Fix camera missing in device manager on Windows 10 / 11

Is the camera device missing from your Windows 10 computer? If you can’t find the camera on your computer, don’t worry. There are easy ways to solve the issue on your computer. Simply, follow these fixes and the problem will be solved in no time at all. But before going on ahead for the main solutions, try these workarounds first.

Initial Workarounds

1. If this is the first time you are experiencing this kind of issue, reboot your computer.

2. Check if any Windows Update is pending.

3. You can launch the camera just by pressing a multimedia key from your keyboard.

a. Press the F6 multimedia key on your computer.

If this doesn’t work you have to do this-

b. Press the ‘Fn+F6‘ multimedia key from your keyboard.

If any of these workarounds didn’t solve the issue, try these fixes-

Fix-1 Check the camera permission-

1. Search for the “Camera privacy settings” from the search box.

2. Now, click on “Camera privacy settings“.

 

Camera App Setting

 

3. Then in the ‘Allow access to the camera on this device‘ section, click on “Change“.

4. Finally, toggle the Turn the ‘Camera access for this device‘ settings to “ON“.



 

Camera Change

 

Close Settings window.

Try to test the camera on your computer.

For Windows 11 Computer

1 – Search Camera Privacy settings in search box and then clicik on it.

Screenshot 2022 05 30 110807 Min

2 – Now, make sure Camera access is turned ON.

 

Screenshot 2022 05 30 110859 Min

Fix-2 Install legacy hardware-

Installing the legacy hardware on your computer may this camera missing issue.

1. Press Windows key+R to open Run.

2. Now, type “devmgmt.msc” and hit Enter.

Device Manager utility will open.



 

Run Devicemanager

 

3. In the Device Manager window, click on “Action” on the menu bar.

4. Now, click on “Add legacy hardware“.

 

Add Legacy Hardware

 

5. Click on “Next“.

 

Next Legacy

 

6. In Add Hardware window, click on “Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)“.

7. Now, click on “Next“.

 

Install From Folder

 

7. Next window, select the “Cameras” device in the list of all devices.

8. Now, click on “Next“.

 

Camera Next

 

9. Now, select the camera driver from the list of drivers and then click on “Next“.

 

Next

 

 

 

Now, If the List camera list is empty , try adding imaging devices as shown below.

10. In the Device Manager window, click on “Action” on the menu bar.

4. Then, click on “Add legacy hardware“.

 

Add Legacy Hardware

 

5. Click on “Next“.

 

Next Legacy

 

6. In Add Hardware window, click on “Install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)“.

7. Now, click on “Next“.

 

Install From Folder

 

7. Next window, select the “Imaging devices” from the list of devices.

8. Click on “Next“.

 

Imaging Devices

 

9. Now, select the first option from the list.

 

10. Then, click on “Next“.

 

Scsi Devices

 

This device will be installed on your computer.

Reboot your computer to complete the installation process.  After rebooting your computer, the camera device should work normally.

If it is still not visible , then open device manager and then click on View Tab and then select show hidden devices.

Show Hidden Devices

Fix-3 Download camera driver from manufacturers website

You can download the camera driver from the manufacture website and install it in your PC.

Here are some of the popular laptop / PC manufacturers and their driver download page.

For example, here is URL to download Dell driver list. http://www.dell.com/support/Article/us/en/04/SLN85507/EN#Troubleshooting-Webcam-Issues

Similarly go to your manufacturers website and install it if it is inbuilt webcam. If it has been purchased separately, then google that camera company name with driver and download and install it.

Just go to Google.com and search manufacturer  camera driver in Google and download and install the camera driver based on your PC model.

The camera driver will be installed on your computer.

Fix-4 Troubleshoot the issue-

1. Press Windows key+R key to open Run window.

2. In the Run window, type “control”  and then hit Enter.

 

Control Panel Run

 

3. Then, click on “Troubleshooting“.

 

Troubleshooting

 

4. Once the troubleshooting window appears, click on “Hardware and Sound“.

 

Hardware Adn Sound

 

5. Then, click on “Video Playback“.

 

Video Playback

 

6. Then, click on “Next“.

 

Next Troubleshooter1

 

7. Next, click on “I want to continue with this troubleshooter“.

 

I Want To Continue

 

The troubleshooter will detect the problem with the video settings on your computer and try to fix it.



8. Now, click on “Close the troubleshooter“.

 

Close The Troubleshooter

 

Close Control Panel window.

Check if you can find the camera device working on your computer.

Fix-5 Reset Camera app-

1. At first, type “Camera” in the Search box.

2. Then, right-click on the “Camera” application which will appear in the search results and then click on “App settings” to access it.

 

Camera App Setting

 

3. In the Settings window, scroll down through and then click on “Reset“.

4. To reset the device, click on “Reset“.

 

Reset

 

Wait for a while until you can see a tick beside the “Reset” option depicting the completion of the process.

Close Settings window.

Check if this helps or not.

Fix-6 Check for any disabled USB device in device manager

1. Press Windows key+R to open Run.

2. Now, type “devmgmt.msc” and hit Enter.

Device Manager utility will open.

 

Run Devicemanager

 

3. Expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers

4. Now, see if any device is disabled or not, If any device in the list is disabled, right click on it and enable it.

 

Enable Disabled Usb