Installation on Windows (USP version 1.14.0 or later)

Attention

Please note that these installation instructions apply to version 1.14.0 or later of the Unified Streaming platform. For older versions, please see Installation on Windows (USP versions before 1.14.0).

Overview

The steps for installing Unified Streaming software on Windows are as follows (most of these steps require Administrative privileges):

If you have an existing installation:
- If the Apache web server is running, and any of our Apache modules are in use, stop it:
```
net stop Apache2.4
```
- Rename the previously used installation directory, so it can be restored in case of emergency.
Create an empty installation directory (usually C:\Program Files\Unified Streaming).
Choose which of the USP Packages you need. For example, you may want to install:
- Unified Packager (mp4split) and our other command-line tools, or
- one or more of our Apache modules: apache_mod_smooth_streaming (dynamic packaging with Unified Origin), apache_mod_unified_remix (dynamic use of Unified Remix), apache_mod_unified_transcode (our transcoding module), and/or apache_mod_unified_s3_auth (for Amazon S3 authentication),
- and/or the manifest-edit package (for manifest post-processing).
Install the software prerequisites of the packages you selected. Each USP package may depend on one or more third-party components, or on one or more other USP packages.

In general, all USP packages depend on Microsoft's C++ redistributable, and on the mp4split USP package (except for mp4split itself). In addition, our Apache modules depend on the Apache web server, and the manifest-edit package requires a specific version of the Python interpreter.
Install the USP packages you selected; see Installing a USP package for details.
Use the Windows Control Panel app to edit the system Path environment variable:
- To ensure the USP executables and DLLs are found, add the bin subdirectory of the USP installation directory. If the USP Packages were installed in their usual place, that would be C:\Program Files\Unified Streaming\bin.
- If a Python interpreter is required, ensure the CPython version-specific Python installation directory is in the Path. For example, if CPython 3.11 was installed in its usual place, that would be C:\Program Files\Python311.
Note
- We edit the system Path (instead of any user-specific Path) to ensure the required executables and DLLs are found in all user contexts, including the user context used by the Apache Web Server.
- To guarantee that a change to the system Path is seen by all running programs, a reboot is needed.
- Verify the system Path was set up correctly by starting a command shell and typing...
```
mp4split
```
  ...which should display version and usage information, and, if required...
```
python --version
```
  ...to confirm the version of the Python interpreter found in your path.
To use our Apache modules, you still need to configure several things before you can successfully stream video. Please see the How to Configure (Unified Origin) section for the necessary information on how to do this.

Note

The software requires a license key. The preferred way is to create a file that contains the key (e.g., usp-license.key), which then can be specified in Apache's configuration or when you run one of our command-line tools. How to specify your license key for Apache is explained in Setting up a virtual host (and specifying your license key). For more info, see License Key.

Available USP packages

The following packages are provided:

Package name	Contents	Prerequisites
mp4split	command line tools (with required DLLs): mp4split (Unified Packager) unified_capture unified_remix unified_transcode	C++ redistributable
apache_mod_smooth_streaming	Unified Origin module	C++ redistributable Apache web server mp4split package
apache_mod_unified_remix	dynamic remix module	C++ redistributable Apache web server mp4split package
apache_mod_unified_s3_auth	s3 authentication module	C++ redistributable Apache web server mp4split package
apache_mod_unified_transcode	USP transcoding module	C++ redistributable Apache web server mp4split package
manifest-edit	manifest post-processor: manifest_edit.bat	C++ redistributable Python interpreter mp4split package
ffmpeg-usp	ffmpeg libraries	C++ redistributable
mp4split-ffmpeg-plugins	ffmpeg-based transcoding plugins	C++ redistributable mp4split package ffmpeg-usp package

Prerequisite third-party software packages

C++ redistributable

All our executables and DLLs depend on the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022. If you did not do so already, please install the latest version of this package.

Download the package from https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe
After downloading the package, run it to install it:
```
.\vc_redist.x64.exe /install /quiet /norestart
```

See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170 for further details.

Apache web server

To use our Apache modules (mod_smooth_streaming (Unified Origin), mod_unified_remix, mod_unified_transcode or mod_unified_s3_auth), an Apache webserver installation is required.

