Windows 7, Windows Embedded images have reported seeing drive as offline. This is a false negative.
Product
Server 23.03, 22.09, 22.06.
Steps to Reproduce
Go to Storage section in the client and select the Drive tab.
Drives show up as offline. Drives are mounted in OS and have data recording to them.
Expected Results
The drives should not show offline.
Actual Results
Drives will show up as offline, if you disable one, I found that most will correct but that another drive number might show up as offline. Another Indication is that the Hardware tab will show improper status as well.
Solution
Corrected in RC 23.03.2 or wait for next release in June 2023. AES-309
We have seen cases on NVRs running Windows 7 where a drive has been working properly and was not just replaced that the status incorrectly shows Needs Prep
Product
exacqVision Server 22.12.5.0
exacqVision Server 23.03.1.0
Microsoft Windows 7
Steps to Reproduce
Within the exacqVision Client navigate to Configuration> YOUR Server > Storage > Hardware Tab
Expected Results
All drives listed are high-lighted in green and have a status of Healthy
Actual Results
One or more drives are high-lighted in orange and have a status of Needs Prep
Solution
Validate
Before going ahead with the following workaround, you must first confirm that the Needs Prep status is false
Using File Explorer access the contents of the effected drive(s)
Confirm that recent video files (those ending in .ps) are present and can be played back
If the drive is not accessible then it should be prepped
If video is present and can be played then DO NOT RUN PREP, go ahead with the workaround
Workaround
WARNING: This change is not permanent and will be overwritten during an exacqVision Server update! If necessary it can be re-applied
Stop the exacqVision Server Service
Open Notepad++ or a similar text editor as an Administrator
Open the file “C:\Program Files\exacqVision\Server\scripts\sysinfo.ps1”
Locate the line containing write-stdout ("drive-needs-prep=1") (typically line 288)
Comment out the line by adding a # at the beginning of the line
It should now be # write-stdout ("drive-needs-prep=1")
Save the file
Start the exacqVision Server Service
Branch Build 23.06.3032801 is available and confirm fixes the issue. September 2023 release should house this fix.
For customers that would like to migrate from their current operating system to Windows 10, we offer a purchasable upgrade kit. However you should first determine if the system is compatible / eligible for the upgrade.
Product
exacqVision Server
Ubuntu
Windows 7
Windows Embedded 7 (WES7)
Solution
Not every NVR can be upgraded to Windows 10, but it’s easy to check if an NVR will support Windows 10. Just enter the systems serial number on our compatibility webpage to confirm if the NVR can be upgraded.
We have had several reports of Windows 7 systems that will no longer boot after installing Microsoft 8/2019 Security update KB4512506.
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If you have already installed the 8/2019 update release Tuesday 8/13/2019, the windows 7 exacqVision server will no longer boot and you will see the screen below.
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This also affects Windows Server 2008 but we have not had any reports regarding this OS.
Recovery Options by Motherboard Type
We recommend Option 1 recovery method for all non Q87 Motherboards.
You should use Option 1 for Q87 motherboard systems that do not have onboard recovery option.
If onboard recovery is available (Option 2) and you also have a configuration backup, It is our recommendation to use the onboard recovery option (Option 2).
Onboard Recovery instructions are at the end of this document
Plug the USB thumb drive into an available USB port
Turn on the exacqVision server
Choose F8 (Q87 Motherboard) or F10 (DQ77 Motherboard) while the system is booting
Choose the thumb drive (typically the thumb manufacturer name) from the boot menu
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Note: DQ77 Motherboard Boot menu (F10) will not show the manufacturers name for the USB device. It will show “USB number HDD” (USB 1 HDD) (the number may incrementally change).
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Note: It might also be named: USB Generic Storage
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Choose “Launch WinPE Command Prompt (Press “L” key on Keyboard)
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Note: If you don’t have mouse control, reboot and try again or use keyboard to control.
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Type: “dism.exe /image:C:\ /cleanup-image /revertpendingactions” and choose Enter on the keyboard
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It will state “Reverting pending actions from the image…”
Then “The operation completed successfully”
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Note: If you receive the message below, you can ignore.
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Error: 2
If you get an Error: 2 message then run the following commands before proceeding to option 2
Error: 2 Fix
After you reboot the system, you will see a Windows boot messages stating “Preparing to configure Windows. Do not turn off your computer” and “Failure configuring Windows Updates, Reverting changes. Do not turn off your computer”.
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Note: After you are able to boot to your Windows installation; Please turn off Windows updates or hide KB4512506. There is a chance the old Windows update is cached and could reinstall. We are investigating a method of clearing the already downloaded update from cache.
