I have a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10. The laptop was working fine until today when I tried to Skype call someone I wasn’t able to do that. There are some issues with the webcam. I tried looking for a solution but didn’t find much. I have also read about some cases where there is a crossed-out camera icon on the screen or some stupid settings related to privacy but the problem has not been solved yet. Help me!
The crossed-out camera symbol on a grey background with no previews was also present on my Lenovo W550s. Actually, the solution is rather easy. Simply go to Control Panel and change the web conferencing settings for Lenovo, then choose “Show my video image.”
On my Lenovo E570, it’snot just the camera, but the microphone had also stopped working. I reset the system using the options provided in Windows 10 and the problem was gone. I would highly recommend this method if your laptop is new and doesn’t contain much data to back up!
I resovled this by removing the device from Device Manager and letting it detect it and add it back in. Try this before you uninstall and reinstall drivers or tweak BIOS!
Do you have Lenovo Vantage installed? If yes, start it and look under hardware settings/audio-visual.
Make sure the camera works there and that privacy mode is set to off. Also, under windows settings choose what applications can access the camera.
On my Lenovo W550s also I faced that crossed out camera icon on grey background with no previews visible. Well the fix is simple actually, You have to change the setting for Lenovo web-conferencing utility from Control Panel and there you have to click on ‘Show my video image’.
If the camera is enabled in the BIOS, but it is not visible in Device Manager, then I think the camera is disconnected from the systemboard in the computer, probably due to a loose wire. This can only be repaired by opening up the system and checking the connection. If your system is in warranty, I would recommend taking it to a service center.
I had faced issues with the camera, but I was also getting the messsage that ‘Camera is in use by another app’. Try these steps.
- Download the troubleshooter app from this link
- Save the file and once the application is downloaded, run the executable file
- After the troubleshoot application is finished, reboot the system.
- Try using the camera and see if the issue is resolved.
If you are still facing issues, try ths troubleshooting guide.
It’s kinda funny to see that Lenovo has made such a mess of its QC. While many people coudln’t get the problem solved, for me, the camera ON/OFF toggle worked. Try pressing FN+F6 or FN+F8 and see if the issue is solved.
In Device Manager, look for the camera (Scanners & Cameras) and Lenovo Easycamera. Delete Lenovo Easycamera and reboot the PC. It will rediscover the camera at reboot and Skype will rediscover it too.
My Miix 510 Camera also had issues and the device was throwing up STATUS_DEVICE_POWER_FAILURE
. But well, luckily Lenovo released an updated driver and after installing it, the issue was gone! Here’s the link to the driver.
Go to Control panel-> device manager -> Imaging devices and check if there is any driver with a yellow mark. Check in BIOS if integrated camera is enabled there.
Press FN+F6 to open the Communications settings window and press Show my video image button to enable the camera.
Go into Lenovo Settings App on Metro view, and select camera.
There will be the options of Private and Normal. Select Normal.
Also, in Settings > Permissions, make sure that Skype and other similar apps have permission to access the Webcam or Microphone.
Could you check if the toggle switch for the camera is turned off? Just press F8 or FN+F8.
You could check also the privacy if it is turned ON in Lenovo Vantage app or Lenovo Settings. Disable Privacy and try this toggle, the issue should be resolved.
On X230, I got the issue but it was solved with a simple toggle. Apparently, I clicked on the privacy settings for the camera yesterday and I forgot about it. On my laptop it is Fn+F6. Pretty weird that I could not find this menu in any other place in the settings.
My Lenovo T430s was making me mad with the same issue but accidentally when I opened Skype and roamed around a bit, the problem was solved.
Open Skype->Tools->Options->Video setting ->Webcam settings , then *uncheck* Privacy
On the Lenovo Thinkpad E530 I have the problem was caused by that Private Mode. Open Settings, select the Camera option and make sure it is set to Normal. This should make the camera work as it should.