OBS Virtual Camera may affect built-in webcams
Cloudmage opened this issue ยท 87 comments
Using OBS virtual camera in Microsoft Teams able to use teh power of OBS, however on subsequant uses following a reboot of the laptop the inbuilt camera is no longer available on the device. Its being uninstalled or wont load properly.
This has happened on several devices, Lenovo and HP.
Platform
Operating system and version: Windows 10 1909
OBS Studio version: 26.0
Expected Behavior
OBS virtual camera should allow the selection of cameras (inbuilt/external) but also allow them to be accessed via additional applications such as Microsoft Teams.
Current Behavior
OBS is holding the cameras after it has been closed and the only choice available for other applications in the OBS Virtual Camera.
In Device Manager the internal camera is now show as uninstalled and trying to reinstall with updated drivers does not work
Uninstall of OBS does not solve this as the uninstall is not removing everything.
Steps to Reproduce
- Install OBS 26.0 on a laptop with an inbuilt camera, MS Teams
- Run a Teams meeting using OSB virtual camera
- Reboot laptop - internal camera now missing in Teams
Additional information
This has happened to several people all using different hardware.
What does Device Manager say about the device?
Said it was uninstalled. Tried to reinstall the camera and now its not showing at all. I should have copied out the error, but cant get back to it now.
Found the device in device manager now - says
" Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45) To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer."
Its an internal device and is already connected. latest drivers have been installed.
My thinking is that the OBS Camera is using something that the inbuilt cameras need and has taken the priority on it.
If you uninstall OBS, then uninstall the real device in Device Manager and reboot, does that help?
I'm booting up my laptop now to try and reproduce.
tried that. no still the same. Not sure if OBS is leaving something there. Windows install not removing everything
The general rule is that OBS only "uses" webcams if OBS is open and the camera is selected in the "Video Capture Device" source. Otherwise, it has no context of such devices. Once uninstalled, it cleans itself up and as of OBS 26 also removes the virtual camera that contains the OBS output.
After an uninstall I still have a desktop icon and obs-virtualcam-module64.dll is still present in c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow\
Edit - another process has this DLL - Probably as Teams is open - will try again with everything closed down.
Tried a reinstall first to then do an uninstall to check it removed all - OBS has said - "OBS files are being used by the following applications: Skype of Business, Microsoft Teams Please close these applications to continue setup."
There is no checking on the uninstall that another process has the DLL. Just assumes it has uninstalled correctly - only a reinstall.
The OBS Virtual Camera is not the selected camera, but does appear on the dropdown list in Teams. I havent selected it in Skype at all.
after removing obs, still unable to get the internal camera active again
Unfortunately, I don't think this is anything OBS is doing. We don't interact or affect other devices on a system, and the virtual camera is entirely self-contained. This sounds like an issue with the system itself, especially if the issue is present after OBS is removed and the virtual camera dlls unregistered. I'll leave this open though as there is no conclusive solution, and if there is something on our end causing this, we should certainly fix it, I am just not even a little sure where to begin.
@Fenrirthviti @WizardCM Thanks for looking into this. Im going to look at a rebuild of the system ground up and try again. A collegue of mine did experience similar issues when their camera also went. They had two camera (front and back on device) and its the main one at the front that dropped. Ive asked them to post some details here.
Appriciate the time spent looking into this though.
I have tested this on my Surface Book 2 which has 2 cameras and so far neither has disappeared. I'll keep an eye on it, and additionally I'll test on a couple laptops this upcoming weekend. At the moment, I agree with Fenrir that it's unlikely that it's caused by OBS - maybe a Windows update of some kind?
I spend 2 hours with a user on Discord yesterday who came in with the same issue. The system had trouble recognising his webcam (also a Lenovo laptop), though it would work for a few seconds it'd disappear from Zoom, and Device Manager would report that the "Device Descriptor Failed". In my experience this usually means the device couldn't get enough power to properly communicate with the system. A System Restore to before OBS was installed did not restore functionality.
For anyone having this issue, please provide the following:
Windows Release Version: (2004, 1909, etc - Settings -> System -> About -> Windows specifications)
Device ID: USB\VID_xxxx&PID_xxxx (can be found using Device Manager -> Details -> Device instance path)
Laptop Brand/Model:
Camera Model: (can be fetched from Device Manager or via USBView)
Device Manager Error: (this could be a variety of errors, visible on the General tab under "Device status")
Apps Tested: (Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, Discord, etc)
Windows Release Version: 1803
Device ID: USB\VID_046D&PID_082D&MI_00\9&24CEEA53&2&0000
Laptop Brand/Model: Fujitisu
Camera Model: Logitech HD Pro C920
Device Manager Error: none that i have seen
Apps Tested: Zoom, Teams (fat app, online), MS Camera app,
So i have uninstalled OBS Studio Pro, took the uninstall.bat file from this repo and run that, I still have "OBS Virtual Camera" in Teams and MS Camera App.
