Avoid Wyze app / cloud / account altogether?

[pjv]

Excuse the noob post but I have a brand new wyzecam v3 that has yet to be powered up and I'm wondering if i can use wz_mini_hacks to get the camera on my LAN and broadcasting via RTSP without installing the wyze app on my phone, setting up a wyze account, etc. Is this possible?

[virmaior]

See #38 and #58
I think the current consensus is:

1. Need the app to initially setup the camera
2. Then you can disconnect it from the internet.
3. To do LAN RTSP, you would need to downgrade the firmware to 4.36.2.5 via SD card, because later versions phone home and won't start without phoning home.
4. After that you can then install wz_mini and enabling RTSP

(correct decimal position)

[pjv]

Is there easy access to firmware 4.3.6.25 somewhere?

[virmaior]

#38 (comment)

4.36.2.5 (https://download.wyzecam.com/firmware/v3/demo_wcv3_4.36.2.5.bin.zip)
I had my decimal in the wrong place.

[endertable]

I did the following with success:

1. Copied /configs/.user_config from another cam onto the SD card into the \wz_mini directory and named it usrconfig
2. Copied wz_mini to SD card then populated the \wz_mini\etc\ssh\authorized_keys file (for ssh access)
3. Created a custom script with the following and placed on SD card.
4. Added script to the bottom of the wz_mini.conf file to run as custom:

#!/bin/sh
if ! [ -f /configs/.user_config ]
then
echo First time offline provisioning
echo -n "mySID" > /configs/.wifissid
echo -n "myPasswd" > /configs/.wifipasswd
rm -f /configs/.wifipasswd.enc
cp /media/mmc/wz_mini/usrconfig /configs/.user_config
echo "1656630463" > /configs/.time_checkpoint
reboot
fi

Obviously you will have to update the date manually and update /configs/.time_checkpoint (this is so you don't continue overwriting your SD card mp4 files if you have that turned on in the .user_config file).

This is a complete offline solution.

[pardovot]

Is this still a valid solution?
As far as I can see, custom scripts will only run after a network connection is established, if a connection is not established it will never run this custom script. Am I missing something?

[endertable]

@pardovot yes, this is still a valid solution. But to your point wz_mini has gone through a major overhaul in its structure since this solution was written. Wyze firmware has also had some updates, so this is good for up to 4.36.9.139. Also, the creator is not keen on having any of his programs writing to the /configs directory both for your safety and his sanity, so you will have to interject your own coding and script.

The basic gist to getting your camera up and connected to your wifi without the app (can be placed in a startup script to run 1 time):

echo -n "yourWifiSid" > /configs/.wifissid
echo -n "yourWifiPasswd" > /configs/.wifipasswd
echo "1694734609" > /configs/.time_checkpoint

cat <<- EOF > /configs/.user_config
[NET]
bindOk=1

[SETTING]
indicator=2
watermark_flag=2
EOF

[pardovot]

Thanks for the reply, I actually am on 4.36.9.139, but still I can see in the logs that my custom script will not run since there is no connection, I don't know if maybe I should first completely reset to camera or something so the wifi settings are removed and then it won't try to connect to the wifi and will proceed to the custom scripts.

Also, I was trying to modify the .wifissid (I have the same password for all the wifi's I used), so I just do nano /configs/.wifissid, change the wifi ssid, save it and restart the wyze camera, but it still won't connect to the wifi set in the /configs folder, is there anything I'm missing? Can it even work?
Basically, I will use the camera with different routers in some cases, and I want to be able to easily switch a network.
Thanks.

[endertable]

Will it connect without wz_mini active? Rename the /factory_t31_ZMC6tiIDQN on the root of the SD card to /_factory_t31_ZMC6tiIDQN, reboot. and see if it connects to network. If not, a few questions:

Did you have this on a higher FW than 4.36.9.139 before?
Does this refuse to connect using the Wyze app also, or is that not an option?
Can you recreate the /configs/.wifipasswd and the /configs/.wifissid using the "echo" commands above vs nano? Not sure if it makes a difference, but nano adds a NL to the end.

[pardovot]

So I didn't actually tried the custom script as that's generally not my purpose, but I did try to write to .wifissid without NL and it works great! The best part about it is that if I change the network to another the app would still work in case I have internet access on my new wifi, which is really fantastic.
Thanks a lot!

[gtxaspec]

be careful with the files in /configs/, some are generated unique for each camera. If these files (that have keys), are deleted or corrupted, in my testing the cameras will never connect to the cloud server (they will fail authentication, as the keys are generated by the factory for each camera uniquely), either initially or ever again.

[endertable]

Was this a V3 camera that you can’t get back online, because if so Wyze usually stores a copy of .product_config on an unmounted partition

[gtxaspec]

multiple camera's that the flash chip has been replaced on... no backups of the files lol

[endertable]

Very true, the above is for a complete offline solution only as the OP requested. Do NOT ever mess with the .product_config file or it’s backup which has an MD5 hash in the filename. And if you decide to put cam online, before you do, remove only the following files from /configs:

.wifi*
.user_config
.time_checkpoint

Then disable wz_mini temporarily by renaming the factory* file on the root of the SD card then reboot and use the Wyze app as if it’s a brand new cam. After Wyze provisioning you can re enable wz_mini