I had BI, I went to reload it, it's asking for money...

[Steve.L]

So I had BI5 already. I wiped my machine (more on that in a forthcoming post) and went to reload BI. After loading it, I went to launch it, and got routed through the product registration rigmarole, and then it asked for my $69.95.

I input my previous product registration key for BI, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I can't imagine I have to pay for it again.

Any input on where I went wrong?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[sebastiantombs]

Did you deactivate the previous installation? If the machine died without being able to do that you'll need to contact BI support and tell them the story. They'll probably make it right again.

Another possibility is how long ago did you buy the original license. You may be installing a version you are no longer eligible for if it's been over a year since your original license date.

 

[Steve.L]

I did not, I didn't deactivate the previous installation.

I bought the original installation in January of 2020.

As a side note, my machine didn't die or crash, I stupidly assumed that before I deploy my system and start recording cameras to/with BI, that I should do a clean install using media creation tool...what a mistake...for a number of reasons. Yes, I've had this setup ready to deploy and use since January of 2020, but before I could embark on my journey of home surveillance, the pandemic set in, I began working from home, and ended up using my new business-class 3630 for my remote desktop activity, rather than for my camera server. So here I am, having a new desktop machine for remoting to work, and attempting to deploy the 3630 for its original purpose, from Jan. 2020.

 

[TVille]

BI has one year of free upgrades with purchase. You are beyond that, so you can only install the latest version when your one year was up. Or, my recommendation, purchase extended support f or about $30 for a year of support and upgrades.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 

[fenderman]

I did not, I didn't deactivate the previous installation.

I bought the original installation in January of 2020.

As a side note, my machine didn't die or crash, I stupidly assumed that before I deploy my system and start recording cameras to/with BI, that I should do a clean install using media creation tool...what a mistake...for a number of reasons. Yes, I've had this setup ready to deploy and use since January of 2020, but before I could embark on my journey of home surveillance, the pandemic set in, I began working from home, and ended up using my new business-class 3630 for my remote desktop activity, rather than for my camera server. So here I am, having a new desktop machine for remoting to work, and attempting to deploy the 3630 for its original purpose, from Jan. 2020.

Doing a clean install is a great decision and should not take more than 15 minuets. Your mistake as noted by tville was installing a version of BI was released after your support plan ended. Download an earlier update from the forum download page run it and it will work just fine. 30 dollars to upgrade to the latest is well worth it.

 

[Steve.L]

Okay, so I don't screw up any further: Even though I've already downloaded a brand new copy/version, I can still get by with the full 64-cam version and activate it by just paying a $30 upgrade fee?

I had already e-mailed Ken to inquire as best course of action, still trying to understand my next move.

 

[sebastiantombs]

A quick look show 5.3.7.6 is the latest version covered by your original purchase. You'll still need to contact BI to get that working since you didn't deactivate the original installation. Here's a link to the "vault" of BI updates. Note the number of updates so far this year, 2021, when considering the $30 yearly subscription fee plus the overall quality, flexibility and stability of the program.

Blue Iris Updates (64 bit) - History

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Steve.L]

A quick look show 5.3.7.6 is the latest version covered by your original purchase. You'll still need to contact BI to get that working since you didn't deactivate the original installation. Here's a link to the "vault" of BI updates. Note the number of updates so far this year, 2021, when considering the $30 yearly subscription fee plus the overall quality, flexibility and stability of the program.

Blue Iris Updates (64 bit) - History

ipcamtalk.com

Thanks for that insight. I sent another message to Ken to inquire about this option.

Thanks fenderman and TVille.

 

[fenderman]

Even though I've already downloaded a brand new copy/version, I can still get by with the full 64-cam version and activate it by just paying a $30 upgrade fee?

Yes. No need to complicate it.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks for that insight. I sent another message to Ken to inquire about this option.

Thanks fenderman and TVille.

You can run the update and see if it works. It likely will. If you uninstall/reinstall multiple times then you will have an issue with reactivation if you dont deactivate.

 

[Steve.L]

Okay, so after some back-and-forth e-mails with Jennifer at BI, it appears that the latest version I can roll back to based on my previous license expiration date of 2/26/2021 is 5.2.6.5, which is from April of 2020. I'm a little confused by this as I would've thought that I'm entitled to update 5.3.9.10, which released on 2/23/21, three days before my license expiration as specified by Jennifer (I found the 5.3.9.10 update in the IPCT list that was linked above).

On the newest copy I downloaded last week, the path in BI to locate this information is Blue Iris Settings > About > Check for News and Updates, wherein there's a drop-down menu populated with the previous versions which one is allowed to reload (see attached pic). And in that drop-down, the only versions are 5.2.6.5, and 5.2.5.10 from April of 2020, so as I said, I'm not sure how these are calculated.

Anyway, I may just roll back to the April 2020 version that they're offering, the succeeding updates may not even benefit me. Or just suck it up and buy the latest version that I downloaded last week, I'll digest all this today and decide which way to go.

Thanks again for your inputs and feel free to chime in if it looks like I'm overlooking something.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Download 5.3.9.10 and install it and see what happens you can always install previous releases if that put your BI into eval mode.

I wonder if what support have replied with are stable releases?

 

[Steve.L]

Download 5.3.9.10 and install it and see what happens you can always install previous releases if that put your BI into eval mode.

I wonder if what support have replied with are stable releases?

Okay, I have two questions:
1) Can you detail how I would go about that? I used the method BI specified (see my previous pic) and there were only two possibilities in the pulldown...and;
2) Should I uninstall the brand new version of BI that I now have installed on my machine, and then somehow download 5.3.9.10? (This may get answered in your response to question 1 ).
Thanks!

 

[IAmATeaf]

Get the version from this site, have a look in the Downloads section

Blue Iris Updates (64 bit) - Updates

ipcamtalk.com

 

[Steve.L]

Get the version from this site, have a look in the Downloads section

Blue Iris Updates (64 bit) - Updates

ipcamtalk.com

Oh snap, that's easy.

I'm sorry....should I uninstall the other version on my machine? Or will the new one overwrite it? Or just leave it to expire? Or?

I will try this when I get home today (I'm on Pacific Time).

Thanks.

 

[bp2008]

The files you download from here are all just "update files" which require BI to already be installed via the full installer. Do not uninstall Blue Iris.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Just download the update exe and double click it to run it, the exe should then take care of stopping BI and performing the update. If you need to go back or forth just run the next exe etc.

 

[Steve.L]

Okay guys, I'm pretty happy and all set. I don't know what I did differently this time, I think it was actually entering my license key (I think). Because this time, when I went into Blue Iris News and Updates > Another previous available update, I found a much longer list of versions that I was able to select from (see first pic). I was able to grab 5.3.8.17, which released just one month before my 1-year-update period expired. As noted above, it's not the 5.3.9.10 that I would've thought I could roll up to, but hey, I'll take what I can get, and I'm 100% certain that whatever was included in those successive versions won't apply to a newbster like me. I'm just happy that I got BI back on my machine without having to fork over any dough unnecessarily. Hey, lesson learned, next time I'll deactivate. And if I can, I'll pony up 30 at some point and jump in with the regular updates.

Thanks again for all the direction. Now onto making my new post about Media Creation Tool and how it didn't seem to work out so great for me