Oddly only Teams fat-app and Camera fail when i switch from local laptop camera or OBS Studio to the logitech USB camera.
Zoom, Teams online (any web-based camera) all work fine.
So something has upset Teams and makes it "glitch" and restart the teams fat-app.
Any help appreciated.
thanks
@nicholas-cross-fujitsu If you uninstalled OBS before running the uninstall.bat file, it won't successfully uninstall the virtual camera. You either have to manually unregister the DLL, or re-install then go to the C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow and run the uninstaller that's automatically in there.
@nicholas-cross-fujitsu If you uninstalled OBS before running the uninstall.bat file, it won't successfully uninstall the virtual camera. You either have to manually unregister the DLL, or re-install then go to the
C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshowand run the uninstaller that's automatically in there.
I tried
dir "c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow\obs-virtualcam-module64.dll"
Volume in drive C is Windows
Volume Serial Number is 20DF-E51B
Directory of c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow
29/09/2020 12:51 906,768 obs-virtualcam-module64.dll
1 File(s) 906,768 bytes
0 Dir(s) 229,792,468,992 bytes free
%windir%\System32\regsvr32.exe /u /s "c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow\obs-virtualcam-module64.dll"
but i get a return code 3. LoadLibrary failed
Though this did remove the "OBS Virtual Camera" in teams.
thanks
Windows Release Version: 2004, 64bit
Device ID: USB\VID_1BCF&PID_2C01&REV_6503&MI_00 and USB\VID_1BCF&PID_2C01&MI_00
Laptop Brand/Model: Dell Inspiron 7566
Camera Model: built-in one, _SB.PCI0.XHC.RHUB.HS12.CAMB
Device Manager Error: I fixed the issue already
Apps Tested: Everywhere (Meet, Discord, OBS, Windows app called Camera, troubleshooting, Device manager, etc etc)
BIOS (after update mentioned below): DELL Inc. 1.0.4
I'm attaching my DxDiag: DxDiag.txt
So after OBS installation of 26 version (I was still on 25) last week my built-in camera got disabled. It was physically visible in Device Manager (only after "Show hidden devices" turning on), but disabled there, with "Enable" grayed out. However, new OBS Virtual Camera popped out everywhere in its stead. Support wrote something like "we don't have repro, it's rare, you won't be able to fix it".
But I did fix it after lots of struggling, installing drivers, reinstalling, updating everything, deinstalling/reinstalling OBS, troubleshooting dozen of times, updating even BIOS. I was about to reinstall my entire system. I was also convinced 3rd party app can't meddle with BIOS, but here we are - I finally checked if there are any camera options in BIOS, since it's built-in my laptop. And yes, indeed - camera was disabled in BIOS. Simple turning it on solved the problem. Rhetorical question, should OBS meddle with that?
//Edit:
I've found a screenshot I made right after the issue occurred.
What the Error message says in Polish is that "this particualr device isn't connected to the computer (code 45). To fix the issue reconnect the device to the computer".
OBS 26.1.1
Windows Release Version: 1909
Device ID: USB\VID_0BDA&PID_5650&MI_00\6&1D5726D5&0&0000
Laptop Brand/Model: Dell
Camera Model: built-in, brand?
Device Manager Error: none that i have seen
Apps Tested: Zoom, Teams (app), Zoom
Symptoms: Not as severe as posted, but cannot use cameras for which I have a source defined in in any Scene in OBS when OBS is running, even when that source is not selected/active. Deleting the source from OBS releases the camera for use by other apps.
Update on my issue.
Seems a Global Policy setting added
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows Media Foundation\Platform
EnableFrameServerMode=0
removing this entry and all was back to normal. Thus NOT an issue with OBS.
removing this entry and all was back to normal. Thus NOT an issue with OBS.
What about OBS studio adding it? if it worked before, it means that obs added that.
As said it was a Global Policy setting, this means it was applied via Active Directory Security Policy settings. (not a local policy setting by a user at the keyboard or an application)
My macbook air inbuilt webcam also gone after using virtual camera
Someone help me to fix it guys.
OBS 26.1.1
Windows Release Version: 10.0.19043 Build 19043
Device ID: USB\VID_13D3&PID_5666&REV_1015&MI_00
Laptop Brand/Model: ASUS TUF FX504
Camera Model: built-in, USB 2.0 HD UVC WebCam
Device Manager Error: Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45) To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer.
Apps Tested: Discord, Zoom, Google Meet, Camera
Symptom : The usual option of USB 2.0 HD UVC WebCam is changed into OBS Virtual Camera and i can't change it because in device manager the webcam is now hidden
Uninstall built-in webcam and then reboot make the built-in webcam disappear, and uninstalling OBS virtual camera still doesn't resolve the issue.
Image from Device Manager
and Discord
Is there anyone that can help me ?, i already tried several "fix" in this topic but some of it can't be done because the option is doesn't exist.
