In this article, I talk about the "the device is locked" message you may see while attempting to access your Hikvision IP camera or recorder (DVR/NVR) from a web browser or smartphone app. I have the solution to this problem; keep reading.
You can fix this problem in less than 5 minutes.
Why the message "the device is locked" shows up?
The Hikvision devices have a mechanism to protect themselves from unauthorized access. If somebody tries to enter a wrong password 5 times in a row, the login is blocked for 30 minutes, and a message "the device is locked" is displayed.
When you are trying to log in, the camera lets you know how many attempts you still have before it locks you out, as shown in the picture below.
The camera displays the message "Incorrect user name or password. The device will be locked after 4 failed login attempts," and that's not a fake thread 🙂
Just to prove the point, I've entered the wrong password 5 times.
The picture below shows the message on a web browser.
The IP camera (or recorder) informs you that you can try again later. In this example, there's a message that says, "Please try again after 16 minutes".
You can also see a similar message on the iVM-4500 App.
The problem usually occurs because more than one person attempts to access the same camera or recorder while using the wrong user or password.
Let's say you are trying to use the web browser and somebody else uses mobile to access the camera and enter the wrong password 5 times. The camera blocks everybody from attempting to log in for 30 minutes.
How to fix the "the device is locked" issue
The solution is simple; you just need to wait for 30 minutes or restart the device.
If you are still logged in via a web browser, the session is still valid, and the camera won't log you out. You can remotely restart the camera.
You can also reboot the camera by disconnecting and reconnecting the power.
If the problem persists
Okay, you solved the problem by rebooting your camera, but you get the same message again and can't log in to the device anymore. What's happening?
Somebody is still trying to login to your camera/recorder, or perhaps there's a device or software in the network attempting to log in with the wrong credentials.
It's not uncommon to have something in the network you forgot to turn off.
I forgot my Wisenet Wave software running on my computer, and it was desperately trying to login to the camera because I was testing it before with different cameras and credentials.
After entering the correct credentials into the software, I rebooted the camera. Everything worked as expected because nobody else attempted to login to the camera with the wrong credentials, so no "device is locked" message anymore 😉
Security concern
You need to be careful if you are using your Hikvision camera or recorder in a shared or public network. People may try to have unauthorized access to the devices. Make sure the network security is not compromised.
If your camera or recorder is available on the Internet, double-check your firewall rules are good enough and don't use an easy-to-guess password for the devices.
Related articles
Here are some related articles that can help you.
Conclusion
You can fix the problem with the "the device is locked" by restarting the camera or recorder and looking for whos is sending the wrong credentials to the device.
It's an easy solution, but you need to be careful with the security to prevent other people from logging to your camera.
I hope this video can help you; please share it with your friends.