Month: August 2021

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Categories Uncategorized

How to prevent a specific Windows update or driver from installing

In Windows 10 there is no way to block the installation of a particular Windows Update(s) through ‘Update & Security settings, like in the previous Windows versions (Windows 7 or Windows Vista). 

In Windows 10, the Windows Updates are set to be automatically installed in order to keep your device always updated. On the other hand, several times, a Windows update or an updated device driver can cause significant problems on your computer operation and there is the need to uninstall it and then to block the specific update or driver from reinstalling in the future until Microsoft fixes the issue(s) with it.

To fix problems with specific updates, Microsoft has released a tool that can block (hide) a specific unwanted Windows Update or Driver from reinstalling again on your system. The tool is called “Show or hide updates” and applies to Windows 10 based computers.

In this tutorial, you can find detailed instructions on how to use the “Show or hide updates” tool, in order to prevent the installation of a specific Windows Update or Updated Driver on your Windows 10 system.

How to block Windows Update(s) and Updated driver(s) from being installed in Windows 10.

Notes: Before continue to block a specific Windows Update or Driver from being installed in Windows 10, first proceed to uninstall it, if it is already installed.

A. To uninstall a specific Windows 10 Update, go to:

  1. Start  –> Settings –> Update and security –> Advanced options –> View your update history –> Uninstall Updates.
  2. Select the unwanted Update from the list and click Uninstall. *

B. To uninstall a specific Device Driver in Windows 10:

  1. Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager.
  2. Locate the device driver that you want to uninstall and then right-click on it and select Uninstall.
  3. In the uninstall dialog, check the box to Delete the driver software for this device if available. *

* After uninstall:

1. Restart your computer and check for available updates…but DO NOT INSTALL them.

  • Start  –> Settings –> Update and security –> Check for updates.

2. Close the ‘Update & Security’ options and proceed to block the automatic installation of the Windows Update or Driver as described below.

TO PREVENT THE AUTOMATIC INSTALLATION OF A SPECIFIC WINDOWS UPDATE OR AN UPDATED DRIVER ON WINDOWS 10:

1. Download and save the “Show or hide updates” troubleshooter tool

2-Open the tool


3-Click on Next as showing

the tool will search for updates as showing



5-Choose Hide updates as showing

6-Check the update that you want to hide then click next as showing

7-It will work for a while then will show that it has been fixed then close

From now on, the selected updated Driver, or Windows Update, will not be installed automatically, until you run the Show or hide updates tool again and unblock the installation

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Enterprise exacqVision Server Categories

Password Strengthening Causing EM to be Stuck in Data Restore Pending

NOTE: The following issue was resolved with the release of exacqVision Enterprise Manager v21.09.1 

08/27/2021 v21.09.1  * Bug Fix - Fix failover when password strengthening is enabled on proteced server

When either trying to do a Manual Failover to test or a Protected Server goes offline and you may get a message in EM that states Data Restore Pending and it is stuck in this state…

This is more than likely due Password Strengthening being Enabled on the ExacqVision Server…

“Once this is Enabled, passwords are salted and strengthened to prevent brute force attacks. Augmented password authentication protects against man-in-the-middle and client masquerading attacks.”

However, this can create problems with the way EM transmits the configuration back and forth to each other. If you have plans to use EM for Failover/Failback protection…DO NOT ENABLE this feature.

Once it is Enabled, you cannot simply just disable it; since it modifies your Useraccounts.xml file.

WORKAROUND: Currently the only way to resolve this is to completely recreate a new Useraccounts.xml file or import an older system configuration from before you Enabled Password Strengthening.

In order to create a new Useraccounts.xml file I recommend going to Users in the ExacqVision Client Software and writing down your users and what type of groups they are in and the properties of those groups.. (Do they have customer user groups and privileges configured)

Download the latest ExacqVision Server Version and save it on the Spare and Protected Server

Stop the ExacqVision Server Service on the Spare and on the protected Servers you are working with; otherwise it will keep overwriting the useraccounts.xml file.

From Windows Services, find ExacqVision Server and right click on it and choose Stop
After the ExacqVision Server Service has stopped.

