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Lifecam Studio Webcam not working on Windows 11 after upgrade from Windows 10

Anonymous
2025-01-16T20:29:08+00:00

I had a working Microsoft Lifecam Studio in Windows 10, upgraded the system to Windows 11, and then it no longer worked.

Under Settings | Bluetooth & Devices | Camera, the preview didn't work, and it didn't work in Microsoft Teams.

Using Device Manager (devmgmt.msc), the Microsoft Lifecam Studio was listed under both "Sound, video and game controllers" and "Imaging Devices", and NOT under "Cameras".

I am both "asking" AND answering this question because none of the answers I found here fully describe a solution for me.

The resolution was this:

  1. Under Imaging Devices | Microsoft Lifecam Studio, right click and select Uninstall device.
  2. In the Confirm Device Removal dialog box, check the option Delete the driver software for this device.
  3. Click OK to uninstall the device and remove the driver.
  4. Unplug the Microsoft Lifecam Studio camera from the USB port
  5. Wait a few seconds and plug the Microsoft Lifecam Studio camera back into the USB port
  6. Look in Device Manager again and (hopefully), the camera should now be listed under "Sound, video and game controllers" and "Cameras", and no longer under "Imaging Devices".
  7. Test camera preview under Windows settings | Bluetooth & Devices | Camera,
Windows for home | Windows 11 | Devices and drivers

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-16T20:30:14+00:00

    The resolution was:

    1. Under Imaging Devices | Microsoft Lifecam Studio, right click and select Uninstall device.
    2. In the Confirm Device Removal dialog box, check the option Delete the driver software for this device.
    3. Click OK to uninstall the device and remove the driver.
    4. Unplug the Microsoft Lifecam Studio camera from the USB port
    5. Wait a few seconds and plug the Microsoft Lifecam Studio camera back into the USB port
    6. Look in Device Manager again and (hopefully), the camera should now be listed under "Sound, video and game controllers" and "Cameras", and no longer under "Imaging Devices".
    7. Test camera preview under Windows settings | Bluetooth & Devices | Camera,

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  1. Anonymous
    2025-04-03T06:04:12+00:00

    Update: This fix worked while I had it temporarily plugged into the front IO USB port of my PC. As that's not where I prefer it to live, it stopped working as soon as I put it back into the rear one again... Basically, I had to repeat the process of uninstalling the device and removing the driver like the original post mentioned, and then do my process of rolling back the driver, and hopefully as long as I don't remove the LifeCam from my preferred USB port I won't have a repeat. This is a major pain in terms of convenience though if I'm going to have to do this every time it's unplugged, or worse if it happens every time I restart...

    This worked briefly. But when I open the preview, I saw an image briefly. But then it went back under Imaging devices in Device Manager. and the preview output went back to grey

    Mine did the same thing, and what I was able to do to correct it was to go to the Imaging Devices > Right Click on Microsoft LifeCam. Choose Properties and go to the Driver tab and then choose Roll Back Driver. It will ask for a reason, say your apps won't work with the current drivers. Then, once it's been rolled back, you will see the LifeCam move to a Cameras category instead of Imaging Device, and you're smooth sailing from there. In the time that I typed this reply, my camera has been staring me in the face, and I've not had the image grey out like it did within a few seconds before with the initial fix.

    8 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2025-02-24T23:07:47+00:00

    This worked briefly. But when I open the preview, I saw an image briefly. But then it went back under Imaging devices in Device Manager. and the preview output went back to grey

    6 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2025-05-21T15:36:24+00:00

    Thank you, this worked for me. Hopefully Microsoft will release an updated driver that works =).

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2025-03-13T16:19:48+00:00

    I'm having the same issue.
    Microsoft Lifecam Studio bought several years ago. Worked like a charm. Recent updates made it stop working.
    When going through the steps, it becomes listed in the Device Manager as a Camera called "WebCam", but when you try to get an image/video feed out of it, it states "Camera preview failed to start, please reload page and try again"; never amounts to anything more.
    The troubleshooting button did not bear any results either.

    Is there a patch or driver update specific to this device that can be installed? New drivers for webcams should work retroactively.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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