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Navigate to Control panel ==> Windows update
Click on the available update as shown below
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Right click on the update (KB4512506) and choose “Hide Update”
Option 2
Onboard Recovery Option
Recovery Instructions: ExacqVision EL, A, S and Z series servers built after 10/17/2015 included a special partition to allow for quick and easy system restoration to factory default conditions. This recovery will only affect your operating system drive.
The exacqVision serial number will identify the year and month the system was build.
(ex. ER1542xxxxxx was built the 42nd week of 2015)
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Note: After the recovery, you will need to import your configuration backup to restore your configuration and camera association with pre-existing video data.
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As the exacqVision server is booting, press the “R” (for some older systems it might be “S”) to initiate the onboard recovery.
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Select “Exacq Factory Restore” to begin recovery.
You will be prompted to confirm:
Press the “y” key on the keyboard once and the system recovery will complete itself. The entire process often only takes a few minutes but depends on the system.
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If you need assistance, please contact Exacq Support at 317-845-5710 Option 2 Monday – Friday 8am to 8pm EST
If you have a RAID system and no SSD or mSATA device, create the volume before proceeding:
Press Alt-3 to enter the 3ware RAID BIOS.
Select Non-recoverable Array with the space bar and press the Tab key.
Navigate to Delete Unit and press Enter.
Press Enter to confirm.
Select all available drives by navigating to Direct Attached and pressing the space bar.
Press the Tab key to navigate to Create Unit.
Set Array Name to Exacq.
Set RAID Configuration to RAID 5.
Set StorSave Profile to Performance.
Navigate to Advanced and press Enter.
Set Boot Volume Size to 57.
Set Initialization Method to Background.
Navigate to OK and press Enter.
Navigate to OK and press Enter again. Confirm write cache by pressing Y.
Press any key.
Press F8 and confirm the array creation.
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As a security measure, booting your system from the CD is disabled at the factory. To change this:
Start your exacqVision Server
At the BIOS startup screen, press F2 to edit the BIOS.
The BIOS password has been set to admin256 at the factory.
On the boot menu, enable Boot from CD and move the UEFI Optical option to the top of the boot order.
Save the BIOS settings and exit.
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Install Windows 7 64-bit:
Insert the Windows 7 64-bit CD into the drive and restart the system.
Press any key to boot from CD.
Click Next and then Install Now.
Read the license information and select I Accept the License Terms. Click Next.
Click Custom (Advanced).
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If installing Windows on a RAID system, you must first load the controller drivers to see the partitions:
Remove the Windows 7 CD and insert the Exacq Utilities CD.
Click Load Driver and browse to the Utilities CD
Navigate to \Recovery\Drivers\Current\RAID, select your RAID Controller, and then select x64
Click OK to load drivers.
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Continue the procedure:
Press Shift+F10 on the keyboard to open a command prompt.
Type diskpart and press Enter.
To find the drive number of the desired OS Drive, type list disk and press Enter. Note the disk number (X) of the desired operating system drive.
To find the volume letter of the CD drive, type list volume and press Enter. Note the volume letter (Y) of the CD drive.
Type exit and press Enter. You should see X:\Sources.
Type diskpart /s Y:\Recovery\EFIPart\EFIPartX.txt and press Enter.
Press F5 to refresh the menu and select the Primary Partition labeled OSDrive. Click Next.
When prompted, enter exacq as the username and computer name. Do not use admin or user as the username. Click Next.
Enter the password vision for the username, retype the password, and enter a password hint. Click Next.
Enter the 25-character license found on the sticker attached to the system chassis. Click Next.
Click Use Recommended Settings.
Select the time zone and date/time information. Click Next.
Select the Network type. Windows then starts up.
Remove the Windows 7 CD.
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Install motherboard drivers:
Click Start and type devicemgmt.msc in the Search bar and press Enter. This opens Device Manager.
Note the drivers not installed (those with a yellow exclamation point) and close Device Manager.
Create a new folder on the Desktop and name it temp1.
Insert the exacqVision CD.
Browse to the CD drive and open the Recovery\Drivers\Current\Intel directory.
Run the executable beginning with INF to install the Intel Chipset support.
Click No when it asks you to restart your computer.
Run the executable beginning with AUD_Win7 to install the audio drivers.
Run the executable beginning with GFX_Win7 to install the Intel Graphics driver.
If a self-extractor pops up, browse to the temp1 folder on the Desktop and click Unzip.
Open the temp1 folder on the desktop and run Setup.
Click No when it asks you to restart your computer.
Run the executable beginning with PROWin7_64 to install the network drivers.
Install the drivers and select Drivers, IntelPROSet, and Advanced Network Services.
Run the executable beginning with USB_3.0_Win7 to install USB 3.0 drivers.
Restart the exacqVision server.
