My camera repeatedly stops working when I join a Teams meeting, even though it works fine in the lobby

Dear Dr Neil Patrick,

Good day! Thank you for posting in the Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

I'm really sorry to hear about the issue you're experiencing with your camera in Microsoft Teams. It sounds incredibly frustrating, especially since you've already tried several troubleshooting steps.

Let's see if we can get this resolved for you. Could you please confirm a few details for me?

1. Are you able to use Teams in the web browser without any issues?
2. Which version of Office 365 or Teams are you currently using?
3. Have you checked to ensure that Microsoft Edge WebView2 is installed and updated on your system?
4. Have you tried resetting the Teams app? You can do this by going to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, finding Microsoft Teams, selecting Advanced options, and then choosing Reset. Refer to Clear Teams cache - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn [c28d-fd90-e7f-6645].

Your answers to these questions will help us narrow down the potential causes and find a solution more quickly. Please understand that our initial response may not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Thank you for your precious time and your kind understanding.

Dear Dr. Neil Patrick,

Thank you so much for the detailed update and for taking the time to test the camera in both the Teams web browser and Zoom. I truly appreciate your thorough troubleshooting.

The fact that the camera is failing in both Teams (web and desktop) and Zoom, despite working in the Teams lobby and the Windows Camera app, strongly suggests that the issue lies with the camera itself or a lower-level system interaction, rather than specifically with the Teams application.

Your observation of the IR camera entry and your attempts to disable it, along with ensuring your drivers are up-to-date, were excellent steps. Given that the problem persists even after these efforts, and considering the consistent failure across different meeting platforms, the most effective next step would be to contact the camera manufacturer's support or your computer's manufacturer's support. They will have access to more specialized diagnostic tools and expertise to address potential hardware or driver conflicts that may not be apparent through standard troubleshooting.

We understand that purchasing a USB camera provides a temporary solution, and we are glad that you are able to attend meetings again. We want to ensure that your original camera is working properly as well.

We sincerely apologize that we couldn't resolve this issue directly within the Teams support channel. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any further questions or if there's anything else we can assist you with.

Thank you again^^for your cooperation.

Hi De Paul

Thanks for the reply. I have done some things since the last post:

• I tried Teams in the web browser and the camera still didn't work in Teams
• I had a Zoom meeting with someone and the camera didn't work in Zoom

So it looks like it is something using the camera and not letting Teams (or Zoom) use in a meeting. Even though the camera works just fine in the Teams Lobby area just before joining a meeting, and using the Windows Camera app.

I noticed in Device Manager that there is now an IR camera entry as well as the original full HD camera entry. I disabled the IR entry - made no difference. Drivers are the most up to date BTW.

I've looked in Camera Settings to see the list of Recent Activity, to see if I can detect another application using the camera and it is only Teams in that list, and only the times when I have tried to test the camera (as far as I can see). If there are any deeper analytics tools I can run, happy to do that.

I have now purchased a USB plug-in camera which means I can use that for Teams meetings (I had to have something working :-)). So I can get by, but I'm obviously keen to get things working as they should be.

Regards

Neil

Dear Dr Neil Patrick,

Thank you for your detailed response and for sharing the additional information. I truly appreciate your patience and effort in troubleshooting this issue.

You mentioned you haven't yet tried Teams in the web browser version. Yes, this will indeed provide valuable data. If the camera works fine in the web version, it would indicate that the issue is specific to the Teams desktop app. On the other hand, if the problem persists in the web version, it might point to an operating system or broader compatibility issue. Specifically, it will help us determine if the issue is isolated to the Teams desktop application settings/failure or if it's potentially related to a broader operating system or driver conflict.

Since you mentioned that everything was working fine until about two weeks ago and that a Windows update might have occurred, this could also be a contributing factor. If the issue persists in both versions, we can explore whether rolling back the update or adjusting related settings might help.

Please let me know how the web version performs during your next meeting. We can then proceed with further troubleshooting based on your results.

Thank you again for your cooperation and understanding.

Hi De Paul

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not using Office 365, but installed components for Outlook Classic, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote.

Teams version is 1.24.31301 (from Control Panel app - Teams itself doesn't have the Help->About off the 3 dots in the app)

I've done the Teams reset too.

I haven't tried Teams in the Web browser version - I can give that a go next meeting I have. Will this give us more data?

Part of my problem to debug is that the issue only shows up when I am in a meeting with others :-).

I should have said at the start too - everything was working just fine until about 2 weeks ago. Only thing I know of that might have changed is a Windows update.

Regards

Neil