2. Also, export the settings from Blue Iris, using the Settings\About Tab and the export settings button
3. Shut down Blue Iris and make a complete copy of the Blue Iris folder using something like WinZIP or WinRAR. Usually C:\Program Files\Blue Iris 5
4. On the new computer, do a fresh install of Blue Iris
5. Making sure it is completely shut down, delete the Blue Iris folder and replace it with a copy of the folder from the old computer
6. Delete the registry keys for Blue Iris (assuming 64 bit install)
   1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Perspective Software
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Perspective Software
7. Run the reg file from the old computer that you made with Blue Iris Update Helper
8. Start up Blue Iris, if everything is still not working right, import the settings you exported from the old computer

On my system, a Blue Iris Update helper backup is about 14 mb, while an export of the settings from within Blue Iris is about 3 mbs - big difference

 

[Flintstone61]

If you import BI .reg from old hardware to new hardware, it could be a potential problem. (maybe)
Maybe you can do individual Camera .reg backups, and try bringing those .reg files forward to new Setup.

 

[erkme73]

Here is what I would do

1. On the working/old computer, do a full registry export of the Blue Iris section using registry editor or better yet - install Blue Iris Update Helper and have it make a backup. GitHub - bp2008/biupdatehelper: A Windows service which helps manage Blue Iris updates
2. Also, export the settings from Blue Iris, using the Settings\About Tab and the export settings button
3. Shut down Blue Iris and make a complete copy of the Blue Iris folder using something like WinZIP or WinRAR. Usually C:\Program Files\Blue Iris 5
4. On the new computer, do a fresh install of Blue Iris
5. Making sure it is completely shut down, delete the Blue Iris folder and replace it with a copy of the folder from the old computer
6. Delete the registry keys for Blue Iris (assuming 64 bit install)
   1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Perspective Software
      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Perspective Software
7. Run the reg file from the old computer that you made with Blue Iris Update Helper
8. Start up Blue Iris, if everything is still not working right, import the settings you exported from the old computer

On my system, a Blue Iris Update helper backup is about 14 mb, while an export of the settings from within Blue Iris is about 3 mbs - big difference

My BI export settings .reg backup is 153mb. I have 60 cameras.

I was able to get all the directories and perspective registry entries purged yesterday and will spend some time today exporting each camera separately on the old machine. I'll add them one at a time. Assuming the buggered up code is in one of the cameras, i should be able to determine which one is guilty as it is imported.

@fenderman are you saying that i should wipe and reinstall win because of this prior failed attempt at BI? I just wiped windows yesterday right out of the box. I can do it again if you think u installing BI and deleting directories and all registry entries isn't sufficient.

 

[fenderman]

My BI export settings .reg backup is 153mb. I have 60 cameras.

I was able to get all the directories and perspective registry entries purged yesterday and will spend some time today exporting each camera separately on the old machine. I'll add them one at a time. Assuming the buggered up code is in one of the cameras, i should be able to determine which one is guilty as it is imported.

@fenderman are you saying that i should wipe and reinstall win because of this prior failed attempt at BI? I just wiped windows yesterday right out of the box. I can do it again if you think u installing BI and deleting directories and all registry entries isn't sufficient.

It's a quick job and will ensure everything is wiped. I would.

 

[erkme73]

It's a quick job and will ensure everything is wiped. I would.

Will do

 

[looney2ns]

Don't import anything!
Truly set it all up from scratch.

 

[jaydeel]

On my system, a Blue Iris Update helper backup is about 14 mb, while an export of the settings from within Blue Iris is about 3 mbs - big difference

Blue Iris backups are compressed by default… I also use the shift-click method to save a human-readable format.

Excerpt from the help pdf (Administration chapter, Backups section)

 

[erkme73]

Well, good news is I was able to get everything running. Before wiping Windows completely and starting from scratch I decided to export just the camera folder from the registry, and import it into a clean install blue iris. It worked like a champ. All the cameras were there with all the per-camera configurations. The only thing that was still to be customized was the global settings.

And that's where I screwed the pooch hard. Turns out by default, Blue Iris sets the clip deletion to 7 days. I went in and pointed the clip directory to my 14 TB Drive, and neglected to change the time limit. When the database was regenerated it dutifully wiped out 10 TB of video. Including all of the construction of my in-laws house. Video I was going to use to create a time lapse. It's all gone.

By the time I realized it, I had already been writing to that deleted space for over an hour. I'm now trying to undelete those files, hoping to at least salvage some of the construction clips. So far I've only been able to recover about 5% of all videos. Most of them are corrupted due to the writing that occurred after the delete.

It blows my mind that there wasn't some kind of warning. I get it, it was my fault for not changing the default time-based deletion, but still Burns

 

[eeeeesh]

Blue Iris backups are compressed by default… I also use the shift-click method to save a human-readable format.

Excerpt from the help pdf (Administration chapter, Backups section)
View attachment 128174

edited to add:
I tried the shift export method from within Blue Iris and yes, the actual .reg file is a little bigger than the Blue Iris Update helper file. But in this case, size doesn't matter - it's 'what's in there' that counts!

Example:
I recently decided to give up on Win11 and moved back to Win10. Fortunately, I made an Acronis Image of my Win10 system before upgrading to Win11. I took several precautions to back everything up I could in Blue Iris. Manual registry export, Export from within the Blue Iris program and the Blue Iris Update helper backup.

I got everything up and running but I wanted Blue Iris to be restored just like I had it in Win 11. I first tried the Blue Iris backup/export - and guess what happened. I was basically locked out of the system because it said I had activated my license too many times. (It's only running on one computer)

I know from previous experience it could take days for Blue Iris Support to respond to reactivate my license so just for the heck of it tried the Blue Iris Update helper backup and you know what - every thing worked just like it did before and there were no problems with my license.

From now on, I am counting on the Blue Iris Update helper backup!