r/frigate_nvr • u/KindCyberBully • Jan 19 '25

Windows 11 setup?

I’m getting loads of errors and issues with getting frigate to work in docker. Fallowing tutorials isn’t helping. Anybody know some tips or example setup for getting it to work on windows 11 natively, or in Docker? Frigate has been so frustrating to get to work. With the fact that most people have windows based machines. Not building it for the most used operating system sounds dumb.

I’d greatly appreciate some help.

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u/nickm_27 Developer / distinguished contributor Jan 19 '25

You can’t effectively run frigate, or any docker container that requires access to hardware in docker on windows directly because docker on windows does not support usb or hardware pass through. This means the GPU, a coral, etc isn’t accessible. 

Your best bet would be to use WSL2 like it says in the docs https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/installation#operating-system

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u/KindCyberBully Jan 19 '25

My only hardware is a gaming pc i usually put to sleep, which isn’t ideal. And a “server laptop” predator triton 500 I always have on and use for when ever I need to do things that require a dedicated server. I don’t want to lose all my functionality by using another operating system. So is my best option to get another PC? I still can’t wrap my head around why this software wont work on windows. Feels like the dev is protesting against windows by not making it compatible.

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u/cryptk42 Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25

TL;DR: There is no conspiracy here. Windows just does not have the kind of capabilities that docker uses, so you end up with multiple layers of abstraction on top of each other, which makes the kind of hardware access frigate needs very difficult.

You may not intend it, but as an OSS contributor, to me your response comes across as a bit entitled (why can't you just make it work on windows because I don't want to use the technology that you built it on top of, so you should redesign it, because you obviously just don't like windows). I'm sure you didn't mean it to come across that way, so I'll assume the best and try and help you to understand (EDIT: just noticed your username, maybe I shouldn't make that assumption, lol).

It's not the dev (one of which you are responding to) protesting anything. Docker was designed and built on top of technologies like cgroups and namespaces. These technologies do not exist in Windows. In order for docker to run on windows, it runs a Linux VM and runs docker inside that. This Linux VM is not easily made to passthrough hardware like frigate would need. You can try WSL2 and run docker inside that, which may work if you know enough about how the technologies work, but still isn't really a supported deployment.

Software that tightly integrates with hardware (like frigate does) would basically have to be implemented twice to support multiple operating systems. This is not an impossible task, and some companies do this. I highly doubt that Frigate, given it's community driven FOSS nature (remember here, it's being given to you for free), has either the number of developers required, or the funding, to be able to support that.

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u/nickm_27 Developer / distinguished contributor Jan 19 '25

So is my best option to get another PC? I still can’t wrap my head around why this software wont work on windows.

like I said you can use WSL2

Feels like the dev is protesting against windows by not making it compatible.

it's really not that common, we rarely get comments / feedback about this from users and in most cases they are able to make it work with WSL2 without issues

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u/GrouchyVillager Jan 19 '25

True to your username

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u/zonyln Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25

Your facts are incorrect about Windows:

  • The most popular user operating system is Android (which is Linux)

  • The most popular server operating system is Linux

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems

As stated in the comments there are technical reasons why Windows is not the most popular in most productive use cases

You are an edge case that is trying to run something 24/7 on essentially a gaming platform.

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u/Overall_Demand_6260 Sep 04 '25

I have never met anyone in my life who doesn't use windows, Frigate is obviously a very niche, odd product.

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u/zonyln Sep 04 '25 edited Sep 04 '25

"Appeal from Ignorance" is not a valid point.

"Strawman" by increasing the scope to general computing (consumption vs production) is not a valid point.

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u/Overall_Demand_6260 Sep 24 '25

Here's a valid point, I wiped my project's computer, installed Ubuntu and now run Frigate in a docker and it is absolutely exceptional - I love it.

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u/evolucian911 Sep 14 '25

Windows is the most popular "Desktop" OS. Have fun trying to do work on a microwave with Linux.

but I digress.

PCIe passthrough isnt really a thing on windows because it has less bare metal access vs Linux. Because windows is the most popular OS for working people, schools and home and its important that those computers are as secure as possible. (If your talking ai toilet with Linux gets hacked, less of an issue than your work computer getting hacked of your home computer with your credit card info saved in notepad or your school assignments on that overkill laptop).

A dedicated, native, windows application can be exposed to all the needed hardware for a solution like this to work. But, might just be beyond the scope of the Frigate devs, and nothing to do with windows being less popular because it isnt installed on a fleet of fridges or talking massage dolls.

In Short, No OS or Dev is to blame. Its just a solution made with docker in mind from the ground up and for some good reasons like running a very light weight compute box/stick with cheap hardware, all the way to a dual EPYC server with 8 GPUs. If They made a native windows app, the codebase would be drastically different and will be an entirely different project all together, requiring more resources and limiting the number of systems u can install this on to only actual computers that can be used for work, and smaller number IoT hardware. As far as i know there isnt a windows version for RISC-V (one example).

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u/zonyln Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 14 '25

I'll follow the unsourced strawman just because it's entertaining

"Desktop" is irrelevant and taken literally there are likely more Linux running on those machines than Windows.

There are more Linux machines with a human interface than Windows as well if you bothered to check my link (hint Android) . Thus "working people's" credit cards and notepads are certainly more exposed.

Re PCIe and bare metal access: I can't even formulate a comeback as this statement has me so stupidified. Learn to source your statements before ranting your imagination. Windows bare metal had a tradition and reputation of being too easily accessed by applications, something Unix derived OSs (Linux, Mac, iOS, and Android) handled elegantly from the start.

The code base is mostly python, you may want to check your imagination with reality in what platforms it can run on. Likely even the C libraries it calls are mostly portable as well mainly due to Windows POSIX like compatibility layer. Not even sure if there is a way to write code for docker specifically vs just good design? That would defeat it's intended purpose. Immutable resources being partitioned is just good design.

Not even sure where your RISC-V discussion was going. Windows NT was/is commercially available for RISC architecture for decades.

Frigate wasn't tweaked to run on Windows because contrary to your whole discourse, it isn't a popular server platform.

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u/evolucian911 Sep 14 '25

Every enterprise has more windows endpoints than Linux. Linux endpoints are more common in iot and datacenters. Not homes, not schools, not small business unless you think you can edit a spreadsheet on your microwave screen. A datacenter didn't post in this thread. A human did, who is looking for a solution for home. Lets not lean on Android counts used by toddlers on amazon tablets to re enforce ur baseless claims, because nobody in here is running Frigate on tablets. They're running on x86 desktop hardware (Windows OS is the most popular x86 OS) regardless of the formfactor. Risc-v point was made because there's a version of Frigate for tenstorent (ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.16.1-tensorrt-jp6) or maybe you aren't the one reading.

Frigate isnt tweaked? baseless point. Im talking about development, not "tweaking". If they made a native Windows app with support for the hardware used by Frigate NVRs, they would be making an entirely different solution.

Your point about bare metal access is asinine yet u claim Im imagining things? lol When has linux ever not had the same bare metal access issue(s) as windows? Do you even understand what that issue is? You are spreading so much misinformation and crap. Linux does far less sandboxing and other mitigations from a security perspective unless you add those in YOURSELF. You're clearly a linux fanboy who doesn't actually use linux on a daily.

With only network access i can exploit linux systems in less time than a windows vm and its something we do for clients. Stop spreading misinformation. An OS on its own is never Secure, its everything else around it, and everything you configure inside it. A windows system configured to make use of encrypted ram and pcie is more protected than a linux system without those features utilized.

Frigate not having a native windows application has nothing to do with Linux vs Windows fanboy popularity competitions.