Posted on 12th Mar 2025
A quick guide on how to install and configure a webcam as a CCTV camera using ZoneMinder on Linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
First run a simple update:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Add the official repo to ensure most up-to-date software:
sudo apt install -y software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:iconnor/zoneminder-1.36
sudo apt update
Install ZoneMinder
sudo apt install -y zoneminder
Enable Required Mods
Enable Apache mods, rewrite, headers, cgi and restart Apache:
sudo a2enmod rewrite headers cgi
sudo a2enconf zoneminder
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Now we want to enable ZoneMinder, so it starts on a system reboot or shutdown, and then start it for us now too:
sudo systemctl enable zoneminder
sudo systemctl start zoneminder
This software is used by ZoneMinder to display the video from the attached webcam:
sudo apt install v4l-utils
you can also find out device info using:
v4l2-ctl --list-devices
You will need your device location, eg /dev/video0
Now we can check the camera is working:
ffmpeg -f v4l2 -i /dev/video0 -vf "format=yuv420p" -f sdl -
- Open a browser and type localhost/zm
You will be taken to the web GUI, where we need to set up a few things, more detail can be found from ZoneMinder's Website:.
- Open Settings, setup your timezone first.
- Enable Authentication - setting title: OPT_USE_AUTH
- Add Hashing secret - setting title: AUTH_HASH_SECRET
It's recommended by ZoneMinder to set up a user login to ensure camera's are properly protected.
- Login and change your password, default is username: admin password: admin.
We have to make sure that the camera is accessible locally by our "video" user which was created during installation using the ZoneMinder repository:
sudo usermod -a -G video www-data
sudo chmod 777 /dev/video2
loginto the web portal and restart Zoneminder by clicking the top right icon that should say "RUNNING" and selecting restart, and apply.
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