obsproject
Virtual Camera does not start on macOS in OBS 30.1.0 after updating OBS
Operating System Info
macOS 14
Other OS
No response
OBS Studio Version
30.1.0
OBS Studio Version (Other)
No response
OBS Studio Log URL
https://obsproject.com/logs/DmoOPYoF3teohXFI
OBS Studio Crash Log URL
No response
Expected Behavior
For the virtual camera to work as it did before in 30.0.2.
Current Behavior
Steps to Reproduce
- Click "Start Virtual Camera" in Studio Mode
Anything else we should know?
See workaround below.
The Virtual Camera seems to work fine on a fresh install of OBS Studio. Did you both update from an older version?
@dx8ug Please provide a log file.
The Virtual Camera seems to work fine on a fresh install of OBS Studio. Did you both update from an older version?
I updated from a previous version using the built-in updater.
I don't know what a "fresh install" means.
I also downloaded the DMG from the website and replaced the app, and that didn't help.
yes, I updated from the previous version using the built-in updater.
logs https://obsproject.com/logs/9DFozr6B7cHyVNjl
The Virtual Camera seems to work fine on a fresh install of OBS Studio. Did you both update from an older version?
I updated from a previous version using the built-in updater.
I don't know what a "fresh install" means.
I also downloaded the DMG from the website and replaced the app, and that didn't help.
A "fresh install" is installing OBS when no version of OBS is currently installed. Basically:
- Make sure there are no other versions of OBS.app in your Trash. a. This is important. If there are other versions of OBS.app in your Trash, macOS may not correctly remove the system extension (virtual camera). b. You can optionally reboot after this step to be safe.
- Drag OBS to Trash. a. This is important, as this is how macOS deletes system extensions associated with apps. Do not use a third-party cleaner app. Do not manually delete in some way that bypasses Trash.
- Empty Trash. a. You can optionally reboot after this step to be safe.
- Install OBS to /Applications. a. This is important. If you try to install OBS to any other location, the system extension will not work.
I just tried updating from OBS Studio 30.0.2 to 30.1.0 and had no issues with the virtual camera at any point. What version did you both update from?
I can assume that version 30.0.2 was previously used, since I always update when possible
trying to do a fresh install
I updated from 30.0.2.
Moving 30.0.2 to the trash, emptying it, and then installing 3.1.0 from the DMG did bring up the dialog that then prompted me to approve the app in System Preferences (Security / Privacy settings). Clicking "Allow" and then running OBS again did fix the issue. Thank you for your help @RytoEX.
It seems like there's some issue with upgrading the app via the updater that causes it to break / skip this important part.
after a fresh installation with a reboot, the issue was fix (there was no notification about permissions) without a reboot, even with a reinstallation the issue remained Thank you
Usually this "not found" error is caused by the extension updating successfully, but macOS failing to start the updated version after the update.
If that's the case, logging out and back in should solve it, a full reboot shouldn't even be required.
If someone has this issue and logging out and in doesn't solve it, could they post the output of the systemextensionsctl list command in Terminal?
I can confirm this issue. Was fixed by rolling back to 30.0.2
The macOS Virtual Camera in OBS Studio 30.1.0 works fine on macOS 13 and 14, and should work fine on macOS 12.3 or later (and even on macOS 11, but using the old implementation, which the user should not be able to tell). This issue is not that it is actually not working at all, but that it apparently does not work after updating OBS for some reason, probably the macOS CMIO System Extension update mechanism not working correctly.
As mentioned above, please do not roll back when you encounter this issue. Please provide the output of systemextensionsctl list from Terminal. The virtual camera itself is not broken in 30.1.0, as multiple people have confirmed.
