Blue Iris

I use VPN Unlimited - except I can't while using BI5. My cameras stop working,, connection stops and no video or background recording, nada.. BI5 is fine when I load the VPN, but as soon as I engage it, the cams loose connection and show so in each cam frame. I went into my router to make sure that BI5 was allowed to pass the firewall... Also noticed that the Tor Browser will not connect when the VPN is started up also.. Thinking it is all related somehow. Where should I be looking to get BI5 to show cams while using VPN Unlimited? thanks in advance.

A VPN will normally direct all traffic’s through the tunnel it creates which is why BI can no longer see the cams.

Only option I can think of is check if there is an option to bypass local ip traffic but then that goes against the entire point of using a VPN.

Why are you running a VPN on the BI server?

The BI 'server' is also my Desktop...
So, should I be running BI on a separate machine?

HughS wrote:The BI 'server' is also my Desktop...
So, should I be running BI on a separate machine?

As it’s a security system I’d alway personally run it on a dedicated box, mine for example is hidden away and I access it remotely should the need arise.

thanks, guess I need to look into that idea now... appreciate your info.

Point of technical wording... the cameras do not lose connection... more accurately, BI can no longer connect to the cameras.

Your cameras likely remain on your home network and when you take your machine to VPN it loses all knowledge of the home network (including the cameras).

Another point of technical wording.... there are two styles of VPNs. One style of VPN allows you as a user to tunnel into your home network from outside your home. This is like the corporate VPNs that let employees make like they are on the corp network when they are away from the office.

The second kind of VPN is a way for users to mask their browsing identity by taking all of your network traffic through some rando machine somewhere in the world.