The fix i already tried
- Troubleshoot and Reinstall hardware
- Registry editor EnableFrameServerMode
- BIOS camera switch ( unfortunately there's no option for camera on my BIOS )
- Third-party software ( already ask the tech support from ASUS and they said the driver will be installed with windows update )
- Using restore point when i installed OBS
The only last thing that i didn't do is reset my pc, or do i miss something ?
Is there anyone that can help me ?, i already tried several "fix" in this topic but some of it can't be done because the option is doesn't exist.
The fix i already tried
- Troubleshoot and Reinstall hardware
- Registry editor EnableFrameServerMode
- BIOS camera switch ( unfortunately there's no option for camera on my BIOS )
- Third-party software ( already ask the tech support from ASUS and they said the driver will be installed with windows update )
- Using restore point when i installed OBS
The only last thing that i didn't do is reset my pc, or do i miss something ?
Resetting of PC is also didn't work, I try it already
I think the Obs Dev is sleeping It's been more 6 months from opening of this thread still no fix ๐
I think the Obs Dev is sleeping It's been more 6 months from opening of this thread still no fix ๐
@ExceptionRegret
As far as I know, none of the active contributors have been able to reproduce this issue or determine what is causing it. I don't see how we can produce a fix for something we haven't been able to reproduce or isolate. While I understand that you may be frustrated, comments like this do nothing to help us actually resolve the issue.
The code for the macOS and Windows virtual cameras are so vastly different that I do not believe the issue you're having is the same as the one described in the original post. If this is happening to you on macOS, I encourage you to meaningfully engage with us on our forums or Discord about what has occurred in your case and perhaps we can determine if it's at all related to this GitHub Issue or if it is an entirely new problem that needs a separate GitHub Issue.
As for this issue, I'm inclined to believe that certain Windows systems disable their built-in webcam after detecting the presence of the OBS Virtual Camera, and then never recover from that state even after the OBS Virtual Camera is uninstalled. I have no idea why that would happen though, and without an affected system to examine ourselves, I'm not sure we're able to find out.
I think the Obs Dev is sleeping It's been more 6 months from opening of this thread still no fix ๐
@ExceptionRegret
As far as I know, none of the active contributors have been able to reproduce this issue or determine what is causing it. I don't see how we can produce a fix for something we haven't been able to reproduce or isolate. While I understand that you may be frustrated, comments like this do nothing to help us actually resolve the issue.The code for the macOS and Windows virtual cameras are so vastly different that I do not believe the issue you're having is the same as the one described in the original post. If this is happening to you on macOS, I encourage you to meaningfully engage with us on our forums or Discord about what has occurred in your case and perhaps we can determine if it's at all related to this GitHub Issue or if it is an entirely new problem that needs a separate GitHub Issue.
As for this issue, I'm inclined to believe that certain Windows systems disable their built-in webcam after detecting the presence of the OBS Virtual Camera, and then never recover from that state even after the OBS Virtual Camera is uninstalled. I have no idea why that would happen though, and without an affected system to examine ourselves, I'm not sure we're able to find out.
is there anything that i can help to solve this issue ?, because i need the webcam for online class
Same issue.
Toshiba Qosmio A-70 running latest Windows 10 Home Edition.
Inbuilt web cam working perfectly until OBS 27 installed. Worked fine with Zoom until reboot then no camera detected. Same errors as other posts above. Despite claims of of no-fault by OBS dev team OBS has made a system change that prevents my laptop from detecting the camera is installed. Deleting OBS, rebooting, updating drivers - no solution. Now left camera-less in a work from home Zoom environment. Tried the suggested registry and bios fixes listed above but it made no difference.
Camera issue reported above resolved by deleting the camera in the Windows device manager and then rescanning for devices. Windows then detected the camera and all is back to 'normal'. It is still a mystery why this happened after installing OBS, using OBS and Zoom for a few days without issue and then 'losing' the camera after rebooting the laptop!
@johnxramsay thanks for the update. Unfortunately we have gotten no closer to figuring it why this could possibly occur, but every report helps us figure out how many people it affects and how.
got the same problem.
I too, have this issue. Discovered last night when trying to make a video call through messenger on Facebook. The camera settings give the option of OBS Vitual Camera and the inbuilt camera. I can select the inbuilt camera from the drop down but the save button will not "save" the settings. Settings in mesenger show the OBS logo.
Since I last used Facebook messenger for a video chat, I am using Windows 11 and also Microsoft has released Teams!
Un-installing OBS and a restart did not fix this issue.
I too, have this issue. Discovered last night when trying to make a video call through messenger on Facebook. The camera settings give the option of OBS Vitual Camera and the inbuilt camera. I can select the inbuilt camera from the drop down but the save button will not "save" the settings. Settings in mesenger show the OBS logo.
Since I last used Facebook messenger for a video chat, I am using Windows 11 and also Microsoft has released Teams!
Un-installing OBS and a restart did not fix this issue.
