You can also face this error if your camera has hardware damage. To ensure that, follow all the methods listed in this guide.
1. Update or Re-install the Camera Driver
This error often occurs when the drivers are corrupted or missing from the laptop or computer. After installing the drivers, you will be able to use your camera again because the new driver will overwrite the corrupted one.
1.1 Update Camera driver
1.2 Re-install Camera driver
2. Re-enable your Camera
Re-enabling the camera means disabling and enabling the camera driver from the device manager. When you disable the camera, it will unload the device driver from the RAM, and when you enable it, it will load the driver again. In simple words, it will restart the driver along with the device, which often helps revive a malfunctioned device.
3. Switch to the UVC Driver
Most recent Cameras or Webcams support UVC (standard USB Video Class) driver, which is included in Windows. If the Camera driver is not working properly, switching to the UVC driver can work with your Camera. Hence, try using the UVC driver with the help of the following steps. To use a UVC driver:
4. Run Camera Troubleshooter
Camera troubleshooter will help you detect and fix the problem automatically. It will first check for drivers if they are properly installed or not; then, it will restart some essential services that are important for the Camera to work properly, such as Windows Camera Frame Server service. After updating to the latest driver using the Camera troubleshooter, check whether the issue persists. If it is, then the troubleshooter will offer you to switch to a built-in Windows Camera driver. Just click Yes to install and see if the problem is resolved or not.
5. Check your antivirus software
As the error says, the Camera can be blocked by your antivirus, which means if you use any third-party antivirus software, make sure it is not blocking the camera. To ensure that, turn off the antivirus temporarily to see whether the issue persists or not. To disable the antivirus temporarily:
6. Repair or Reset the Camera App
Finally, you can try resetting or repairing the Camera App because none of the solutions have worked. Since we have tried all the possible solutions, it is possible that your Camera app has some corrupted cache files preventing it from detecting the Camera. To fix this, you will need to reset the camera, which will clear the cache files. To do so:
7. Enable the Camera from Your Laptop Bios
You can disable or enable the integrated devices from the laptop bios settings, such as the Camera, Microphone, and Internal Speakers. If your camera is disabled from the bios settings, you will see this error. To enable the Camera:
8. Enable the Camera from Windows Camera settings
In Windows 11, there is a separate section that detects the connected camera devices along with disabled camera devices. Hence, if your camera is disabled, it will be displayed under Disabled cameras. To do so, follow the steps:
9. Give Access to Your Camera
If the camera app does not have access to your webcam, it will result in this error message. To fix this, you will have to give access to your webcam or camera. To do so, follow the steps:
10. Check for a hardware problem
If the issue still persists, it can be due to a hardware problem with your camera. If you have a laptop and it’s under warranty, we recommend you claim your warranty. Otherwise, take your laptop to a repair shop. If you use an external camera, try plugging it into another device or USB port. If the error appears, it means the camera has a hardware problem. Consider buying a new webcam.