I've also had this issue. After upgrading to 30.1.0, (on MacOS 12.7.4 Intel Mac) the virtual camera stopped working. I absolutely flailed around, reinstalling, etc. trying many things until it started working again. One of the last things that I tried was running this command on a fresh install of 30.1.1: sudo find /Applications/OBS.app/ -type f -exec xattr -d 'com.apple.quarantine' '{}' ';' which strips the 'quarantine' attribute from all files in the OBS application. I'm not sure that's what fixed it, but it did work shortly thereafter. HTH someone
I've also had this issue. After upgrading to 30.1.0, (on MacOS 12.7.4 Intel Mac) the virtual camera stopped working. I absolutely flailed around, reinstalling, etc. trying many things until it started working again. One of the last things that I tried was running this command on a fresh install of 30.1.1:
sudo find /Applications/OBS.app/ -type f -exec xattr -d 'com.apple.quarantine' '{}' ';'which strips the 'quarantine' attribute from all files in the OBS application. I'm not sure that's what fixed it, but it did work shortly thereafter. HTH someone
What we really need is the output of systemextensionsctl list from Terminal when someone is in a broken state.
@risacher Actually, on macOS 12, you still get the old DAL extension, not the new CMIO extension, so your problem is probably not the same as this.
I currently find myself in a broken state.
➜ ~ systemextensionsctl list
2 extension(s)
--- com.apple.system_extension.network_extension
enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state]
* * DE8Y96K9QP com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext (4.10.07061/4.10.07061) Cisco AnyConnect Socket Filter Extension [activated enabled]
--- com.apple.system_extension.endpoint_security
enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state]
* * X9E956P446 com.crowdstrike.falcon.Agent (7.11/180.02) Falcon Sensor [activated enabled]
OS: MacOS Sonoma Version 14.4.1 (23E224) OBS: 30.1.1 (64bit) Chip: Apple M1 Pro
Error Message
An error has occured while installing the virtual camera:
The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSSystemExtensionErrorDomain error 10.)
I currently find myself in a broken state.
➜ ~ systemextensionsctl list 2 extension(s) --- com.apple.system_extension.network_extension enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state] * * DE8Y96K9QP com.cisco.anyconnect.macos.acsockext (4.10.07061/4.10.07061) Cisco AnyConnect Socket Filter Extension [activated enabled] --- com.apple.system_extension.endpoint_security enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state] * * X9E956P446 com.crowdstrike.falcon.Agent (7.11/180.02) Falcon Sensor [activated enabled]OS: MacOS Sonoma Version 14.4.1 (23E224) OBS: 30.1.1 (64bit) Chip: Apple M1 Pro
Can you screenshot the error that you receive when you try to start Virtual Camera output in OBS 30.1?
With pleasure. Note, I've already attempted the privacy change that others had previously described.
That error indicates that your device is a managed or provisioned system, and the provisioner did not grant you permission to install system extensions. This is unrelated to the errors upthread.
Thanks @jcm93. Apologies for the noise. Do you know what the system extension required is?
There is not a name for it, it's authored by OBS and is just a small CMIO extension that accepts frames received from OBS and presents them as a camera device. This is the only supported way to achieve 'virtual camera' functionality in macOS 14+. More details can be found in Apple's documentation or the plugin code.
Currently, what we need to debug this are these things:
- The output of
systemextensionsctl listwhen you get the "Could not find virtual camera" error message. - An OBS log from when you get the "Could not find virtual camera" error message.
- The output of
systemextensionsctl listafter rebooting macOS. - An OBS log after rebooting macOS when trying to start the Virtual Camera.
I again encountered the same problem after auto-updating on 30.1.2
here is the output of the command systemextensionsctl list when the error appears
--- com.apple.system_extension.cmio
enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state]
* * 2MMRE5MTB8 com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension (30.1.2/8576208847) com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension [activated enabled]
2MMRE5MTB8 com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension (30.1.0/8254614054) com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension [terminated waiting to uninstall on reboot]
logs https://obsproject.com/logs/f3FMRmvurvAuIBNR
after reboot
--- com.apple.system_extension.cmio
enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state]
* * 2MMRE5MTB8 com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension (30.1.2/8576208847) com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension [activated enabled]
and the camera started working that is, after update need to reboot mac
If anyone runs into this again, please file an Apple Feedback when OBS is open and you get the "Could not find virtual camera" error message. Post the Feedback ID here.