You just only uninstall only OBS. I Uninstall the OBS and I did factory reset my entire Hard Drive and Reinstall Operating System, but still no fix for it.
My wife is using OBS studio and after the latest update the webcam on the apple cinema display is not working. It has completely disappeared. She is running an AMD build with the latest win10 update and latest OBS studio. Removing virtual obs cam did not work, and removing obs did not work either. So from the comments here it seems like OBS made an oopsie somewhere. Anyone with insight into why the OBS virtual webcam takes over all other webcams? Any insights into why other webcams are being disabled?
My wife said she needed to make the video size smaller, so she went to youtube and followed some guide to change settings in OBS from MKV to something else and after that the webcam broke. This was the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei7UN830lFs&t=80s
I encounter this issue as well, though for me it's an external Logitech webcam so unplug and plug in again make the camera appear. So just in case you have external camera, try unplug as a workaround
I've had OBS installed for months with no issues. I may have accidentally clicked the virtual cam but honestly I'm not sure. I just wanted to do a quick recording before a work thing. anyway camera is now disabled and i've tried all of the solutions to this except for going into the BIOS cause that kinda scares me. I can research issues but i'm not a tech guy
Windows Release Version:
Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 20H2
OS build 19042.1237
Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3530.0
Device ID: USB\VID_xxxx&PID_xxxx (USB\VID_04F2&PID_B685&MI_00\7&1A291DC7&0&0000)
Laptop Brand/Model: Schenker XMG Apex 15 (Clevo NH57AF1)
Camera Model: chicony USB2.0 camera
Device Manager Error: code 45, hardware device is not connected to the computer
Apps Tested: specific work program, zoom, discord.
I've recently had this issue. Downloaded OBS to record some videos. In my particular case, I did not close the program, but just closed my laptop and it went into sleep mode. After that, I tried using my camera and it wasn't recognized, only the OBS virtual camera, which is my screen.
Windows Release Version: Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 21H1
OS build 19043.1288
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0
Device ID: USB\VID_04F2&PID_B685&MI_00\6&37BAF85&0&0000
NOTE: Camera not even shown on Device Manager. I found that in hidden devices
Laptop Brand/Model: Aorus 5 KB
Camera Model: Chicony USB2.0 Camera
Device Manager Error: When opening Camera App: 0xA00F4244. Camera not found
Apps Tested: Zoom, Google Meets, Camera App, Slack, etc.
Since OBS installation no major updates have been installed on my machine. Would be awesome to get a solution for this, I use my camera a lot and haven't been able to do so for a while now.
I see this is now a recurring issue, would be nice if OBS devs see this and prioritize it.
So it looks like it's been over a year and there's still no definitive solution to this issue. I have also encountered this on an HP computer running Windows 10. Not only does OBS only give the OBS Virtual Camera as an option, but all apps that would use the built-in camera no longer have access to it. It's scrubbed thoroughly from the system. I cannot even uninstall the camera software because I can't see it anywhere in Device Manager.
Seems like geb88, with his BIOS solution, might be the only person on the right track. I'm going to give it a try later, but for now I'm commenting to add to the pile of people waiting for a clearer fix. If the problem is how the system responds to OBS, then what can OBS do to not trigger this response?
We're still closely tracking this, but unfortunately, we have not been able to replicate it internally.
Right now, the thing we need is access to a system that has the issue to do some investigation/troubleshooting. If you are willing to work with us, please send an email to contact@obsproject.com so we can set up a date/time to do a remote session where we can investigate what is going on. This should be on a system you are comfortable with one of our developers accessing remotely and installing debugging software (it can be removed afterwards).
I'm not sure if anyone would be comfortable with that, to be honest. I myself wouldn't, I use my computer for studies/work and heavily rely on it. This makes a solution more urgent, and hoping for someone with this issue to contribute might not be the best approach. Do you think setting a due date for someone to show up would help, or do you propose a workaround for this?
We don't know what's going on with it, and everyone who experiences the issue is not willing to let us take a closer look, so there is not really much we can do. We have spent months trying to replicate the issue on our end so we don't need another system, to no avail. Debugging OBS would be a non-destructive act, it poses very little, if any, risk to your system, and any debugging software will be cleanly removed after we can take a look.
Without access to a machine that has this issue, there isn't really anything we can do. We simply don't have enough information on what might be causing it to even guess at a solution or workaround.
As a side note, this also seems to only affect systems that are company issued or work-related, so there might be some kind of enterprise software that is causing this problem we just don't have ready access to.
I'll chime in now that I have hit this. I installed OBS for the first time today (have never used it before) on my personal machine not linked to an Active Directory. My camera has worked without any issues for years. I setup OBS, did some testing, closed OBS and reopened a few times while playing around, and after the third or fourth time opening, I noticed that it wasn't picking up my video input. The standard Windows Camera app couldn't find my device.
