How to Resolve Virtual Camera Not Showing in Microsoft Teams Dropdown

Unlike a physical webcam that's simply plugged in, a virtual camera is a software-created device that has to properly install and register itself as a legitimate video source with your operating system before any application, Teams included, can see and list it as an available option.

Teams, like most applications, typically enumerates available camera devices once at launch, then caches that list rather than continuously re-scanning for new devices in real time. This means launching your virtual camera software after Teams is already open is a common, easy-to-miss cause of it simply not appearing — Teams already built its device list before the virtual camera existed as an available option to include.

A less common but real cause is the virtual camera driver itself failing to register correctly with Windows, sometimes due to a permissions issue during installation, or a conflict with another virtual camera product previously installed and not fully removed.

Step 1: Start your virtual camera software first

(OBS, ManyCam, DroidCam, or similar) and confirm it shows an active preview.

Step 2: Fully quit Teams

— check your system tray to confirm it's genuinely closed, not just minimized.

Step 3: Reopen Teams

After the virtual camera software is already running, so Teams' device scan at launch includes it.

Step 4: Check the camera dropdown in Teams Settings → Devices

For the virtual camera's name.

Step 5: If it's still missing, reinstall the virtual camera software

Which typically re-registers its driver cleanly, resolving a corrupted or failed initial registration. ↑ Confirm the virtual camera outputs a working feed with the widget above first.

On Windows, running Teams as an administrator once (right-click → Run as administrator) occasionally resolves a stubborn driver-registration visibility issue, though this shouldn't be needed as a routine step for normal day-to-day use.

How do I reset the Windows Camera app itself?

Go to Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find Camera, open its three-dot menu, and choose Advanced options → Reset. This clears the built-in Camera app’s own cache and settings without uninstalling it, which can fix a stuck, frozen, or permanently black preview even when the underlying device and driver are both working correctly. It only resets that one app — not your camera driver, and not other applications that use the camera.

Could my antivirus be silently blocking my camera?

Many third-party security suites — Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton, and ESET among others — include their own webcam-protection feature that runs independently of Windows’ own privacy settings. That means Windows can show camera access as fully permitted while the antivirus software blocks it anyway, at a layer Windows has no visibility into. Check the antivirus program’s own settings, usually under a Privacy, Webcam Protection, or similarly named section, and confirm your browser or conferencing app is on its allow-list.

How do I re-enable my camera in Device Manager if it's disabled?

Right-click the Start button → Device Manager, expand Cameras or Imaging devices, and look for a greyed-out icon or a small down-arrow badge. Right-click that entry and choose Enable device. This is a different action from updating a driver — a disabled device won’t respond to any other fix until it’s explicitly re-enabled here first, so it’s worth checking before assuming the problem is a driver or a permission.

Is Windows' own camera privacy toggle blocking access, separately from anything else?

Windows keeps a system-level camera permission at Settings → Privacy & security → Camera, completely separate from Device Manager, the Camera app, and any antivirus software. This one screen has a master Camera access switch plus a per-app list beneath it — both need to be on. It’s worth checking directly, since a camera can show as fully enabled and working in Device Manager while this toggle silently blocks every app from reaching it.