Browse to C:\Program Files\ExacqVision\Server and locate the file Useraccounts.xml and rename it to useraccounts.old

Install the downloaded file of the ExacqVision Server you have; it will prompt you to create a new password for the admin account (Try to use the same admin password as before)

After the ExacqVision Server is installed, In the client software: Login with the new Username and Password under Add Systems…Make sure it says connected

Repeat the same process for the Spare Server

Start the ExacqVision Server Service on the Spare and Protected server’s after you successfully have logged in to both and they show connected.

Back in EM, under the Failover Groups after a minute or two you should see the Satus of the Spare/Protected change (See Pics Below)

The compatibility Warning simply means there is a difference between the configuration or hardware of the Spare vs Protected Server

Once you are back at the above screen you can proceed with trying to either do a Manual Failover or simply stop the ExacqVision Server Service on the Protected Server to simulate a down server.

Once it fails over and you have verified it failed over, fail it back by either taking it out of Manual Failover or Starting the ExacqVision Server Service

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Webservice

ExacqVision Web Server Relay Service Issue

Description

How to diagnose if the Fast Reverse Proxy Client (FRPC) is the source of issues with the ExacqVision Web Server relay service.

Product

ExacqVision Web Server

Troubleshooting FRPC

FRPC provides a proxy service for Relay Connections used by ExacqVision Web Server. This eliminates the need for firewall configuration and prevents exposing the NVR directly to inbound internet traffic via port forwarding by creating a unique public relay URL.

Some antivirus software may identify this client as a threat and will block, remove, or prevent the installation of FRPC.

This usually manifests itself with issues either in initial setup of the relay service or when existing relay services stop working.

To confirm, check the ExacqVision Web Server logs for entries similar to the following:<br><br>

2021-06-15T10:02:51.215-0400  error  failed to launch relay proxy client: file: frpc.exe not found

<br><br>Next confirm that FRPC is present in the appropriate install folder.

The default install locations are:

Windows
C:\Program Files\exacqVision\WebService\bin\frpc.exe

Linux
/usr/local/exacq/webservice/bin/frpc

Note:  In some cases users may need to add relay.exacq.net to the allow list in their firewall.


Related Articles

See also: Using Antivirus Software with ExacqVision

Categories
Knowledge Support Support exacqVision Server Products exacqVision Hardware Uncategorized

Disabling Watchdog for units with lack of Clarity in logs for Unexpected Errors.

IF you have a unit that is not clearly stating the reason why the unit is rebooting or getting random unexpected errors turn watchdog off to see if the unexpected errors go away and the unit remains running with no random reboots. I would enable debugging in the core/psfpi/sysmgmt/ in the client to gain the ability to get more detailed logs in case the unit remains rebooting randomly. This is not to be done if there are logs pointing to an issues.

Watchdogs – Enabling/Disabling
Windows
Edit C:\Program Files\exacqVision\Server\sysmgmtpi.xml
Locate the section similar to the following:
<Watchdogs ID=”3604480″>
<Watchdog Source=”Nuvoton LPC I/O NCT6791D” Enabled=”1″ Timeout=”40″ />
</Watchdogs>
* Change Enabled =”1” to Enabled =”0”
* Save the file
* Restart the exacqVision Server Service

Linux
$ cd /usr/local/exacq/server/
$ sudo nano sysmgmtpi.xml
* locate the section similar to the following
Watchdogs ID=”3604480″
Sensors ID=”3604480″ Enabled=”1″ Status=”1″
* change Enabled =”1” to Enabled =”0”
* Save and close the file

Before
$ sudo cat sysmgmtpi.xml | grep -i watchdog
Watchdogs ID=”3604480″
Watchdog Source=”ITE Tech IT8728 EC-LPC I/O” Enabled=”1″ Timeout=”40″
Watchdogs

After
$ sudo cat sysmgmtpi.xml | grep -i watchdog
Watchdogs ID=”3604480″
Watchdog Source=”ITE Tech IT8728 EC-LPC I/O” Enabled=”0″ Timeout=”40″
Watchdogs