While @Fenrirthviti said:
We don't interact or affect other devices on a system, and the virtual camera is entirely self-contained. This sounds like an issue with the system itself, especially if the issue is present after OBS is removed and the virtual camera dlls unregistered
the fact that my camera suddenly stopped working maybe an hour after installing OBS would seem a very odd coincidence for it to not be caused by this installation. I'll also note that in playing with OBS, I setup some keyboard shortcuts to mute/unmute the video input device, and I have also found that my Greenshot screen cap program is not responding to its pre-set keyboard shortcuts anymore. Maybe it's unrelated, but again it would seem a bizarre coincidence.
I went into the Device Manager and found:
There was no apparent way to fix this within Windows. Restarting didn't do anything.
For what it's worth, though, I did go into my BIOS to check the settings, and while it has no settings for the built-in camera, I selected "Discard Changes". (I made no changes myself, but why not try?) When I got back into Windows, my camera worked again.
To be clearer on my comment there, I'm not saying that it's not possible we're triggering some kind of system issue, but as our virtualcam doesn't reach outside itself, it's very difficult for us to understand what is happening.
It will be almost impossible for us to move forward with this issue without direct access to a system that has the issue to do further debugging to understand what is going on. See: #3555 (comment)
Hi @aeshirey! Is it possible you could guide us into how to 'Discard Changes' from the BIOS, to see if it is possible to do so after some time has passed with the camera being disabled?
Would very much appreciate it.
So I have a HP Pabillion Gaming laptop with pre installed windows10. I installed obs, nothing goes wrong. I update it to windows 11 and roll back to windows 10 a few time and install the same version of obs (from the same installer that I have on another disk) and everything worked perfectly fine. Then I swap the boot drive, install windows 10 on it and the obs didn't kill my webcam, but when I update it to windows 11, the webcam was killed (since I didn't use the webcam regularly, not sure if it's obs's fault or not but because obs was installed on my laptop and no solution I tried work (for me and for other people on this thread), I think it may be obs's fault. The point is it's weird because I have the same system, same version of obs with several versions of windows installed and the problem only occurred once.
Hi @aeshirey! Is it possible you could guide us into how to 'Discard Changes' from the BIOS, to see if it is possible to do so after some time has passed with the camera being disabled? Would very much appreciate it.
Search <Your PC's manufacturer (Dell, Asus, HP,..) > bios function key and then restart the computer, continuously press that key on startup to enter the BIOS setting. Use the arrow key to navigate around and change whatever setring you want (with the keyboard) and then navigate to the last column (by pressing -> key and choose "discard change" (or save change if you know what you have just done)
Awesome, thanks @aeshirey!
My update is that now the camera works for around 10 seconds during startup. After that, it just turns off and the previous message (0xA00F4244. Camera not found) is shown again.
Hope this helps.
For any of you who are afraid entering BIOS like I did - looking and navigating in it isn't dangerous. It may look scary though (especially on PC with MSI boards xD) but untill you save anything (a specific key) you are safe to look around. Don't save the changes if you don't know what are you changing though!
As an update, the issue didn't happen again even though I did finally install the newer version of OBS. Once fixed it stays fixed.
If I had to guess which other app might interfere with OBS I would definitely point at Discord. I know what it can occasionally do to my cablefree Sennheiser headphones and it sometimes interfere with Meet on Firefox.
Same here. Both webcams have been killed by OBS... my internal webcams are not recognized in any app of my laptop. Can't believe it. Here is what I tried so far:
- Troubleshoot and Reinstall hardware
- Registry editor EnableFrameServerMode
- BIOS camera switch
- Third-party software
- Using restore point when i installed OBS
Any news from the OBS team???
Same here. Both webcams have been killed by OBS... my internal webcams are not recognized in any app of my laptop. Can't believe it. Here is what I tried so far:
- Troubleshoot and Reinstall hardware
- Registry editor EnableFrameServerMode
- BIOS camera switch
- Third-party software
- Using restore point when i installed OBS
Any news from the OBS team???
The news has not changed. We still need someone who is willing to work with us to investigate a system that is actively having the issue, as we cannot replicate on our end. Until someone is willing to help us investigate, there's not really anything we can do. See: #3555 (comment)
I'm willing to work with you. I have the same issues with my PC. bpapellero@gmail. com
I also have the same issue except that after the temporary BIOS fix, it was detected but as a black canvas.
I have already contacted the email and hopefully get this bug fix.
It is also worth noticing that my camera has a physical light that lights every time it is on, but for this occasion, it just flickers randomly.
Hello,
I have the same problem, has anyone been able to resolve the issue?
(& Shouldnt the developers warn users about this before they install OBS)
Same here. Both webcams have been killed by OBS... my internal webcams are not recognized in any app of my laptop. Can't believe it. Here is what I tried so far:
- Troubleshoot and Reinstall hardware
- Registry editor EnableFrameServerMode
- BIOS camera switch
- Third-party software
- Using restore point when i installed OBS
Any news from the OBS team???
