Hikvision and "Authentication Error"
Summary of the below: If you are seeing an Authentication Error with Hikvision cameras and you can't seem to get by it, it may be that you are attempting to use a password longer than 16 characters.
So I recently (in the last week) started using Security Spy with 2 Hikvision ds-2cd2432f-iw cameras. I had it working for a *very* short time. Then I went and did something utterly ridiculous... I changed the password.
Suddenly I was not able to get anything out of the camera - all I was seeing was "Authentication Error" in the "Setup" and "Masks".
I figured it out, and it came down to missing one crucial fact - I didn't pay enough attention and didn't notice the 16 character limit for the password in the Hikvision UI.
All of the below was done on a Mac, in case that's important.
Facts on how it all goes down:
Start with a factory-defaulted Hikvision camera.
- On the initial configuration of the camera, you are presented with a screen asking you to enter a password for the admin account. If you attempt to set a password in the Hikvision UI of more than 16 characters it will drop any characters after the 16th is entered.
- The initial password fields do not let you paste a password, you have to type it in. I use Lastpass, which generates a password for me, and I had to type it manually instead of pasting it. There is NO warning if you type in a password longer than 16 characters. You would have to notice that the password mask stopped moving.
- Once you've entered the password and confirmed, you are automatically logged in.
- Add an "operator" user, enter that user and the password into Security Spy
- Everything looks good at this point. You are able to see a feed from the camera, you're thinking "I'm good!"
- Now logout of the Hikvision UI. This is the start of your descent into a maddening cycle of rage, even though you don't know it
- Everything still looks good in Security Spy - you're still seeing a feed from the came
- However, the second you either shut down Security Spy or attempt to change the password, you will find you are suddenly getting "Authentication Error" and no longer getting a feed
- Log in to the Hikvision UI with the 17 character password - it works! Why won't it work with the feed?!?
- Go ahead - try to set a new 17 character password for the user - it will accept the password no problem
What it comes down to is that you have it working at first, then nothing works. You can change the password 142 times, and you know the password is good because you can use it to log in to the Hikvision UI, but it never works to establish the session from Security Spy! You factory default the camera, and it all works for a short time... but just wait.
All these problems would have been avoided if you paid attention to the 16-character limit in the Hikvision UI...
So I recently (in the last week) started using Security Spy with 2 Hikvision ds-2cd2432f-iw cameras. I had it working for a *very* short time. Then I went and did something utterly ridiculous... I changed the password.
Suddenly I was not able to get anything out of the camera - all I was seeing was "Authentication Error" in the "Setup" and "Masks".
I figured it out, and it came down to missing one crucial fact - I didn't pay enough attention and didn't notice the 16 character limit for the password in the Hikvision UI.
All of the below was done on a Mac, in case that's important.
Facts on how it all goes down:
Start with a factory-defaulted Hikvision camera.
- On the initial configuration of the camera, you are presented with a screen asking you to enter a password for the admin account. If you attempt to set a password in the Hikvision UI of more than 16 characters it will drop any characters after the 16th is entered.
- The initial password fields do not let you paste a password, you have to type it in. I use Lastpass, which generates a password for me, and I had to type it manually instead of pasting it. There is NO warning if you type in a password longer than 16 characters. You would have to notice that the password mask stopped moving.
- Once you've entered the password and confirmed, you are automatically logged in.
- Add an "operator" user, enter that user and the password into Security Spy
- Everything looks good at this point. You are able to see a feed from the camera, you're thinking "I'm good!"
- Now logout of the Hikvision UI. This is the start of your descent into a maddening cycle of rage, even though you don't know it
- Everything still looks good in Security Spy - you're still seeing a feed from the came
- However, the second you either shut down Security Spy or attempt to change the password, you will find you are suddenly getting "Authentication Error" and no longer getting a feed
- Log in to the Hikvision UI with the 17 character password - it works! Why won't it work with the feed?!?
- Go ahead - try to set a new 17 character password for the user - it will accept the password no problem
What it comes down to is that you have it working at first, then nothing works. You can change the password 142 times, and you know the password is good because you can use it to log in to the Hikvision UI, but it never works to establish the session from Security Spy! You factory default the camera, and it all works for a short time... but just wait.
All these problems would have been avoided if you paid attention to the 16-character limit in the Hikvision UI...
Comments
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Great notes, thanks for sharing (and not easy to catch)
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Thanks for the useful information. This limit seems to be consistent across all Hikvision products, so from the next version of SecuritySpy we'll make it use just the first 16 characters of the password - this should avoid some future frustration!
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glennwilliams, thank you for taking the time to type this out. I was going crazy trying to get SS to see a Foscam that was just like another I have working fine.... apparently there was a 12 character limit and my PW had 13, and the phone/browser interface was just ignoring my last digit (but Sec. Spy wasn't...)
