A Simple Guide to fix your Windows 10 Camera

The Windows 10 camera app suddenly stops working. Is the webcam not working? Have the photos and videos also disappeared from this app?

If you also get the error message “An error has occurred”, it means that this camera does not work under Windows 10 because of some errors. Many users report that either the camera integrated with the laptop or external webcams such as Logitech or Alienware no longer work after the Windows 10 update. In some cases, the camera will not start due to errors 0xA00F4244 (0x200F4244) or 0xA00F4246, or an image with a gray background and a crossed-out white camera symbol appears. Often the error 0xA00F4243 (0xC00D3704) occurs because “it seems that the camera is already being used by another app.”

In this post, we will describe how to fix your camera not working problem on Windows 10 in different situations (Lenovo, Acer, Dell, Asus, etc.). You can find a solution here for your built-in or external camera.

Windows 10 camera not working – here is how to fix it?

The article will show you effective solutions on how to fix the not working Windows 10 camera and recover your data.

Method 1.

First, check for updates to the Camera. Before going through the listed possible solutions, you should do them first:

• Check for updates. Select Start, then Settings> Update & Security> Windows Update> Check for Updates. If you see the Show optional updates option, select it to see if there are any updates available for your camera. Allow the available updates to be installed and restart your device when it is ready.

If you did not restart your computer since the camera stopped working, select Start, then choose Power> Restart. Test your camera with the camera app. Select Start and then Camera from the list of apps. When prompted to “Allow access to the camera,” select Yes. In case the camera is working in the camera app, the problem might be with the app you are trying to use.

Method 2. Windows 10 camera settings

Here, you can change the settings for the camera app. If the camera application has stopped working, you need to check your privacy settings, which may block the camera application from accessing your webcam.

• To do this, open the settings and click on the data protection category—select Camera under the App Permissions section on the left. On the right side, you have to turn on the setting “Allow apps to access your camera”. Scroll down to find the camera app and allow it to access the webcam.
• After selecting “Allow access to the camera,” go to choose which apps can access your camera and turn on camera access for the applications you want. Only applications installed from the Microsoft Store will appear in this list.

Method 3.

Check Your Hardware Drivers – 4 Solutions. In this section, we are going to describe four solutions to check de Camera hardware drivers.

1. Use a different USB port also scan for hardware changes

If you are using an external camera, first try using it with a different USB port on your device. If that does not work or the camera is built into your device, you can try this solution:

• Select Start, enter device manager; you can also select this from the search results option.
• Find your camera under the option “Cameras, Imaging Devices, or Sound, Video, and Game Controllers.”
• If you cannot find your camera, select the Action menu and then Scan for Hardware Changes.
• Wait for the updated drivers to be scanned and reinstalled, restart your device, and then try to open the camera application again.

If these steps do not fix your problem, move on to the next few steps.

2. Check for an incompatible camera driver

Many old cameras are designed for the older devices. Therefore, those are not compatible with an updated Windows 10. Here is how you can check that the camera is compatible or not:

• In the Device Manager option, look for your camera under Cameras, Imaging Devices, or Sound, Video, and Game Controllers option.
• Now, press and hold (or right-click) your camera’s name, then choose Properties.
• Select the Driver tab, click the Driver Details button and look for a file name that contains stream.sys. If it is there, your camera was designed prior to Windows 7, and you will need to replace it with a newer camera.

If you cannot find a filename that contains a stream.sys, continue with the next steps.

3. Reset or update webcam drivers

In case the camera of your device stopped working after you have updated it, try these steps:

Incompatible or outdated drivers can also prevent the camera application from working. If case, the problem started due to Windows 10 upgrade, try to restore the previous version of your webcam driver:

• Open “Device Manager” then right-click Steer to your webcam device, and then select “Properties.”
• Select the Driver tab then click on Reset Driver.
• Choose the reason you want to roll back to previous drivers and click Yes.
• Now, you can Restart your device and also check if the camera application is working or not.
  

4. Uninstall camera driver and again download windows 10 camera driver

• In the Device Manager option, press and hold or you can right-click the camera option, then choose Properties.
• Now, select the Driver tab then uninstall a device. After selecting the check box delete the driver software for this device, then select “OK.”
• From the “Action” menu under the Device Manager, select “Scan for Hardware Changes.”
• Wait for the updated drivers to be scanned and reinstalled, restart your PC, then try opening the camera application again.

What to do when getting a windows 10 camera black screen

After the Windows 10 update, the built-in camera of your laptop no longer works with the camera app or applications like Skype due to the error 0xA00F4243, according to which you should close other apps because the camera is apparently already being used by another app.

Check Task Manager

• Click the empty space on the toolbar and select Task Manager from the menu.
• Once the Task Manager opens, navigate to the processes and stop running any apps that are likely to be using your camera right now.

If you discover among the processes that services like Intel (R) RealSense (TM) Depth Camera Manager have been stopped in the Services tab, many users say the camera will work again as soon as you run them.

How to fix windows 10 camera not working Lenovo

You should also check for the privacy settings in Lenovo Vantage (if you have installed it).

• Now, from the Vantage Dashboard, try navigating to the menu available at the top of the page.
• Then go to the Device section and select “My Device Settings.”
• On the My Devices Settings page, navigate to the Display and Camera section.
• Now, scroll down to the Camera Settings section. There should be a switch for the privacy mode of the camera.
• If the toggle is in color and points to green, please click off. The color should be gray and off when the setting is off.
• If this works, you should see an image in the camera area indicating that the webcam is no longer in privacy mode.

Step 1: Check if the camera is correctly recognized in Device Manager.

• Open the Device Manager and then navigate to “Imaging Devices.”
• If you do not find imaging device, it means that the camera modem is not configured, or the camera may have a hardware problem.
• In case you find a yellow exclamation mark, it means the camera driver is not properly installed or is outdated.
• You can right-click and select “Uninstall”.
• Now, right-click on the “Imaging Devices” option and choose “Scan for Hardware Changes.”
• If you still see the yellow exclamation mark, you can go to https://support.lenovo.com,  and find the product name. Here, you can find the compatible camera driver, which you can install and update.
• Now, you can browse your product name, and open the compatible product page.
• Simply Navigate to the Drivers & Software tab and filter it by “operating system/component” or search for a camera.
• You can now download and install the camera driver.

 Note:

• You can also run Lenovo Vantage to update drivers. Lenovo Vantage See Lenovo Vantage: Using your PC just got easier.
• If the camera is not a built-in camera, check that the camera is connected properly.

Verdict

Right now, we are really doubling our video calls. With the rise of remote working, video conferencing, online presentations, and even video calling with family have become part of our daily routine.

Unfortunately, webcam malfunction is still one of the most common problems users face. Whether you’re using a Mac or PC and have an internal or external webcam, this guide will walk you through troubleshooting and repairing your webcam, so you can get your face back on screen. We hope that your camera works again after the Windows 10 update. If not, describe your problem to us in the comments below.