tplink tapo camera local mode

Author: maxromanovsky

_posts/2025-12-26-tplink-tapo-camera-local-only.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "Running TP-Link Tapo cameras without access to internet"
+category: local-mode
+author: Maksym Romanowski
+tags: [tp-link-tapo, camera, tl;dr]
+---
+## TL;DR
+This snippet shows how to run TP-Link Tapo cameras fully locally, without access to internet.
+
+## Environment
+- TP-Link Tapo C110 hw 2.0 fw 1.4.7
+- TP-Link Tapo C225 hw 2.0 fw 1.1.1
+- NTP server running locally that doesn't use `time.windows.com` as a source of time
+
+## Rationale
+By default, TP-Link Tapo cameras are connected to cloud for multiple purposes:
+- share video streams
+- perform firmware updates
+- sync time
+
+Unfortunately, these cameras ignore NTP servers specified via DHCP config,
+and seem to rely on a list of hardcoded NTP servers.
+One of them is `time.windows.com`. You can find others in your firewall log once internet connectivity is blocked.
+
+## Configuration
+- Setup cameras via Tapo app with internet connected
+    - Update firmware if necessary
+    - Create RTSP account (otherwise what's the point of running it fully locally?)
+    - Use DHCP or specify local DNS
+- Block internet connection from cameras via network firewall (most likely on router)
+- Create DNS `A` record (on DNS used by Tapo) pointing `time.windows.com` to local NTP server