Why is my webcam not working on my laptop?

Try It Yourself

Confirm whether the browser can open a stream

Runs entirely in your browser and reports whether a camera is detected, permitted and delivering frames — which tells you which layer has failed.

Run the free online webcam test

Many laptops have a slide shutter over the lens or a function key that disables the camera. Look for a small tab beside the lens, and check the F-row for a camera icon, often with a slash through it.

1. Slide the shutter fully open — a partly open shutter can still darken the frame.
2. Try the camera function key alone, then combined with Fn, since the behaviour varies by model.
3. Watch the indicator LED as you press it; a light that comes on confirms the key toggled something.

Only one application can usually access a webcam at a time. Close Zoom, Teams, Skype or anything else that might already hold it, including background apps you had forgotten were running.

Background browser tabs are the most easily missed. A video-call tab left open in another window keeps the device claimed even when nothing appears to be happening.

To find out which application currently holds the camera, run the Camera Block Detector.

On Windows, open Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera and confirm both Camera access and Let apps access your camera are on. On macOS, open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera and confirm your browser or app is ticked.

If you are testing in a browser, click the padlock or camera icon in the address bar and confirm camera access is set to Allow for that site, not merely permitted at the OS level.

Browsers remember a denial per site and do not ask again, so a site blocked months ago stays blocked silently until you reset it manually.

For a guided pass through each permission layer in turn, use the OS Permission Doctor.

On Windows, open Device Manager and expand Cameras or Imaging devices — a yellow warning triangle means a driver problem. On Mac, use About This Mac → System Report → Camera to confirm it is detected at all.

A camera listed cleanly with no warning is strong evidence the hardware is fine and the fault sits in permissions or an application.

In Device Manager, right-click the camera and choose Update driver. If that does not help, uninstall the device entirely and restart — Windows usually reinstalls a working generic driver automatically.

Prefer the laptop manufacturer's support site over Windows Update for the driver itself, since vendor drivers often expose capture modes the generic one does not.

If you need to hand the problem to an IT desk, the Tech Support Report compiles everything into one summary.

If the camera does not appear in Device Manager or System Report at all, and reseating or a different port has not helped, the hardware may genuinely have failed.

Before accepting that, check whether the camera has been disabled in BIOS or UEFI, which makes a perfectly working camera invisible to the operating system entirely.

Settings → Privacy & security → Camera

Three separate switches stack here: camera access, let apps access, and the desktop-app list at the bottom. All three must be on.

Settings → Privacy → Camera

The desktop-app permission sits at the very bottom of the page and is easy to miss below the Microsoft Store app list.

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera

An app only appears in this list after it has requested the camera once. A newly granted permission needs a full quit and relaunch.

Settings → Privacy and security → Site settings → Camera

ChromeOS has no separate OS camera layer, so the browser site permission is the only grant that applies.

1. Slide any physical privacy shutter fully open and check for a sticker over the lens.
2. Press the camera function key, alone and with Fn, and watch the indicator LED.
3. Close Zoom, Teams, Skype and every background browser tab that might hold the camera.
4. Confirm both camera access toggles are on in your OS privacy settings.
5. Click the padlock in the address bar and set Camera to Allow for the site you are testing.
6. Restart the laptop fully rather than signing out, which clears stuck device states.
7. Open Device Manager and check Cameras for a yellow warning triangle.
8. Update the driver, then uninstall the device and restart to force a clean reinstall.
9. Check whether the camera has been disabled in BIOS or UEFI before assuming hardware failure.