That error indicates that your device is a managed or provisioned system, and the provisioner did not grant you permission to install system extensions. This is unrelated to the errors upthread.
@jcm93 dufferenterprise's issue (while not the one addressed in this thread) is popping up on my system, but my user is in sudo group so in theory I should be able overridable--do you happen to know of a cli command or way to re-build/re-register the plug-in?
Just to add back, for my use case the MDM admin added the following system extension:
com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension team identifier 2MMRE5MTB8
On Wed, Apr 17, 2024 at 10:13 AM Andrew T @.***> wrote:
That error indicates that your device is a managed or provisioned system, and the provisioner did not grant you permission to install system extensions. This is unrelated to the errors upthread.
@jcm93 https://github.com/jcm93 dufferenterprise's issue (while not the one addressed in this thread) is popping up on my system, but my user is in sudo group so in theory I should be able overridable--do you happen to know of a cli command or way to re-build/re-register the plug-in?
— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/issues/10381#issuecomment-2061364100, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AEZ5OLEJ5A5CQ5JPCMKJDL3Y5Z7SFAVCNFSM6AAAAABEXYTO4SVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDANRRGM3DIMJQGA . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>
It appears that, in rare instances, users can hit the "Could not find virtual camera" error despite the extension being installed AND running. This appears to be due to some sort of bundle lookup failure in systemextensionsctl, and persists through logout/in as well as reboot, though the one user that's run into it resolved it by reinstalling OBS.
This is the output of systemextensionsctl list when that error is encountered (via a user in support on macOS 14.4.1):
2 extension(s)
--- com.apple.system_extension.cmio
enabled active teamID bundleID (version) name [state]
2024-05-15 20:17:20.523 systemextensionsctl[1237:19638] Cannot getLocalizedStringForKey: Completely failed to resolve bundle info, returning empty results
* * 2MMRE5MTB8 com.obsproject.obs-studio.mac-camera-extension (30.1.2/8576208847) [activated enabled]
2024-05-15 20:17:20.523 systemextensionsctl[1237:19638] Cannot getLocalizedStringForKey: Completely failed to resolve bundle info, returning empty results
* * Y93VXCB8Q5 com.elgato.CameraHub.CameraExtension (1.1/4) [activated enabled]
Posting for the sake of public tracking in case this is of interest to any Apple people reading. No users in this thread or #9912 appear to have hit this specific failure mode and posted documentation.
Hey, I'm a developer working on another macOS app that creates CMIO System Extension, like OBS does. During development I've also ran into an issue that might be similar to what people experience here, in case of OBS extension.
Skipping the details I've eventually realised that if the extension process runs after the host app started AVCaptureDeviceDiscoverySession app won't be able discover extension device (even though extension process eventually starts and runs without problems). During fresh install and usual run it's usually not an issue, but it floats in case when the extension has to update. Even though replacement process completes successfully and OSSystemExtensionRequest completes it does not mean that extension process is already up and running. If you then run device discovery session based on delegate method result it may not find the extension yet.
That's just a quick summary, if it makes any sense for you and could be helpful I'm open to share more details and help with some debugging.
Had this issue appear after updating to 30.2.0 via the built-in updater. On macOS 14.4 23E214. Doing a clean re-install alone did NOT fix the issue. Logging in & out after the re-install did fixed the issue. No security permissions were requested or changed at any time.
WORKAROUND/ALTERNATIVE: use NDI Tools Virtual Camera and OBS NDI output plugin over the loopback interface.
I've had a lot of problems with the OBS virtual camera. It works for me most of the time, but randomly stops working - often mid-meeting, embarrassingly exposing my green-screen for all to see. OBS still seems to think it's working, but other applications stop seeing the virtual camera. This was frustrating enough that I was looking for hardware loopback solutions when I stumbled upon using NDI as an alternative. I've been using it for about a week, and so far, it's been rock solid.