The news has not changed. We still need someone who is willing to work with us to investigate a system that is actively having the issue, as we cannot replicate on our end. Until someone is willing to help us investigate, there's not really anything we can do. See: #3555 (comment)
If you still havent found anyone willing to work with you on this problem, email me at jadsadaka99@gmail.com, id be more than happy to.
I fixed mine after:
Uninstall/Reinstall - fail
Update drivers (system, camera, etc) - failed
System restore - failed (tbh my only restore point was only after I installed OBS)
Uninstalled Bitfocus Companion app - failed (fixed for a couple of weeks but was back)
Soft reinstall of windows 10OS -failed
Full OS reinstall - fixed
Hi, Not been able to resolve this issue on my brand new laptop since then and no news from OBS. I am a lawyer and would be ready to take a class action suit pro bono (or other legal remedy, TBD). Anyone interested to be part of the group please let me know asap.
I don't think threatening legal action against a piece of free, open source software, developed by a community for free, provided as-is with no warranty, is a great way to get us to fix a problem. But, best of luck with that I suppose.
We know this is an issue. We don't know why. We've asked for people who are willing to help us by giving us access to a host which has the issue, and have not been able to coordinate with anyone yet. We have reached out to a few of the people offering help, but scheduling a time has been challenging where everyone is available.
Nobody is ignoring this, nobody is saying it isn't an issue, and if we knew how to fix, we already would have.
My webcam no longer works and isn't even recognized by Windows. Not sure how long it's been, as I rarely use my webcam on this machine. Before I try going back into my BIOS to try resetting configuration, is there anything you'd like me to check or try?
To be clear: while I've experienced this problem and believe it's tied to OBS, I don't know whether anything I've done recently has caused this recurrence.
Hi, Not been able to resolve this issue on my brand new laptop since then and no news from OBS. I am a lawyer and would be ready to take a class action suit pro bono (or other legal remedy, TBD). Anyone interested to be part of the group please let me know asap.
I don't think threatening legal action against a piece of free, open source software, developed by a community for free, provided as-is with no warranty, is a great way to get us to fix a problem. But, best of luck with that I suppose.
We know this is an issue. We don't know why. We've asked for people who are willing to help us by giving us access to a host which has the issue, and have not been able to coordinate with anyone yet. We have reached out to a few of the people offering help, but scheduling a time has been challenging where everyone is available.
Nobody is ignoring this, nobody is saying it isn't an issue, and if we knew how to fix, we already would have.
I have initiated contacts with Mr Ryan, a developer from the OBS team. Hopefully we'll coordinate a meeting very soon and resolve this issue once and for all.
For those where the camera has physically disappeared (e.g. the integrated camera no longer appears as an option in various apps), please post the camera's original hardware ID, found as follows:
- Open Device Manager by right clicking the Start menu and selecting "Device Manager"
- From the menu, choose View / Show Hidden Devices
- Under Cameras or Imaging Devices, find the integrated camera (it should be greyed out). There may be more than one - if so just pick one - they should all have the same hardware ID.
- Right click it and go to properties and go the details tab
- Select "Hardware IDs" from the dropdown, then right click and copy the first value in the list and reply here with it (your laptop manufacturer and model would also be useful). It should look something like
USB\VID_046D&PID_0843&REV_0013&MI_00.
Glad to hear this is progressing, thanks!
- Laptop: Gigabyte Aorus 5
- Camera Hardware ID: USB\VID_04F2&PID_B685&REV_5404&MI_00
What about Mac OS Guys?๐
Edit: Anyone Tell How to Find that hardware id in macbook
Laptop: Microsoft Surface Book 3
Camera Hardware ID: VIDEO\VEN_8086&DEV_8A52&SUBSYS_00431414&REV_07&INT3480
From what I can tell, the affected cameras are all based on the same OEM model from Sunplus Innovation Technology. Symptoms seem to vary from the device disappearing entirely, to the device failing USB device descriptor requests.
Laptop : ASUS TUF FX504
Hardware ID: USB\VID_13D3&PID_5666&REV_1015&MI_00
Laptop : Dell Inspiron 7559
Hardware : USB\VID_1BCF&PID_2082&REV_0100&MI_00
Laptop: ASUS N580VD
Hardware ID(s): USB\VID_13D3&PID_56A2&REV_1701&MI_00 / USB\VID_13D3&PID_56A2&MI_00
Edit for more info: This started very recently for me after updating to one of the newer versions on the 2nd of July. After this, my laptop stopped recognising my inbuilt camera and my only option is to use the OBS VirtualCam. Even after uninstalling, it was prompting me to use the nonexistent VirtualCam. After re-installing and running the uninstall-virtualcam.bat file, now no cameras are detected at all, and my in-built webcam is listed as "not plugged in" under device manager.
I also installed OBS on my Lenovo laptop yesterday, but my webcam keeps failing in Microsoft team and zoom. Has anyone found a way to resolve this?
