How to Fix a Webcam Not Working on Windows?

Having a functional camera is now a must for participating in online meetings, which have grown in popularity in recent years. You’ll probably have to use it for school or a job. However, what happens if the webcam malfunctions? Both internal and external cameras are capable of this.

There are a lot of specific solutions for external webcams, making them easier to fix than integrated webcams. If your windows webcam is not working, we have the perfect guide to fix it.

In this article, we will talk about the reasons for the webcam issue and the methods to fix them.

Reasons Why Your Windows Webcam May Not be Working:

Following are the reasons for Windows WebCam issues which you might face:

• A Windows update may have removed some necessary drivers.
• You can’t use your device’s camera or certain apps because of your privacy settings.
• You may not be able to use the webcam app while working on net banking sites.
• Your antivirus software is preventing you from using the camera.

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Naturally, additional factors also play a role. Finding out why your webcam not working will give you a better idea of how to fix it.

Troubleshooting Windows Webcam Problems:

If your Windows computer’s camera isn’t functioning properly, try one of the following manual methods. With these methods, you can easily fix the webcam on Windows.

Method 1: Check the Windows Registry

Because these changes could cause permanent damage to your current installations if not done correctly, please create a complete backup of your computer before using this troubleshooter to fix webcam issues or glitches.

Step 1: Pressing the Windows key plus R will bring up the Run command. Then press OK after typing regedit to open the Windows registry.

Step 2: Find the Platform subkey in the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows Media Foundation.

Step 3: Make a new DWORD (32-bit) value by right-clicking the Platform folder and choosing New > Value.

Step 4: Choose the value “Enable Frame Server Mode” as its name.

Step 5: To change the new value to “0” in the Value data, right-click on it and choose Modify.

Step 6: Get to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > WOW6432Node > Microsoft > Windows Media Foundation > Platform.

Step 7: If you have Windows 64-bit, you must repeat steps 3-5.

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Keep those updates up-to-date by restarting your PC.

Method 2: Run a Scan of Your Antivirus Software

Your antivirus software might be the culprit when your webcam is malfunctioning. Turn off the webcam protection feature and check your antivirus configuration. Turning off your antivirus software is another option to try if that doesn’t work or if you cannot locate this setting. You can easily fix the webcam on Windows.

Method 3: Verify that Applications Can Access Your Webcam

The new privacy feature in Windows 10 lets you select which apps can access your webcam; if it isn’t working, check to see if this setting prevents it. You can resolve this issue by verifying your privacy settings:

Step 1: Launch the app from the Store. The shortcut Windows Key + I makes that task very easy to accomplish.

Step 2: Navigate to the Privacy section once the Settings app opens.

Step 3: Select “Camera” from the left-hand menu. Next, choose the option that says Allow apps to access your camera. If the issue is app-specific, you may need to enable the camera for that app in Settings > Apps > Choose apps that can use your camera.

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Bonus Tip: Update Drivers Using Advanced Driver Updater

One third-party tool that can scan your computer for outdated drivers and update drivers for optimal performance is advanced driver updater. Drivers are software enabling your operating system to communicate with your hardware. Your PC would run much faster with the most recent drivers installed.

Features:

• Updates drivers as scheduled
• Keeping drivers up-to-date is a good thing
• Perform driver backups and restore them one by one
• Quickly detects out-of-date drivers with minimal effort
• Adds drivers that aren’t compatible with the list
• Before updating drivers, it takes a backup

Pros:

• Improves PC performance
• Back up old drivers before updating
• Provides complete system information on the home screen
• Displays driver date, version, available date, and version
• Adds incompatible drivers to the exclude list
• Multilingual support

Cons:

• Demo version with limited features

How Does Advanced Driver Updater Work?

To update drivers, you must use the best third-party tool. Here, we advise you to use tried, tested and compared Advanced Driver Updater if you have missing or corrupted drivers. To fix a Windows webcam that isn’t working, follow the steps below. With the help of the Advanced Driver Updater, you can keep all of your system’s drivers up-to-date:

Step 1: Your computer’s device drivers will be visible in the panel’s status bar immediately following advanced driver updater’s successful installation.

This will show you the current status of your device drivers, which is outdated.

Step 2: To begin scanning your system for driver updates, click the “Start Scan Now” button.

As it searches for out-of-date device drivers, Scan keeps going. Results will be visible in a relatively short period. The process of scanning your Windows system for current drivers will begin immediately.

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Step 3: The device drivers that are no longer up-to-date will display the ” Outdated ” status. Hit the Update All button. To get the most out of your devices, update your drivers regularly.

Step 4: After you update your drivers, it will prompt you to restart your computer. No drivers were outdated, according to the message that will appear after restarting.

The tool maintains a backup of all system drivers, so you can revert to an earlier configuration if needed.

Conclusion:

Try one of the methods above to resolve the issue with your Windows camera. If those solutions don’t work, you may need to reset Windows, as mentioned earlier. Remember to back up everything before you reset Windows! There are many potential reasons why your webcam stopped working, such as a corrupted system file.