Please make sure that you use at least Apache 2.4.46, with a build date of "02 Oct '20" or later, as this includes a crucial fix for the use of external filters on Windows.
Download the latest version from https://www.apachelounge.com/download/
Verify its authenticity (i.e., https://www.apache.org/info/verification.html)
Expand the downloaded package to C:\, installing Apache in C:\Apache24

Note

Apache Lounge blocks downloads from a shell.

Python interpreter

For packages that use Python scripts (such as manifest-edit), a CPython installation is required.

Changed in version 1.14.0: The manifest_edit command is no longer provided as an executable, but as a batch file (manifest_edit.bat) that relies on the CPython interpreter.

Required CPython version

Because of backward compatibility issues in most CPython releases, each version of the Unified Streaming Platform is tied to a specific release of CPython:

As of USP version...

...the required CPython release is

1.14.0

3.11

Download the 64-bit CPython installer from https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/. You may find multiple stable sub-releases for the required CPython release (3.11.1, 3.11.2, etc.). Pick the highest stable sub-release.
To ensure the Python interpreter is found from any user context, choose a customized, all-users installation with environment variables. See https://docs.python.org/3.11/using/windows.html#the-full-installer for details.

Installing a USP package

All USP packages for Windows are provided as ZIP files, downloadable from https://stable.zip.unified-streaming.com/windows/x86_64/ (stable releases) or https://beta.zip.unified-streaming.com/windows/x86_64/ (beta releases).

Our packages are targeted at 64 bit, X86 Windows Server 2016, 2019 or Windows 10/11 Pro.

Changed in version 1.14.0: For a given USP version, the name of the ZIP file to download is <package name>_<USP version>-<revision>.zip. You should pick the highest available <revision> number, which is normally 1. For example, for USP version 1.14.0, the name of the ZIP file for the mp4split package is mp4split_1.14.0-1.zip.

Attention

Packages for different USP versions are binary incompatible and cannot be mixed in the same installation directory.

To install a given package:

Check its prerequisites. Install both its third-party prerequisites and any prerequisite USP packages for the same USP version first.
Download the ZIP file and unzip it to your installation directory. (usually C:\Program Files\Unified Streaming).
Inspect the contents of the installation directory to see if the package's files ended up in their expected locations. See Installation directory layout.

Installation directory layout

Changed in version 1.14.0: there are significant changes in the installation directory layout:

The USP Apache modules are now located in the apache2 subdirectory of the installation directory.
Executable files and DLLs are now located the bin subdirectory of the installation directory.
manifest_edit is no longer provided as an executable file, but as a batch file (manifest_edit.bat) located in the bin subdirectory of the installation directory.
manifest-edit's configuration files are now located in the etc\manifest-edit\conf subdirectory of the installation directory. See Manifest Edit Pipeline Configuration Files.

Subdirectory	Contents
apache2	USP Apache modules
bin	user-visible executable files wrapper scripts (e.g. `manifest_edit.bat`) required DLLs
doc	per-package documentation files (`README`, `LICENSE`, etc.)
etc	user-editable configuration files (manifest_edit is configured in `etc\manifest-edit\conf`)
libexec	internal programs and support files (not intended to be executed directly by users)
share	architecture-independent data (not to be edited)
usp-meta	per-package USP meta information

Manifest Edit Pipeline Configuration Files

On Windows, the stock .yaml files used for configuring the manifest editing operations are installed into C:\Program Files\Unified Streaming\etc\manifest-edit\conf by default. For more details on their content, please refer to Included Use Cases.

If you have no need to modify these files, you can directly refer to them from your manifest_edit command line, for example:

set conf_dir=C:\Program Files\Unified Streaming\etc\manifest-edit\conf

manifest_edit.bat --python_pipeline_config="%conf_dir%\mpd\default.yaml" -o outfile.mpd infile.mpd

Most of the time, however, you will have to customize these files to suit your needs. In that case, it is recommended that you first copy the contents of the etc\manifest-edit\conf directory to a backup location.

Warning

New installations will overwrite the contents of the C:\Program Files\Unified Streaming\etc\manifest-edit directory! If you have edited the provided .yaml files, you will lose your modifications.