OBS Virtual Camera may affect built-in webcams #3555
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What does Device Manager say about the device? |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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tried that. no still the same. Not sure if OBS is leaving something there. Windows install not removing everything |
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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. |
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after removing obs, still unable to get the internal camera active again |
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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. |
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@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. |
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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? |
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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) |
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Windows Release Version: 1803 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. Any help appreciated. |
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Windows Release Version: 2004, 64bit 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: 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". |
Fenrirthviti
changed the title
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OBS 26.1.1 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. |
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Update on my issue. removing this entry and all was back to normal. Thus NOT an issue with OBS. |
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) |
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My macbook air inbuilt webcam also gone after using virtual camera |
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Someone help me to fix it guys. |
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OBS 26.1.1 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 |
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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
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 |
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I think the Obs Dev is sleeping It's been more 6 months from opening of this thread still no fix 🙄 |
@ExceptionRegret 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 |
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Same issue. |
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. |
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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. |
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. |
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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:
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Glad to hear this is progressing, thanks!
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What about Mac OS Guys?🙂 |
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Laptop: Microsoft Surface Book 3 |
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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. |
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Laptop : ASUS TUF FX504 |
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Laptop : Dell Inspiron 7559 |
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Laptop: ASUS N580VD 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. |
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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) ? |
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I am having this issue as well. Lenovo Legion 5 Pro |
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Hi, I have investigated some module codes and found. It seems that obs-virtualcam-module sets the wrong path for FOLDER property. 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? |
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:
What a stupid-ass video (in so many ways). For anybody who wants to know how to manually uninstall the virtualcam, go to Based on existing comments on this issue however, uninstalling did not seem to fix anything for the affected users. |
Understood. Thanks. |
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. |
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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. |
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Thank you skipt1206,
I have uninstalled OBS on my Asus TP501US laptop running Windows 11.
Then I booted into BIOS and quit without saving anything .
Now I can use Facebook to video call again.
The weekend before your post I was having another go at fixing the
issue, without luck. When I would try to use Facebook video messaging
from this computer, a blue square box with a message about OBS and also
in the square was the icon of a video camera with a line through it
signifying that the camera was disabled without any way of enabling it.
I could use the camera in Windows, not that I have much use for it there.
Thanks again and have a great day,
Shane
…On 10/4/2022 4:20 PM, skipt1206 wrote:
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.
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Unrelated since this issue affects desktops that do not have a BIOS switch for webcams. |
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Desktop: Surface Studio 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.
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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.
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:
As for the instruction that you are referring to:
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. |
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 |
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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. |
and others
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
Additional information
This has happened to several people all using different hardware.
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