How to Troubleshoot Windows 10 Camera not Working? 3 Fixes
Many users complained that the integrated webcam or external camera of their laptops stopped working after Windows 10 update. But you don’t need to worry, as I’ll tell you how to fix Windows 10 camera not working in various situations, and hope you can find a solution for the applicable built-in or external camera.
Like Windows 10, the camera not working issue becomes common after upgrading the OS to Windows 11. The system can not detect the built-in camera, privacy is enabled, hardware issues, or recent updates may also trigger this error on Windows 11. Whatever the case may be, you can follow the methods below to resolve the camera issue.
Why is the camera not working?
Before we start solving this issue, let’s see what is causing the camera not to work properly.
In some cases, the camera does not start with the error code 0xA00F4244 (0x200F4244) or 0xA00F4246, or it displays an image with a gray background and a white camera with a cross on it. In addition, other users get error code 0xA00F4243 (0xC00D3704) because “Other applications seem to be using the camera already”.
The main causes of this error:
- Windows 10 Update.
- Incorrect settings configuration.
- Access is disabled by the application.
- Missing or corrupted system files.
- Hardware problems.
- Other unknown reasons.
In this post, I will introduce you to 3 practical ways to fix the camera not working on Windows 10, take a look.
01 Install or update the camera driver
If the camera stops working after updating Windows 10, it is possible that the camera driver in Windows 10 is causing compatibility issues and the camera driver needs to be installed or updated to fix the webcam issue on Windows 10.
The task of upgrading and installing drivers you can just leave to Driver Talent, a professional driver software. It will automatically update all device drivers to the latest correct version, no need to research your own hands.
1) You can download and install Driver Talent on your computer.
2) Run it and click Scan. Then Driver Talent will search for your computer with the missing or corrupted drivers.
3) Click Install All to get drivers updated.
Then you just sit back and see Driver Talent update all your outdated and corrupted drivers easily and quickly for your computer, which may fix the camera issue.
Or you can upgrade the driver through the Device Manager.
Step 1 Press Windows+I on your keyboard to open Windows Settings and click on Update & Security.
Step 2 Click on the blue View Optional Updates.
Step 3 In the Driver Updates section, select the driver update for the camera window.
Step 4 Click on the Download and Install button.
After installing the latest webcam driver, you can now test the webcam and see if it is back to normal.
02 Roll back the driver
Sometimes, updating the Windows 10 webcam driver may also cause problems, usually because the camera was working properly before the most recent driver update, you can fix this by using Device Manager to restore and roll back the driver to a previous version.
Step 1 Open Start, type Device Manager to search, and click on the top result.
Step 2 Expand the Imaging Devices, Cameras, or Sound, Video, and Game Controllers categories.
Step 3 Right-click on the camera and select the Properties option.
Step 4 Then in the Drivers tab, select Roll back drivers.
Step 5 Check the box My apps don’t work with this driver and press Yes, then restart your computer.
After you complete the above steps, the old version of the webcam driver will be restored so that your camera can work again.
03 Check Windows 10 camera privacy settings
Sometimes, the problem is not that the webcam is not working, but that some apps have disabled the webcam due to your Windows 10 privacy settings. If your camera works, but you can’t access the camera from specific apps, you can choose to check the privacy settings first.
Step 1 Open Settings, click Privacy, and then click Camera.
Step 2 In the Allow access to the camera on this device section, click the Change button and toggle Camera access on this device to On.
Step 3 In the “Choose which Microsoft Store apps can access your camera” section, flip the toggle switch for the program you want to allow camera access.
After completing the above steps, the camera should now be accessible from the apps you selected.
Bottom Line
After trying one of the above methods, is your camera back in working order? Next time, check your camera ahead of time before an important online meeting or exam, just in case.