I also installed OBS on my Lenovo laptop yesterday, but my webcam keeps failing in Microsoft team and zoom. Has anyone found a way to resolve this?
Could you please provide the your hardware information as detailed in #3555 (comment) ?
I am having this issue as well.
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro
Windows 11
Integrated camera: USB\VID_04F2&PID_B67D&REV_0407&MI_00
Hi,
I have investigated some module codes and found. It seems that obs-virtualcam-module sets the wrong path for FOLDER property.
I'm not sure this is really a issue or not. Is it related?
obs-studio/plugins/win-dshow/virtualcam-module/CMakeLists.txt
Lines 66 to 67 in f5be6f5
In addition, does anybody tried to uninstalling OBS virtualcam to recover built-in webcams?
maykbrito/mini-video-me#79 (comment)
I'm not sure this is really a issue or not. Is it related?
Unrelated, that folder isn't anything to do with the program's file structure, it's just for organisation of the projects in your IDE and build folder:
In addition, does anybody tried to uninstalling OBS virtualcam to recover built-in webcams?
What a stupid-ass video (in so many ways). For anybody who wants to know how to manually uninstall the virtualcam, go to C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow and run virtualcam-uninstall.bat as admin. The normal uninstaller will do the same as that script as well.
Based on existing comments on this issue however, uninstalling did not seem to fix anything for the affected users.
Unrelated, that folder isn't anything to do with the program's file structure, it's just for organisation of the projects in your IDE and build folder:
Understood. Thanks.
I'm not sure this is really a issue or not. Is it related?
Unrelated, that folder isn't anything to do with the program's file structure, it's just for organisation of the projects in your IDE and build folder:
In addition, does anybody tried to uninstalling OBS virtualcam to recover built-in webcams?
What a stupid-ass video (in so many ways). For anybody who wants to know how to manually uninstall the virtualcam, go to
C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshowand runvirtualcam-uninstall.batas admin. The normal uninstaller will do the same as that script as well.Based on existing comments on this issue however, uninstalling did not seem to fix anything for the affected users.
The only way to get my Logitech 920 back working, was to uninstall OBS Virtual Camera plugin (through that bat file) and restarting the PC.
Up until then none of the other applications would detect my Logitech 920, only Virtual Camera from OBS showed as option!
This was back in OBS 27, I haven't tried with OBS 28, but I don't honestly need the Virtual Camera anyway, it only gets in way.
This is anecdotal, but may be important. I've been having the same problem, it seemed like the OBS VIrtual Camera had taken over my laptop (Dell E6540 running Win10). I uninstalled the OBS program and ran the script to remove the virtual camera, it appeared that OBS Studio was completely gone from the WIndows installation perspective. I ran a few online webcam tests via my browser and it looked like OBS Camera was still in charge. I added the DWORD 32 key to my registry and checked the BIOS setting (camera was enabled per the screen) and that seemed to help--the built-in camera started working again.
A couple days later same problem, built-in camera seemed to disappear. Not in devices listing, nowhere to be found and wouldn't turn on. Seemed to be related to a couple of Ring Central and MS Teams meetings. Camera was missing from devices listing, nowhere to be found and wouldn't turn on. Went into the registry, searched on OBS found an OBS Virtual Camera key key I thought shouldn't be there and deleted it. As I recall built-in camera worked sometimes and not others.
Continued playing around for a few days without luck and on a whim went back into the BIOS to see if camera was still enabled. It was enabled, I exited the BIOS and ever since then built-in camera is working fine.
It has been a long time but in my career I've had occasions to get involved in BIOSes and their associated NV memory and I know from experience that things can be quirky. We're talking way back here, back to the days when plug and play was first being implemented. So don't ask me any questions about today's systems, just let me say I still don't 100% confidence is those lowest-level underpinnings. What strikes me here is that twice now I went into the BIOS to check the camera, made no changes and the built-in camera started working. If my camera stops I will try it again and if I remember, update this posting.
To others struggling with problem I'd suggest if you've uninstalled OBS and still have problems, humor me and go into the BIOS, even if the camera is enabled, exit, and see if the situation improves.
Unrelated since this issue affects desktops that do not have a BIOS switch for webcams.
Desktop: Surface Studio
Camera: Surface IR Camera
Device USB\VID_045E&PID_0910&MI_00\6&1d3334c5&0&0000
I don't know much about computers so I don't know how to fix or access my BIOS (though I might have found it by reading this tread). I installed OBS a year or so, but only recently been using it a few weeks ago with no camera. I've been teaching workshops on Zoom and need my internal camera for visual refences. Last week (Dec 2, 2022), the OBS virtual camera blocked my camera. I only noticed the OBS symbol today and found this tread. All "fixes" imply that I have to use OBS virtual camera by pressing Start VC. I only have the options r Virtual Camera and pt Virtual Camera. This also poses a problem that I HAVE to use OBS in conjunction with Zoom.
