Windows 10 Camera App Hangs

Question

I am using an external USB webcam on my Windows 10 desktop. The Camera App hangs Windows on opening it. The Camera app itself hangs as stand alone, as well as when used in WebEx, Zoom and GoToMeeting. No spike in CPU and memory when it hangs. No other issues with the desktop except this one.

Troubleshooting done so far:

1. Windows settings allow access to camera.
2. Disabled Anti-virus.
3. Tested webcam on another PC. Changed webcam.
4. Reinstalled camera drivers. Reinstalled Camera app from Windows Store.
5. Reinstalled Windows by using downloading latest windows. Ran all updates. Have Windows 10 Home Version 21H2 Build 19044.2006.
6. Changed USB part used by the webcam.
7. Ran Windows Troubleshoot.
8. Updated Windows registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows Media Foundation > Platform > EnableFrameServerMode.

I would really appreciate your help on this.

Answer 1

I did not see any "Imaging devices" in my Device Manager and all other troubleshooting steps went in vain. My camera was a sporadically slow motion with everything disabled and sometimes freezing as I enabled the 3rd party software, making it difficult to narrow down. My webcam does not display in my Imaging Devices.

Luckily today, I had my printer ON and it displayed the Brother printer under my Imaging devices. No yellow sign next to it as printer had been working fine all this time. Disabled the printer and the camera app started working perfectly fine.

Re-enabled the printer but there were issues with the printer working. Re-installed the software. Now both the printer and the camera are working fine.

I was giving up hopes on this. Thanks a lot of your help.

• DJ

Answer 2

Hello DJ_24_MSN,

Good to see you in Microsoft Community.

You can disable the default camera in Device Manager ("Win" + "X" > "Device Manager" > "Imaging devices", find the default camera, right click > "Disable device"), then check if the USB camera is normal.

Meanwhile, please make sure that the devices under the "Imaging devices" entry are all correctly identified, i.e. there is no yellow icon on the device icon.

Or you can Perform a clean boot, this is a mode of disabling third-party services or software, which could help rule out the interference of these elements.

Disclaimer*: A “clean boot” starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. It helps to determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program and to isolate the cause of a problem.*

These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance. However, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by-step so that it will help you get you back on track.

If anything is unclear, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Best Regards,

Mosken_L - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist