For the people that don’t understand why we want to use OrcaSlicer, here’s a video that may help you understand. I’ve set it to 10:45 where he compares the results, orca does a better job at hiding the seams.
The basic concept of Multi-Factor Authentication is that once authenticated, that authentication would run out, if it never ran out, then why have it. BM lab printers already have a key. If you do not have a token, it means the device would need to be authenticated at each power up. They want our printers to phone home. At this point, they have complete control of the printer.
I don’t want my printer to become a brick just because I don’t have internet connectivity. If it can’t phone home, it would have reduced capabilities. That is not what I purchased.
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Please try again… they are not using 2FA/MFA. And no printers will be bricked if you don’t use network functionally. Even if you do use LAN mode (rather than default WAN/cloud mode), I don’t think the verdict is clear there yet, because it is still a moving target. It is not possible to say with any certainly what the status quo will be until it is actually released in final form. 
An update
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I agree.
I have 2BL printers, 3 Creality Printers
I might be looking for more BL Printers
But if this is the case, I might sell off and switch.
Who the funk are you to tell me what software I can use.
I will not subscribe for your app.
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Dito everyone’s concern about this new “Security update” I will never buy another Bambu Printer if the company is not going to promote the community as other manufacturers continue to do. 3D printing at the consumer/prosumer level has always been about tinkering and exploring options and upgrades for your new printer. Sure I bought Bambu after watching many videos and recommendations but also looked at several competitors that run on Klipper and are staying open sourced. I have no faith that Bambu will not lock down their printer and make them useless except for what they “Allow”. I will be looking into modding mine to get away from Bambu ties completely and will stop buying their filament and supplies going forward if they force this update on us. Boycott Bambu!!!
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Take a look around you and realise who other companies and things are protected and how we just accept this…
A bit more insight and comparison for those interest
Ever wondered WHY ?
Bambu clearly wants to save their bacon at all costs.
For their new printer series they simply can’t risk a disaster like for the X1, resulting someone providing a custom firmware.
Streamlining the security approach with Studio/Handy as the base is only logical.
And no matter where we look these days it IS the same story…
Your smart TV, phones, literally everything that requires firmware/software to work is protected as good as the manufacturer can (afford it).
The excuses are also quite similar in all cases.
Better security - without stating how any of this actually makes things more secure FOR THE USER.
Better connectivity - in other words more binding to the company services and products or what they support officially.
The creator and leader for all is is Apple.
They realised early on that cheap repair shops able to obtain OEM or otherwise compatible parts made a huge dint in their profits.
In no time at all Apple phones became a nightmare to service/repair.
The requirement to have ‘authorised software’ to get spare parts or repaired devices to work again was taken over by almost all car manufacturers.
John Deere went as far as raking in Billions globally by making it impossible for farmers to do even the most basic repairs on site themselves…
What Bambu does is seen in the industry as a requirement not an option.
Same story for the calling home stuff and service integration.
Everyone just accepts this for their phones and other devices these days…
For some a printer is just a tool and for a tool they don’t need three layers of security they have no control over.
I somehow think Bambu might come with a new firmware and Studio soon to address some of these issues.
The current multi layer approach is just too complex and too full of flaws.
Let them use a security token or such on the printer that binds to Studio and Handy, no issues here.
But the rest just has to go in favour for a single layer approach that keeps the connection to the printer working is the user requires it…
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This is also very much a societal problem, as evidenced by the lack of/need for right to repair legislation… i.e. the likes of JD can only get away with their “you can’t repair your own tractor” if the legislators don’t mandate against such crud.
Here I think Bambu have primarily marketed their products as easy to use and fast without compromising quality (and potentially it being improved whilst still fast). To that audience, who just use Bambu Handy and Bambu Studio to send their bits and bobs to the printer, this will have absolutely zero effect… that will still just work. Maybe the workflow will be different depending on what happens with this Bambu connect, that is still unclear. It’s really only us more advanced users, or users with specific needs that will the thrown under the bus.
At the end of the day, I think people need to settle down, and let people who are using the beta firmware firsthand state what the true state of affairs is. Then, if it is still 
, that needs to be dealt, else the answer is simple… Take your 
elsewhere. Disconnect your printer from the internet, and continue to get your monies worth out of it, sell it, or wait for a third party firmware or drop-in control board.
That’s my rant for the day… Thanks for hanging in to the end. I’m in the market for some P1 and A1/A1 mini if you wanna sell them in AU 
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What steps would I take to go back to a previous version for my two printers since this new update doesn’t allow me to send prints anymore??!!
It’s probably healthy to be skeptical, within reason, but I don’t see how it’s even theoretically possible for a company to convince a paranoid skeptic, by words alone, that the company is truly trustworthy–because there will always exist the possibility that any reassuring words are just part of a con job aimed at lowering your defenses.
