How to Fix Your Webcam If it is Not Working in Windows 10?

Read this article to find out what to do if a webcam in your desktop computer or laptop is not working. How to fix this problem, install proper drivers or find the process thats causing the error in the work of the webcam.

Introduction

With lots of processes that involve a webcam in this way or another, and the growing number of various software using webcam potential, Visualization and video streaming have become an integral part of everyday use for computing devices.

Unfortunately, built-in (in laptops) or external webcams (for desktop PCs) do not always work properly in Windows 10, And there are a few reasons why. Various bugs with webcams can be eliminated both with typical troubleshooting methods and the new system option available in Windows 10 that is in charge of managing your webcam in all aps you have on your computer. In todays article, we will describe in detail the possible methods of fixing webcam issues.

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Check Webcam Configuration in Windows 10 Settings

In Windows 10, main system services and settings are concentrated in the Settings app that helps you manage permissions entirely and monitor the functionality of your machine from the single place in the operating system. To fix a webcam issue, you should start with checking if the camera is enabled for the app which is experiencing trouble, and if access to camera is permitted on this specific device. It wont take long but it requires you to follow a step-by-step sequence of actions.

On the computing device to which the webcam is connected, open the Settings app in any way you prefer. For example, click on the Start button in the lower left corner of your desktop, on the Taskbar and open the main Windows menu. On the left vertical panel, click on the Settings button shaped as a gearwheel, and open the app.

In the main window of the Settings app, scroll down to the bottom of the page and select Privacy.

In the new page, look at the left side panel, find and select Camera. On the right, you will see all settings and several switches that you can use to turn the web camera on or off both for the specific device and app. If you disable the webcam here, no app will be able to use it.

It would seem that permission settings in the Privacy section should mostly influence only new Windows 10 apps installed from Microsoft Store, also known as apps UWP. However, these webcam permission settings affect all applications.

So if the webcam doesnt work, look at the right-side panel to find the section Allow access to camera on this device and make sure that it says Camera access for this device is on.

If the webcam access is off, click on Change and in the new pop-up window, set the switch to On.

If access to camera is denied, Windows 10 and any installed apps wont be able to use it even such system services as Windows Hello (the biometric facial recognition in Windows 10, which logs you in to devices three times faster if compared to the traditional password-protected method). After you enable the webcam, it should start working properly at once.

Besides, make sure that the section Allow apps to access your camera also has its switch in the On position. If the switch is Off, no app in your system will be able to detect or use your webcam. But Windows will be able to use your webcam for some functions like Windows Hello.

Functionality of the section Allow apps to access your camera has been changed in the April Windows 10 update. Previously, it only influenced apps from Microsoft Store and did not affect performance of conventional applications.

In the next section, Choose which apps can access your camera make sure that the app that needs access to your webcam is not listed here. If its on this list, check the switch position and set it to On, in case it was disabled.

Please note that standard apps are not shown here. All the elements in this list are Microsoft Store applications. Conventional system apps will always be able to access your camera if you have these two settings enabled: Allow access to camera on this device and Allow apps to access your camera.

As long as these two permission settings are on, Windows 10 will not interfere with the full-scale use of your webcam. However, if this method doesnt solve your problem, then move on to the next part of this article to see what else can be done.

Make Sure the Webcam is Not Disabled Otherwise

In the preceding part of the article, we described main methods of turning off a webcam on a computing device (desktop PC or laptop) running Windows 10operating system. In addition to the simple ways that we described, you can disable a webcam in BIOS or UEFI on some laptop models. You can find this option in system settings of business-class laptops as it helps system administrators of large enterprises disable access to webcams for improved security. So if the webcam was disabled in BIOS or UEFI, you should enable it by opening the corresponding settings.

Also, a webcam can be disabled in Device Manager. If you do so, the webcam wont work properly until you enable it again. If the webcam was disabled this way, go back to Device Manager and enable the camera.

There are several ways to open Device Manager in Windows 10. For example, right-click on the Start button in the lower left corner of the desktop, or press the key sequence Windows + X instead to open the context menu, and choose Device Manager from the list.

In the window that opens, find the section Imaging devices, click on the black arrow to open the list of installed devices, right-click on the webcam name to open a context menu and select Enable device.

The command will be performed immediately and the webcam will be on and ready for use.

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