Blue Iris Windows 11 or Windows Server?

Flintstone61

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djmadfx

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If I felt like migrating my current Windows 10 Pro setup I would aim for Windows 10 LTSC.
 

wittaj

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If I felt like migrating my current Windows 10 Pro setup I would aim for Windows 10 LTSC.
Before you do that, I would consider watching this recent thread where we think LTSC is causing this user with just one camera on a new setup all kinds of trouble.

Blue Iris has been designed around Win10. It doesn't mean other versions won't work, but if your current version works, why change?

 

djmadfx

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Before you do that, I would consider watching this recent thread where we think LTSC is causing this user with just one camera on a new setup all kinds of trouble.

Blue Iris has been designed around Win10. It doesn't mean other versions won't work, but if your current version works, why change?

Oh wow, that issue looks like a mess! I would definitely need to do some testing prior to going that route.
 

The Automation Guy

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If you have to purchase a new license for Windows, I've always had great success with VIP-scdkey. I have bought many MS Windows and MS Office OEM licenses from them over the years and have NEVER had an issue. Keep in mind these are OEM licenses, so they are locked into the computer hardware of the machine they are installed on and you cannot transfer the license to a new machine. But the prices are so low that having to buy a new license when you get a new machine is not a big deal. There are usually coupon codes available to bring the prices down even further. Expect to pay $15-20 for a Windows 10 Pro license.
 

Flintstone61

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when you say " locked into the computer hardware" Does it somehow insert itself into the eufi bios chip?
What if its like a Dell with a OEM win key in it already? Can't one just download the MS Creation tool to a USB stick and install the OS for free?
 

The Automation Guy

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when you say " locked into the computer hardware" Does it somehow insert itself into the eufi bios chip?
What if its like a Dell with a OEM win key in it already? Can't one just download the MS Creation tool to a USB stick and install the OS for free?
I don't know/understand the technical details to how this works, but my understanding is that motherboards have some sort of identifying number that is recorded and reported to MS when you activate a Windows license. If you try to use that same OEM license number on another computer (or even the same computer with a new motherboard), it will not activate due to the hardware mismatch.

But to answer your question, yes. If you buy a used computer off Ebay that states "No OS included" but the machine had an OEM version of Windows installed/activated on it at some point previously, you can generally install Windows on it and it will automatically activate itself when it phones into MS servers. I've done this myself several times when I've bought SFF computers off EBay. (These SFF computers are very popular with businesses and are sold by resellers when they come off lease). The one's I've bought have all had OEM Windows 10 Pro installed/activated on them at some point in their "lives". They activate just fine and don't require a new license number to be purchased/entered.

A full Retail version of Windows (non-OEM) can be "transferred" to a new computer/motherboard if needed. It requires communication with MS so that they allow the software to "link" itself to a new motherboard, but this is allowed (at least in the past it was - I haven't tried it recently to know if it happens automatically now or not). However there are a lot of Windows users that don't understand this, so it is quite possible that they don't go through the process of contacting MS to transfer the license to a new machine and it would still activate under the old hardware (if you bought it used for example). This is really the only difference that I am aware of between the "Retail" and "OEM" versions of Windows - the ability to transfer the license to a new machine/motherboard.
 
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Apologies - bit of a tangent, but might be of some interest...

I run Blue Iris on Windows Server 2019 with an OEM license from VIP-scdkey ($17.56 - see screenshot below ) and I am pleasantly surprised
how streamlined Server is compared to Windows 10. In addition, there is no nagging about a Microsoft account, allows multiple Remote Desktop Connections,
allows multiple users, built in NTP server, etc. But those are just unexpected benefits. The reason I had to install Server is that Windows 10 will not install on
my SuperMicro Xeon based systems, because of TPM. Windows 10 goes through the installation and then bails. Server 2019 just installed easily with no issues.
I realize there is not much love for the E3-Xeons on this forum, but they are cool-running, energy-efficient, reliable workhorses.

1680221791429.png
 

SuperMiguel

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Apologies - bit of a tangent, but might be of some interest...

I run Blue Iris on Windows Server 2019 with an OEM license from VIP-scdkey ($17.56 - see screenshot below ) and I am pleasantly surprised
how streamlined Server is compared to Windows 10. In addition, there is no nagging about a Microsoft account, allows multiple Remote Desktop Connections,
allows multiple users, built in NTP server, etc. But those are just unexpected benefits. The reason I had to install Server is that Windows 10 will not install on
my SuperMicro Xeon based systems, because of TPM. Windows 10 goes through the installation and then bails. Server 2019 just installed easily with no issues.
I realize there is not much love for the E3-Xeons on this forum, but they are cool-running, energy-efficient, reliable workhorses.

View attachment 158650
I personally had a bunch of issues with RAM running on Windows Server 2019
 

danweber1

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If you can get server 2019 or 2022 cheap enough why not. None of thr bloatware to deal with like windows 10 or 11. That said I run bi on windows 11 in a vm. No issues
 

Virga

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A fact to add to this discussion, based on personal experience.
In 2011 I purchased from Newegg a Windows 7 Pro OEM license, and installed it on a new build. Eventually this build aged out and I set it aside.
In mid-2022 I built a new PC. I had read in a forum that an OEM Windows license associated with a Microsoft account can be “transferred” to a new build. So I powered up the old PC, signed on to my Microsoft account, and turned the PC off.
I installed the above 2011 OEM license on the 2022 build, and it has been working fine.
However, if an OEM license can be had at the price above, many such licenses can be bought for the price of one Newegg OEM license.
 

sprucecams

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Windows 10 Pro, and Win 11 Pro work just fine with BlueIris.
Turn off Windows updates, so you don't have any surprises.
What is your magic with Win11Pro?! I am trying to install BI v5 on a new PC running Windows 11 Pro. My prior PC was running Windows 7 Pro and I exported my settings to a BI.reg file. I downloaded the current full v5 from the BI download page and installed that on the Win11 Pro PC. When prompted, I entered my license key and received a message popup that BI was activated. I then tried importing my BI.reg file from the prior PC. BI appeared to begin the import process and a popup requested restarting the program. I clicked on "yes", BI closed but did not restart automatically, so I restarted it with the desktop shortcut it had generated. I then received a popup stating "Unable to delete registry key to complete import". I clicked on OK in that popup and BI started without my settings (none of my cameras, etc.). I tried the same thing with another PC running Windows 10 Home and it updated and imported my prior Win7Pro settings fine. So then I exported the Win10Home BI settings and tried importing that .reg file to the Win11Pro BI. Same message of "Unable to delete registry key to complete import". Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
 

wittaj

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It is best to take the time and rebuild from scratch.
 

CrazyAsYou

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I've got a Blue Iris and Code Project AI (with CUDA) running perfectly well on two systems, Windows 10 Pro and Windows 11 Home - I don't notice any difference between them for the purpose of BI and CP.AI, but I much prefer day to day usage of Win10 over Win11 mainly due to the OS UI (Windows 11 was made for children and Apple users) Windows 10 for IT professionals :) - FYI I also played around with Windows server 2012 and 2016 without issues which is expected as 2016 is pretty much Windows 10.
 

Flintstone61

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The .reg file ( if it's from a distant version of BI5, Might be so dramatically different ( with menu options and big changes) that it can't load the same parameters. That and possibly some major Platform differences from W7 to w11
 
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