If you have a RAID system, install setupWindows_x64.exe located in \Recovery\Drivers\Current\RAID\3Ware-RAID-97xx.
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Partition disks and adjust display settings:
Click Start, Computer, and Open C: Drive (leave open).
Open the Utilities Disk in another window, navigate to \Recovery, and copy the entire Maintenance folder to C:\.
To partition the rest of the drives, right-click RUNWinDiskPrep.bat and select Run as Administrator. Close Auto-Play boxes for new drives.
Right-click any open space on the Desktop and select Screen Resolution. Choose any resolution 1024×768 and higher.
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Set up Windows user accounts:
Open the \Recovery\Exacq folder on the CD and run UserAccountSetup.exe. The system will reboot three times during this process.
When the system reboots, it automatically logs in as a user. To perform the remaining steps, you must log in as an administrator. Click Start and then Log Off User…. When the login screen appears, choose admin. The default password is admin256.
Hybrid systems only (skip this step if you have an IP only system):
Click Start, Computer, and Open C: Drive.
Navigate to Maintenance.
Right-click on BoardPrep.bat and select Run as Administrator (requires Exacq Utilities CD).
Confirm board type and installation by pressing Y.
Restart system after installation completes.
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Run evSysPrep:
Run the exacqVisionSystemSetup program from the \Recovery\Exacq directory.
Click the Scan Hardware button and let it detect the hardware.
Enter the chassis serial number from the sticker on the side of the box, starting with ER.
Click Prepare System and then restart the exacqVision system.
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Install exacqVision Software:
Run RUNME.exe from the CD.
Click Install exacqVision Server Software. This installs exacqVision Client, exacqVision Server, and exacqVision Web Service.
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For security, you might want to disable booting your system from CD:
Re-start your exacqVision system.
At the BIOS startup screen, press F2 to edit the BIOS.
The BIOS password has been set to admin256 at the factory.
If an ExacqVision Z-series server (C2SBC-Q Mobo) does not discover audio devices such as speakers and headphones, install the latest Realtek drivers from the following location:
NOTE: These are Legacy instructions. This behavior was replaced when Client settings implemented Panel Size settings.
When using cameras with a 4×3 resolution, gray bars might appear to the left and right of the camera’s video window in exacqVision Client. To stretch the 4×3 video so that it fills the screen, manually set the video card to a 4×3 resolution as described in the following steps for your Windows version:
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Before Changing the Resolution:
After Changing the Resolution:
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Windows 7
Right-click the computer’s Desktop and select Personalize from the pop-up menu.
Click Display.
Select Adjust Resolution.
In the Resolution drop-down list, select a 4×3 resolution, such as 1280×960, 1152×864, or 1024×768, or 800×600. (The first number divided by the second number should equal 1.333333.)
Click Apply.
If the setting is acceptable, click Keep Changes.<br><br>
Windows XP
Right-click the computer’s Desktop and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
In the Display Properties window, select the Settings tab.
In the Screen Resolution section, select a 4×3 resolution, such as 1152×864, 1024×768, or 800×600. (The first number divided by the second number should equal 1.333333.)
If you want to print images from the ExacqVision software on an ExacqVision server, you might need to change the default printer. Because Windows is locked down when you log in as a User, you must perform the following steps to configure the default printer:
Log out of the Windows User account.
Log in to the Windows Admin account.
From the Start menu, select Programs, Accessories, and Notepad.
Type the following, where “Printer Name” is the name of the desired default printer (such as “Lexmark 2310”).
From the File menu, select Save As. Change the filename to DefaultPrinter.bat (make sure the extension is not .txt).
Open the Startup directory. In Windows XP, this directory is found in C:\Documents and Settings\User\Start Manu\Programs. In Windows 7, it is found in C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.
Copy the DefaultPrinter.bat file to the user profile in the Startup subfolder.
Open the file C:\Windows\xdvapi.ini Note: In Windows 7 or Windows Vista, run Notepad as an Administrator and then select Open from the File menu and change the file type to ‘All Files (*.*)’ to open the INI file.<br><br>
Find the [CONFIG] section, or create it if necessary.<br><br>
Add a line after [CONFIG] as follows: [CONFIG] ODSFlags=0x80000003<br><br>
Run the DebugView application.<br><br>
Stop the ExacqVision Server service.<br><br>
Start ExacqDV Control Center. Several lines of information will scroll in the DebugView window. Click Clear in the DebugView toolbar. Note: The Clear button looks like an eraser and a piece of paper and can be found below the Help menu.<br><br>
In the ExacqDV Control Center tree, select the eDVR board that you want to troubleshoot. A “-9005” error will appear along with additional information in DebugView.<br><br>
Copy the information from DebugView into an email and send it to support@exacq.com.
