Suppose you have a plan to talk with your friend over video calls in an hour, and suddenly you realize that your laptop camera is not working. Of course, you can ask your friend to wait for a few minutes, or you can even cancel the plan.
But what if you have a job interview or an important meeting with a client and the Camera is not working? It sounds like a bad nightmare, doesn’t it? There can be various reasons responsible for your laptop camera not working correctly.
This article will discuss why your HP laptop camera not working and how to fix this problem without having any special skills.
How to Check If My HP Laptop Camera is Working or Not
The simple way to check if your HP laptop camera works or not is by opening the Camera app. If your laptop doesn’t come with a pre-installed camera app, you can download the app from the Windows Store.
If you don’t know the location of the camera app on your laptop, search for the Camera on the taskbar’s search box. After opening your Camera, you’re supposed to see yourself on the laptop screen. If you’re unable to see the image, it means your Camera is not working properly.
Don’t get scared; you can fix this issue by following some steps to troubleshoot and repair the cam.
How to Fix the HP Laptop Camera Not Working in Windows 7, 8, & 10?
Most HP laptops include a built-in camera in their system to capture still images and create videos. And here are some reasons for the Camera may not working properly and their solutions:
| Reasons for Dell Webcam Not Showing in Device Manager | Possible Fixes to Try |
| The laptop system can’t detect the webcam | Open camera from Device Manager |
| The camera software is outdated | Update the camera |
| The camera stopped working after updates | Update webcam drivers to match with the software updates |
| Camera software doesn’t have permission to open on your PC | Allow permission of camera in the setting |
| Too many webcam drivers are available in the Device Manager; thus software is unable to choose a driver | Delete unnecessary drivers from the Device Manager |
The above reasons are the primary reasons why the camera is not working on your HP laptop. You can follow our possible solutions to fix these issues. Read down below to know the detailed process of the solutions.
Solution for Windows 7 Users
Here is what you can do to fix your camera not working issue for Windows 7.
Your Laptop is Unable to Detect the Webcam
If your HP laptop comes with built-in webcams, then it will have pre-installed software. And this software allows the Camera of your laptop to work. To find the pre-installed software, you can try the following steps:
- Click on the Windows icon at the corner of your laptop’s taskbar. Then go to the search bar and type Device Manager.
- You’ll find the device managing section at the top of the search result. Click over Device Manager to open it.
- Now look for Imagining Devices, and when you find it, double click on it.
- The next step is to select your webcam software name.
- Now your Camera will open, and you are supposed to see a video. If you can see the video on the screen, it means the software is working fine now.
However, if your laptop camera doesn’t work, or you are unable to find out the software, or the Camera is not opening, restart your HP laptop. After your laptop restarted, go through the above steps again, and now you should have no problems with your Camera.
You Can’t See the Video in the Camera App
If you can’t see the video in the camera app, it is probably because your camera software is out of update or for a missing driver. You can try updating the app or changing the driver to fix the problem of the Camera not working. Here are the steps that you should follow:
- First, you need to go to the official page of HP Software and Driver Download. There you will find the exact driver that requires replacement.
- Now you have to enter the serial number of your HP laptop. Next, you have to click on the submit option to go to the next page.
- On the next page, you will find the OS you are using with all the details of your laptop.
- You will get a list of all the accessible drivers on that page. Then you have to look for the webcam driver and download it. After installing the driver, restart your HP laptop. If you are unable to download the drivers, you can follow the instructions shown on the webpage.
- When your laptop starts, try to open the webcam application, and you should see the video motions now.
Webcam Stopped Working After Updates
Did you ever face a problem where an application was working fine until you update it? It is not an uncommon problem; sometimes, a few software stops working after installing Windows updates. Here is how you can solve this for webcam:
- Go to the Device Manager of your laptop by searching for it on the taskbar.
- Now click on the Imaging Device option twice to see the expanded list of accessible webcam drivers.
- When you find the driver of the webcam, click on the right side of your mouse. You will see some options on the screen, and you have to click on the Update Driver Software option.
- Once you are done updating the software, restart your laptop, then try opening the software again.
- If it doesn’t work after following these steps, you can switch back to the previous version of your cam by going to the Microsoft System Restore.