I've read through this tread and I'm scared to do anything. Uninstall doesn't work, playing with BIOS doesn't work, uninstalling camera doesn't work, etc. And there seems to be a recurring pattern both on Windows and Mac where OBS is involved. Yet OBS doesn't want to acknowledge it because they can't recreate it.
I don't have the knowledge to fix this myself and I don't want to go down that road. I just want an OBS virtual camera update or an idiot's build to restoring my internal camera.
Please note that this Issue is about the OBS Virtual Camera on Windows potentially causing your system's internal camera to no longer be listed in any application or in Device Manager (or possibly to show in Device Manager as disabled/unavailable). It is not about OBS and other applications blocking access to the internal camera while one of them is using it.
All "fixes" imply that I have to use OBS virtual camera by pressing Start VC. I only have the options r Virtual Camera and pt Virtual Camera.
Expand the size of your OBS window or the Controls dock itself. The word "Start" is simply cutoff. Please also note that using the OBS Virtual Camera is not a "fix" for your internal webcam disappearing as an available option, since your internal camera will continue to be unavailable entirely.
Per an earlier comment:
For anybody who wants to know how to manually uninstall the virtualcam, go to
C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshowand runvirtualcam-uninstall.batas admin. The normal uninstaller will do the same as that script as well.Based on existing comments on this issue however, uninstalling did not seem to fix anything for the affected users.
As for the instruction that you are referring to:
To others struggling with problem I'd suggest if you've uninstalled OBS and still have problems, humor me and go into the BIOS, even if the camera is enabled, exit, and see if the situation improves.
You would have to find the documentation for your computer/motherboard and find the key to press during the boot sequence to access the BIOS. This key is normally one of Escape, F1-F12, or Delete.
Please note that this Issue is about the OBS Virtual Camera on Windows potentially causing your system's internal camera to no longer be listed in any application or in Device Manager (or possibly to show in Device Manager as disabled/unavailable). It is not about OBS and other applications blocking access to the internal camera while one of them is using it.
All "fixes" imply that I have to use OBS virtual camera by pressing Start VC. I only have the options r Virtual Camera and pt Virtual Camera.
Expand the size of your OBS window or the Controls dock itself. The word "Start" is simply cutoff. Please also note that using the OBS Virtual Camera is not a "fix" for your internal webcam disappearing as an available option, since your internal camera will continue to be unavailable entirely.
Per an earlier comment:
For anybody who wants to know how to manually uninstall the virtualcam, go to
C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshowand runvirtualcam-uninstall.batas admin. The normal uninstaller will do the same as that script as well.
Based on existing comments on this issue however, uninstalling did not seem to fix anything for the affected users.As for the instruction that you are referring to:
To others struggling with problem I'd suggest if you've uninstalled OBS and still have problems, humor me and go into the BIOS, even if the camera is enabled, exit, and see if the situation improves.
You would have to find the documentation for your computer/motherboard and find the key to press during the boot sequence to access the BIOS. This key is normally one of Escape, F1-F12, or Delete.
Hello sir, my internal webcam of macbook air is also not working after using virtual camera is their any way to fix it sir.
Hello sir, my internal webcam of macbook air is also not working after using virtual camera is their any way to fix it sir.
This Issue is strictly about Windows, not macOS. The code for the Windows and macOS cameras are completely separate, so whatever issue you're experiencing is not the same as this one, despite the similarity.
Hello sir, my internal webcam of macbook air is also not working after using virtual camera is their any way to fix it sir.
This Issue is strictly about Windows, not macOS. The code for the Windows and macOS cameras are completely separate, so whatever issue you're experiencing is not the same as this one, despite the similarity.
Sir completely my internal cam is gone from hardware information after using obs virtual camera
Hello sir, my internal webcam of macbook air is also not working after using virtual camera is their any way to fix it sir.
This Issue is strictly about Windows, not macOS. The code for the Windows and macOS cameras are completely separate, so whatever issue you're experiencing is not the same as this one, despite the similarity.
sudo rm -rf /Library/CoreMe
diaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL/obs-mac-virtualcam.plugin
sudo rm -rf /Library/Application\ Support/obs-studio/plugins/obs-mac-virtualcam
after using these two commands still no fix
As a note, this issue is specific to Windows-based machines. Please submit a new report if you are on a non-Windows system.
As we don't need any further information at this time, I'm going to go ahead and lock the comments here.
Next steps is us purchasing a machine with one of these affected cameras, so we can do some deep debugging. There is likely some kind of kernel-level bug happening here, which is why this is proving so difficult to track down and isolate.
In our estimation, this is a hardware or kernel bug and not something we can realistically fix. I have heard reports of other virtual video devices causing similar issues, and this does not appear to be OBS specific either. As nobody reporting the issue has been able to give us access to hardware to do a deep-dive and test, I am closing as stale.
If this is still an issue please open a new issue with updated reproduction steps on the latest version of OBS.