"The virtual camera is not installed" ???? Why

M

Mark Eisenman

New Member
How do I solve this problem please.
Running OBS 30.0 on a Mac OS 14.1.1

"The virtual camera is not installed.
Please allow OBS to install system software in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Security.
You may need to restart OBS if this message still appears afterward."

No matter what I have tried I get the same error message.
Of course, now OBS is not available as a source for ZOOM.
Any suggestions would be appreciated?
 
M

Mark Eisenman

New Member
Mark Eisenman said:
How do I solve this problem please.
Running OBS 30.0 on a Mac OS 14.1.1

"The virtual camera is not installed.
Please allow OBS to install system software in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Security.
You may need to restart OBS if this message still appears afterward."

No matter what I have tried I get the same error message.
Of course, now OBS is not available as a source for ZOOM.
Any suggestions would be appreciated?
Click to expand...
THIS is solved. I had to make sure I was in PRIVACY settings to allow OBS to fully install.
 
P

procubate

New Member
Mark Eisenman said:
THIS is solved. I had to make sure I was in PRIVACY settings to allow OBS to fully install.
Click to expand...
HI. Glad you're solved, but I'm not seeing a menu called security in the Privacy and Security System settings on my macbook (Sonoma 14.2).
Also, what do you mean you had to be 'in Privacy settings to install OBS?'

Would be great to also understand the path/steps you took to solved it, as I'm having the same issue too.

Thank you!!!
 
P

procubate

New Member
OK. I've solved it too...
And here's how.
On the Privacy & Security section of the system settings, if you scroll down, you see a section called Security.
Because OBS needed extra permissions to what it already had, a button appeared called 'Details' in that Security section. By clicking on that 'Details' button you can see any apps that are blocked, which included OBS. Enabling OBS there then allowed the virtual camera to work as a webcam in Zoom. All up and running, and ready to broadcast!
I restarted OBS but am not sure if I needed to.

Hope this helps others who couldn't find the settings for the same issue which gave the message:
"The virtual camera is not installed.
Please allow OBS to install system software in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Security.
You may need to restart OBS if this message still appears afterward."
 
C

ccoscot

New Member
VISUALLY...this is what you are looking for:

1710282395630.png
 
H

Hermes1972

New Member
procubate said:
OK. I've solved it too...
And here's how.
On the Privacy & Security section of the system settings, if you scroll down, you see a section called Security.
Because OBS needed extra permissions to what it already had, a button appeared called 'Details' in that Security section. By clicking on that 'Details' button you can see any apps that are blocked, which included OBS. Enabling OBS there then allowed the virtual camera to work as a webcam in Zoom. All up and running, and ready to broadcast!
I restarted OBS but am not sure if I needed to.

Hope this helps others who couldn't find the settings for the same issue which gave the message:
"The virtual camera is not installed.
Please allow OBS to install system software in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Security.
You may need to restart OBS if this message still appears afterward."
Click to expand...
This solved the issue. The fix is tiny and easy to miss. Wow. Thank you.
 
J

jazzthis

New Member
What if you are not getting the "System Software from "OBS" was blocked from loading." option? I can start the virtual camera in 30.0.2 - which I keep so I can reinstall it after updating and trying the virtual camera - but as soon as I download and install 30.2 Beta the virtual camera goes away.
 

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B

BoatBodger

New Member
I have a slight variant f this problem:
If I start OBS 30.2.2 on MAC without command line flags, I can then click 'Start Virtual Camera' and it starts.
If I start OBS from command line with the flag --startvirtualcam I get a modal dialog saying "The Virtual camera is not installed:
I do not see the 'details' button anywhere on the Security part of the Privacy & Security screen [I note that my mac mini has 'Privacy & Security" whilst others refer to it as "Security & Privacy" - different versions of MacOS perhaps?]
1722531788660.png

1722531690709.png
 
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A

AaronD

Active Member
BoatBodger said:
I have a slight variant f this problem:
If I start OBS 30.2.2 on MAC without command line flags, I can then click 'Start Virtual Camera' and it starts.
If I start OBS from command line with the flag --startvirtualcam I get a modal dialog saying "The Virtual camera is not installed:
I do not see the 'details' button anywhere on the Security part of the Privacy & Security screen [I note that my mac mini has 'Privacy & Security" whilst others refer to it as "Security & Privacy" - different versions of MacOS perhaps?]
View attachment 106317
View attachment 106316
Click to expand...
I have no idea if this is even related, but on Linux (at the very least, Debian and its derivatives like Ubuntu), the camera loopback must be enabled as root, every time the system starts up. So until I added this in a startup script that runs as root (copy/pasted from OBS's source code), I had to type my password when I clicked the VCam button in OBS:
Bash: 
modprobe v4l2loopback exclusive_caps=1 card_label='OBS Virtual Camera' video_nr=99
The only thing I changed from that copy/paste was video_nr=99, to keep it from rearranging the low-numbered automatic ones that correspond to physical captures. Now both the button and the startup flag "just work".

