Windows 11 Camera Problem

[Aleck Cobbs]

Although Windows 10 can automatically configure most cameras, it does not mean they will continue operating with issues indefinitely. Sometimes, peripherals can stop working for many reasons. For instance, it could be due to a problem with the driver, recent system updates, privacy settings blocking access to the camera, or hardware-related issues.

If you notice problems with the built-in webcam on your laptop or USB camera on a desktop computer, Windows 10 includes several ways to fix the most common issues using Device Manager, Settings, or correcting the software privacy settings.

Once you complete the steps, if the camera is not listed, disconnect it, restart the computer, connect the camera again, and follow the above steps one more time. If possible, you can also try a different USB port to confirm it is not a problem with the port. Or try to connect the camera directly to the device if you are using a USB hub.

If the camera no longer works, or you are ready for an upgrade, we recommended the Logitech BRIO webcam because of its 4K resolution and HDR support, as well as for its compatibility for Windows Hello authentication on Windows 10.

If you're looking for the best camera for meetings and video chat, the BRIO from Logitech is the one for you since it was the first webcam in the market with 4K support and offers pretty nifty features like background replacement and Windows Hello support.

On Windows 10, the system can automatically limit apps (such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype) access to the microphone and camera to help you protect your privacy and improve security. If the camera is working, but you cannot access it from a specific application, you revise the privacy settings.

The above instructions are to allow camera access for Microsoft Store apps. If the problem is with a classic desktop application, turn on the Allow desktop apps to access your camera toggle switch at the bottom of the page.

Sometimes Windows Update may not have the most up-to-date drivers available. If this is the case, you may need to check the manufacturer support website to get the newest drivers available and the instructions to apply them.

If the camera stopped responding after installing the latest version of Windows 10, you could remove the feature update to resolve the issue, and when you know that the problem has a permanent fix, you can upgrade again.

Sometimes hardware manufacturers will roll out driver updates that may still contain compatibility issues. If the camera was working before a recent driver update, restoring the previous version can resolve the problem.

Some antivirus and other third-party security software come with privacy settings that can prevent apps from accessing the webcam. If you use a security solution that offers such features (such as the case of the Kaspersky Total Security), you need to dive into the privacy settings to allow apps access to the camera.

If you use a different antivirus, and you suspect it is blocking access to the camera, you may need to check the manufacturer support website for specific details to change the settings to fix the issue.

Mauro Huculak has been a Windows How-To Expert contributor for WindowsCentral.com for nearly a decade and has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides. He also has an IT background and has achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and CompTIA. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years."}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Mauro HuculakSocial Links NavigationMauro Huculak has been a Windows How-To Expert contributor for WindowsCentral.com for nearly a decade and has over 15 years of experience writing comprehensive guides. He also has an IT background and has achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, and CompTIA. He has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years.

Following the website's windows tutorial everything seems to be working until I go to octolapse itself. The webcam is setup that when I run the tests in octolapse's Webcam setting tab everything shows up. The cameras feed from yawcam also shows up in the octroprint controls tap. Yet under the octolapse tap nothing seems to be available.

Its definitely not functioning correctly ohh how I wish it was just a simple overthinking it problem.
So I started a fresh set of tests on another pc.
First test was to do a clean install of everything octoprint itself, Cura and yawcam and see if they function.
Octoprint and cura worked as intended even the native timelapse feature of Octoprint functioned perfectly taking pictures saving them and turning them into a video.

It seemed to disable the functioning part of Octoprint as the native timelapse feature no longer worked.
Opening up octoprint in IE and Firefox had some strange results too, the octolapse plugin tab is non existent as if the feature was not installed yet when opened in chrome it shows up just fine.
To me and my limited knowledge it seems that the octolapse plugin is not installing correctly.
So I retested it.
Starting again on another computer a fresh install of all the base software and features yielded the same results. Somethings not quite right with the Octolapse installation.
I think Im going to try doing an install of octolapse from each browser to see if maybe the browser is causing an installation failure.

One additional thing to note, is I must start the octoprint server first and connect it to the printer before opening cura, if this is done in any other order I get "tornado.access - Warning - 409 GEt /api/printer (::1) 2.00ms" "octoprint.server.util.flask - Debug - App sessions after cleanup ..... -This spams the consol in cmd prompt endlessly.

Sorry about the earlier misdiagnosis, I can see that there are other issues at play here. Perhaps this has something to do with Yawcam. I do test with yawcam pretty frequently, but not as much as mjpgstreamer. Can you take a pic of your webcam settings in the octolapse camera profile (specifically the base and snapshot address)? That may shed some light on the problem.

Also, I can see that you are using Octolapse 0.3.1. There have been several enhancements specifically regarding webcam testing and verification, so it's possible (though a bit unlikely) that your problem has been fixed within the latest rc/devel branch. If I can't see anything obviously wrong with your settings maybe you'd be willing to try a pre-release?

I then went to the octoprint webcam settings tab and this popped up. "Camera Test Failed - An exception of type: was raised during the test! Error:" (im assuming from the test I had run in the octolapse camera setting tab as I hadn't clicked anything in the octolprint webcam tab )

So the solution you provided about the base address change didn't seem to solve the problem. Do you have a link to the pre release candidate for octolapse that you suggested that may solve the issues? Also are there any special instructions for it that I may need to know before doing a regular plugin install?

I then upgraded to a 2017 Surface Pro. I noticed instantly that my camera image was freezing every 5 or 10 minutes during a video call on Skype. It hardly ever went through the 1.5-hour meeting without freezing at least once. I don't get any errors, it simply gets stuck as an image of the last frame before freezing. I have to click the camera button within the call controls to turn the camera off and back on, until it freezes again, and so on.

So I started investigating the issue. I tried many steps related to reinstalling and updating firmware, apps, drivers and Windows itself, as well as disabling many devices and drivers that could be interfering with Logitech Brio. Nothing worked.

Since my camera image permanently stopped freezing after the registry editing, it was clear that this service was the problem. I deleted the registry edits to purposefully cause the freezing problems again.

Please, could anyone shed some light on this? I can't find anything about it online, and I don't know what to do anymore. No one else appears to have the same problem. Installing a fresh copy of Windows doesn't work. I have been to chat support and the Community, and no solution was offered.

When I have the Webcam protection enabled and start the Windows Camera app, it freezes frame and the app queries for permission settings. I exhausted all the options there (including Troubleshooter) to no avail. If I turn webcam protection off, the Camera app resumes function. I tried to add a new rule, but the ESET app doesn't allow that manually, so I tried to coax it into querying for permission by deleting the rules. This didn't work, so I'm now at a loss.

Webcam protection informs you about processes and applications that access your computer's web camera. When an application tries to access your camera, you get a notification to allow or block the access. The color of the alert window depends on the application's reputation.

-EDIT- This knowledge base article provides more details: -create-and-edit-webcam-rules-in-eset-windows-home-products . Appears a rule can only be added as result of webcam alert Allow response. Thereafter, the added rule can be modified via selecting it and modifying it as needed.

If you're not able to use your microphone or camera after installing the Windows 10 April 2018 Update, then it's not a driver problem with the peripherals or a bug with version 1803. It's a privacy settings issue, which you can quickly fix with this...

So you narrowed down the issue to Bluejeans or Chrome. Have you tried with Firefox? Using Bluejeans in Firefox? I only say this because we had an issue where a website to manage devices worked in all browsers, then stopped working in 1 browser after an update then 6 months later worked again after another update. It seems like you already narrowed down driver issues or hardware issues.

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