Webcam Drivers are not Listed in the Device Manager
After opening the Device Manager, you may see that there is no driver for Imaging Device. You can follow the below steps to solve this problem:
- First, try restarting your laptop and check if you can see the webcam drivers in Device Manager. If the problem persists, you need to go a little further restarting your laptop.
- Turn your laptop off, detach the cord, and remove the battery. If your laptop doesn’t come with a removable battery, you can go to the official page of HP and follow the instructions for power reset.
- Now you have to press the power button of your laptop and keep holding it for 10 seconds.
- Now insert the laptop battery, connect it with the cord and turn on the laptop.
- After your laptop turns on, go to the windows, then go to the Device Manager.
- If you still can’t find the list of available drivers of Imaging Device, go to the Action section. Then click on the Scan for hardware changes.
- After scanning, your device should display the Imaging Device on the screen. However, if the problem is still unsolved, go to the Microsoft System Restore to switch back to the version when the software was working fine.
After following all the above steps thoroughly, if you still can’t find the list, it means the webcam is unplugged internally. In this case, you have to take your laptop to the repair to fix the problem.
Solution For Windows 8 & 10 Users
The process of fixing the Camera not working problem is similar for Windows 8 and 10. Just like a Windows 7 user, you can apply all those above steps to fix this issue. But here are some other methods you can use to solve your laptop’s webcam problems:
Method-1: Change the Privacy System of Camera
You can change the camera privacy settings to allow or disallow the app to have access on your laptop. Also, it allows you to have control over which app can use the webcam from the settings. And that’s why your laptop’s webcam might not work on some applications.
To enable the webcam, you can follow the below steps:
- Go to Windows and type Camera on the search box. In the search result, you will find an option called Camera privacy settings; now click on it.
- Check whether the camera option is toggled on or off. If it is off, turn it on to allow the Camera to work on your laptop.
- Now go to the option of which app can have permission to use the webcam. If you want to allow all the software in your laptop to have permission to use the cam, you can toggle it on for all apps. If you want certain apps to have permission to use the webcam, toggle on for those apps only.
- It is time to re-check the Camera of your laptop to see if it’s working. And that’s it.
Method 2: Update The Webcam Driver
This is a similar problem for Windows 7 users. Sometimes your laptop camera doesn’t work because the software is out of update or you are using the wrong camera driver.
You can follow the instructions from solutions for Windows 7 to update the software in Windows 8 and 10.
However, if you don’t want to update the app by yourself for some reason, you use other software like Driver Easy to update the cam. This app comes with both free and premium versions, but you can update it automatically with the free version solely.
Download and install the Driver Easy software on your laptop and open the app. You will see a scanning option on the screen; hit the scan button to scan for the webcam drivers.
And when you find the driver for the Camera, press on update on the right side at the bottom. Easy!
However, you can still face some problems like your camera application will stop working after an update. In this case, you have to go back to the solution for Windows 7 to fix this issue on Windows 8 and 10.
Method 3: Not Installing Too Many Drivers for the Webcam
Installing too many drivers for a single software can create conflict in the programming system. That’s why you have to make sure that you are using one driver webcam at a time instead of too many.
If you have problems using the camera app for extra webcam drivers, restarting your laptop should be enough.
Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)
What is the shortcut key to open the camera on a laptop?
The shortcut key to open the camera on a laptop is Windows key + I. You can also open the cam by searching for the app in the Windows search bar.
How do I activate the camera on my laptop?
To activate the camera on your laptop, go to the Start button and search for settings. Now click on the privacy then go to the camera, turn on the app permission. Finally, check your camera to see if it has been activated or not.
How do I test the camera on my laptop?
There’re so many apps available where you can test the camera of your laptop. But the most reliable source to test the camera is Webcam Test. Search on google and click on the testing page, then go to the “Test my camera.” However, to test your laptop camera, you will have to give your browser permission to use the camera.
Final Words
Now you know why your HP laptop camera not working properly and what to do to fix this problem. On top of that, all the solution steps above are not something special that requires you to have professional tech skills.
Even when you’re new at using Windows, it’ll take around 15 to a maximum of 30 mins to fix these tiny bugs. If you think the problem with cams might be something you can’t fix, you can take your laptop to a repair shop.
I hope all the information above was helpful enough for you to enjoy your video calls again.
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