Again, I have no idea if it's even the same problem, but since Mac and Linux are somewhat similar under the hood, I thought I'd at least offer it as a remote possibility. The V4L2 part will certainly be different (Video for Linux, version 2), but maybe the concept is similar?
 
B

BoatBodger

New Member
AaronD said:
I have no idea if this is even related, but on Linux (at the very least, Debian and its derivatives like Ubuntu), the camera loopback must be enabled as root, every time the system starts up. So until I added this in a startup script that runs as root (copy/pasted from OBS's source code), I had to type my password when I clicked the VCam button in OBS:
Bash: 
modprobe v4l2loopback exclusive_caps=1 card_label='OBS Virtual Camera' video_nr=99
The only thing I changed from that copy/paste was video_nr=99, to keep it from rearranging the low-numbered automatic ones that correspond to physical captures. Now both the button and the startup flag "just work".

Again, I have no idea if it's even the same problem, but since Mac and Linux are somewhat similar under the hood, I thought I'd at least offer it as a remote possibility. The V4L2 part will certainly be different (Video for Linux, version 2), but maybe the concept is similar?
Click to expand...
I suspect that's not related, but useful to know - thank you for posting.
My workaround (which may become permanent) is that my nodejs program now uses node-obs-websocket to issue a StartVirtualCam instruction. The only problem is that if the virtualcam is already running, this generates an (apparently) un-trappable error and blows my my node script. The reverse is also true. If the camera is stopped, and you issue a 'StopVirtualCam' command you get a similar error.
 
A

AaronD

Active Member
BoatBodger said:
...if the virtualcam is already running, this generates an (apparently) un-trappable error and blows my my node script. The reverse is also true. If the camera is stopped, and you issue a 'StopVirtualCam' command you get a similar error.
Click to expand...
I wonder if the Advanced Scene Switcher plugin has the same problem. I don't think it does.

Advanced Scene Switcher

This plugin will allow you to automate various tasks using "Macros". Macros consist of a list of conditions under which a list of actions will be performed. Examples and guides can be found in the wiki. Feel free to contribute! If you run...
obsproject.com obsproject.com
1722622772843.png

And likewise to stop it.

It's getting a bit Rube-Goldberg at this point, but if it works, it works! And maybe you can move a bunch more automation from the script into Adv. SS. It does a LOT!
 
B

BoatBodger

New Member
AaronD said:
I wonder if the Advanced Scene Switcher plugin has the same problem. I don't think it does.

Advanced Scene Switcher

This plugin will allow you to automate various tasks using "Macros". Macros consist of a list of conditions under which a list of actions will be performed. Examples and guides can be found in the wiki. Feel free to contribute! If you run...
obsproject.com obsproject.com

And likewise to stop it.

It's getting a bit Rube-Goldberg at this point, but if it works, it works! And maybe you can move a bunch more automation from the script into Adv. SS. It does a LOT!
Click to expand...
In the end, I simply added code to get the virtual camera status to determine whether or not to send a 'stop' or a 'start' command - this was only another handful of lines of nodejs, and is more easily understood by whichever poor mug gets to take this system over at some stage in the future!.
That said, I do appreicate your suggestions, and ASSw may well be useful for other things in the future.
 
T

training4programmers

New Member
andeye said:
I'm also not seeing OBS blocked:

View attachment 108049

is there a step-by-step workaround?
Click to expand...
I am having the same problem. OBS is fully installed. I have granted all permissions. Restarted. When I click Start Virtual Camera, it tells OBS needs permission to install, when navigate to the System Preferences there is nothing being blocked. I have unblocked many programs before so I know what I am looking for. I am running on macOS 15.0 (24A335). Has anyone found a way to resolve this? Am I missing something?
 
bowensanders

bowensanders

New Member
Adding my name to the pile.
No blocking message appears in security (like other things have today, like opening a pkg that was unsigned.)
Might be worth noting that the OS version is sequoia 15.0
 
iosrayne

iosrayne

New Member
Found the solution, pics attached below.

Go to System Settings > General > Login Items and Extensions

You should see a camera extensions popup with OBS toggled off. Turn that ON. ✌



IMG_6453.jpeg
 

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