After every Windows 10 update, you can expect instability in either on a particular Windows feature or in the whole component of a Windows 10. Similarly, due to the recent update, drivers of the old hardware system may not function correctly with the new Windows operating system. Now after the update, few of the users have faced disconnection of their PC’s webcam by receiving an error message like “we can’t find or start your camera”, leaving the user full-on panic mode.
The Webcam issues can happen due to the new Windows driver update which has an ability to disable the use of the camera for all the application in your Windows. The webcam issue can also be a reason because of the outdated driver, your antivirus software or your Windows privacy settings for the camera. So, in this article, we will show you some of the methods by which you will be able to fix the webcam not working issue in Windows 10.
So let’s start with the guide…
Method 1: Enable Camera From Windows Settings
Open the Windows start menu by clicking on the Windows icon on the taskbar. From the Start menu, click on the Settings option to open up the Windows Settings as highlighted above.
From the Windows Settings pane, click on the Privacy option as highlighted above.
From the Privacy’s navigation menu click on the Camera option to open Windows Camera settings as shown above.
If you see the section of “Allow apps to access your camera” toggle button to be in a state of unchangeable then click on the Change button located under the section of “Allow access to the camera on this device” as highlighted above.
After clicking on the Change button, you will see a toggle button of “Camera for this device” on a pop-up. Simply click to “turn on” the toggle button as highlighted above. This will also enable the toggle button for “Allow apps to access your camera” as shown above and if you don’t see it enabled just click to enable it.
If your camera was enabled then you can scroll further down to the “Choose which apps can access your camera” section, where you can see a list of installed apps that can use the webcam of your PC. Simply toggle on to enable the particular application that you wish to use the webcam on as shown above.
Method 2: Enable device From Device Manager
From Windows Search bar on the taskbar, type in “Device Manager” as shown above, now click on the Device Manager option located under the Best match result list as highlighted.
After the Device Manager window launch up, locate the Cameras module and click on its expandable arrow to show its components as shown above.
After locating your webcam under the Cameras module, right-click on the webcam option, this will pop up its contextual menu as shown above. Now, click on the Enable device from the menu as highlighted.
Method 3: Update the Webcam driver
Open up the Device Manager window, under the Cameras module, right-click on the webcam to open up its contextual menu as shown above, now from the menu click on the Properties option as highlighted.
Now form the Webcam’s Properties dialog box, click open the Driver tab as shown above. From the Driver tab, click on the Driver Details button as highlighted.
In Driver File Details, under the Driver files section, locate the “stream.sys” file, if found, then the installed webcam device is outdated and will not be supported by Windows 10. If not then…
Close the Drivers file details dialog box and from the Properties box, click on the Update Driver button and follow the instruction. Remember to choose the “search automatically for update driver software” option.
Method 4: Rollback Webcam Driver
If you experienced the webcam not working issue after the Windows update then rolling back the device driver can do the trick. In order to do so just follow the step below.
From the Webcam Properties dialog box, under the Driver tab, if you see the Roll Back Driver button enabled then click on the “Roll Back Driver” button, this will roll back to the previously installed driver of your webcam.
Method 5: Uninstall to reinstall the Webcam Driver
Uninstall the webcam driver by clicking on the Uninstall Device button under the Driver tab in Properties dialog box of your Webcam as shown above.
From the pop-up message of Uninstall Device shown above, click on the uninstall button as shown above. This will uninstall webcam from your Windows.
That’s it! Hope this article helped you to fix the Webcam not working issue in your Windows 10. If you have any confusion or experienced any difficulty following the instruction, please let us know in the comments section below.