There’s no higher authority which can guarantee that a company is trustworthy. About all you can do to gauge trustworthiness is watch a company over time, notice whether it keeps its promises, operates with integrity, and doesn’t screw its customers, and try to remain alert to conflicts of interest. And if the stakes are high, consider diversifying the trust risk over more than one company so that you don’t lose everything in the event one does evolve into a rotten apple. But diversifying doesn’t come for free. Unless your entire life and livelihood depends on 3D printing, the stakes probably just aren’t ever going to be high enough to justify that level of extra overhead.
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if the issue is as bad as some say, you are not going to be able to sell second hand Bambu printers
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Okay, this is just all speculation. All numbers bellow are making up by me.
TLDR;
I am thinking from another perspective: they are all doing this because the cloud currently cost them too much. They didn’t foresee the cost of running the cloud for existing users. They can’t turn off the cloud so they have to limit the cloud as much as possible to cut down the cost of operation the cloud. The problem is they bet all on cloud + makerworld and neglect the basic no-internet-mode. You know, making 30% profit out of just selling printer is not enough, but after sale service like AI stuff and all from Makerworld is a big chunk of profit to them as well.
If you are only use LAN only, no cloud nothing, you probably won’t go and spend money on Makerworld. So those customers like that (you and me) are just leecher using their cloud service but not paying anything, that is for the sake of convenience to view camera and to send print job to the printer.
I did make a simple calculation back then when they updated BS so that camera feed turns off by itself after 15min afk. Here I do it again.
1 camera feed from P1S will take approx 200KB/frame (I only have P1S). For spectacular frame rate of 1 frame per 5s, it is about 40KB/s or 0.32 mbps. That is just one user view the live feed from his printer. The cloud topology requires the camera feed sent to their server and then the feed relayed back to your phone, which means double the amount of data going through their server. So one user takes 0.64mbps of their bandwidth for loudsy 0.2fps camera feed.
Imagine BBL has sold how many printers over just one year? I imagine their profit on one year is not less than 200M. Say, half of it is from selling printers alone and just a tenth of it is from P1S sales. Taking in net profit of 30% per printer or $225 profit per P1S (the lower profit margin the more printers sale). The math is 10mil / 225 = 44 444 units per year. Let just assume only a tenth of those 44k units actually connects to cloud with video feed and all, which is 4000 units. Now the bandwidth that needs to be just for all P1S printers that connect to cloud is about 4000*0.62mbps = 2480mbps.
This number seems not much considering your average internet capable bandwidth is about 50mbps. But if you take in the cost of the CPU power to process 2480mbps real time. It is a big number. Unfortunately, this kind of data cannot be AI generated like nvidia 5070 fake frame 
Imagine you have to deal with higher frame rate of x1c camera feeds as well, and A1 + mini… And then the whole 3rd party accessories connect to the same cloud. Yeah, nah!
From my view, BBL cannot squeeze money from me or you from using their cloud, but they have to pay great sum for it. It is a losing bussiness.
So my question is: Why not making it LAN only in the first place and cloud is an optional addon?
I am sure you have better speculation than me.
P.S: I have to use the word speculation because if not, BBL will condemn me spreading false information. And again, all those numbers above are just bullocks that I make the eff up.
P.P.S: I just hope that they won’t cut us off, who are cloud leechers, from their cloud without giving us a working LAN only mode. As for until now, the LAN only mode is only half-baked janky solution.
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That’s exactly what I’ve been saying from the beginning of this "security update " story.
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Confused/disappointed customer of the X1C here. Excuse my ignorance, this is all too much to read, how do I use my printer again? Why has it stopped?
I’m experiencing the described Wifi connection (Internet connection fails) loop. Glancing through these posts it looks like I need to reflash the SD card? Wtf.
Aparrently there’s a blog post telling me to fix this… I can’t find anything Bambu related buried in all this auth nonesense.
Is there Bambu support here with guidance?
OP: you can’t sell this brick. why post about trash?
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Unless you are running beta firmware this shouldn’t be causing issues. People that use LAN mode are mad about being forced to connect to Bambu and Bambu not allowing third party slicers.
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Is the beta version listed here?
/en/x1/manual/X1-X1C-AMS-firmware-release-history
Nice video overall, I think I disagree with a few minor things, but no time tonight to point it out (or even finish watching…)
Definitely agree that I want a better technical solution than “dev mode + bambu connect”. A better solution which also leaves a real LAN mode intact–as it was when we first “purchased” these devices.
(I don’t know if we can call it a “purchase” anymore these days.)
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Starting to feel like a Lease agreement.
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Lol do you see the irony in this? Read it back to me