Knowledge Base

Problem

After moving an EthoVision experiment to a new computer, or after duplicating a project, the camera/acquisition source settings remain locked to the previous PC's configuration and cannot be changed. The camera feed does not appear or the source is not recognized.

Details

When an experiment file is opened on a different PC than the one it was created on, EthoVision retains the original camera source configuration, which references hardware not present on the new machine. This prevents the camera from being detected or the acquisition source from being reassigned within the existing experiment. Reported in the context of replacing an old PC with a new one.

Solution

1. Do not attempt to edit the camera source within the existing locked experiment — this may not be possible.
2. Instead, create a new EthoVision project using the old experiment as a template: go to File → New Experiment → Use Existing Experiment as Template and select the old experiment file.
3. In the new project created from the template, the camera/acquisition source settings will be reset and can be configured fresh for the new PC's hardware.
4. Set up the camera source, arena, and detection settings as required for the new PC.
5. Transfer any existing trial data references as needed, or re-acquire trials using the new configuration.