11 Best Fixes for Chromebook Camera Not Working

Chromebook often gets an edge over Windows laptops as they offer good performance, minimal lags, and fast startup times. Also, these offer longer battery life and security as well. The Linux-based OS of Chromebooks is much lighter, smaller, and web-centric and demands low hardware requirements. But, just like any other laptop, users do bump into issues every now and. For example, the Chromebook camera not working.

Like many other users, you might run into a situation where your Chromebook webcam is not working. If you are in that situation we have outlined some tried and tested steps that helped other users get out of the issue. Facing issues with a Windows webcam, you can head to this post instead.

What To Do If Your Chromebook Camera Is Not Working?

Solution No 1 – Restart Chromebook

The first thing you should do is simply restart your Chromebook. A simple restart often works as an effective troubleshooting step for many problems and it might as well resolve your Chromebook’s camera.

Step 1 – Open Quick Settings at the bottom-right corner and click on Shutdown.

Step 2 – When the Chromebook has completely Shutdown, press the power button to turn it back on.

Solution No 2 – Check the Camera Lens

Make sure that your Chromebook’s camera lens is covered with anything i.e. things such as a privacy shutter, screen protector, or some other object. Clean the camera lens if you observe any dust or any other dirt particles.

Solution No 3 – Reset Hardware

Sometimes the software itself might not be the culprit behind why your webcam is not working, instead, it could be the hardware that is giving you a tough time

Step 1 – Turn off your Chromebook

Step 2 – Press and hold down the Refresh button and the Power button simultaneously.

Source – oregoncharter

Step 3 – Release the Refresh button

Now check if your Chromebook camera is working or not.

Solution No 4 – Update Chromebook

Quite like its counterparts Windows OS, macOS, or any other operating system, bugs do appear in Chrome OS as well. Updating Chromebook can help resolve such issues. To update your Chromebook follow the steps mentioned below –

Step 1 – Open the Quick Settings panel from the bottom-right corner.

Step 2 – Click on the Settings icon represented by a cogwheel.

Step 3 – From the left sidebar, click on About ChromeOS.

Step 4 – Click on Check for updates. After this, your Chromebook will fetch any latest updates, if they are available.

Step 5 – Restart your Chromebook and check if your Chromebook camera is functioning properly or not.

Solution No 5 – Update Chrome Browser

For many users updating the Chrome browser also seemed to have fixed the issue. This step ensures that bugs, if any are resolved and your browser functions properly. Updating the Chrome browser is simple and here are the steps –

Step 1 – Open Chrome browser.

Step 2 – Click on three dots and go to help > About Google Chrome.

Step 3 – Let Chrome check and fetch any pending updates.

Do you still have issues updating the Chrome browser? Here are ways to fix the issue.

Solution No 6 – Disable Privacy Switch

Let’s assume you have a Chromebook from HP. Do you see a red light on your webcam’s lens? If yes, then you need to disable this privacy switch by sliding it else your Chromebook camera will not work.

Solution No 7 – Reset Chrome Browser

Knowing the fact that the Chrome Browser can also affect your camera’s operations, you can try resetting Chrome Browser which could help you if your Chromebook camera is not working. Here are the steps for the same –

Step 1 – Open Chrome browser and click on three vertical dots at the farthest top right corner of the screen.

Step 2 – Click on Settings.

Step 3 – Click on Reset and Clean up.

Step 4 – Select Restore settings to their original defaults and click on Reset settings.

Check if your Chromebook webcam is working or not.

Solution No 8 – Check the Camera on the Apps Installed On Your Chromebook

Do some apps such as Zoom, Google Meet, etc use your Chromebook’s webcam? It could be that they do not have the necessary permissions and that’s why they cannot access your webcam, further giving you the impression your Chromebook webcam is not working. In such a scenario –

Step 1 – Open Chrome OS App Launcher located at the bottom-left corner of your screen.

Step 2 – Check if apps like Zoom and Google Meet have permission to access your camera. For example, if you can’t see the camera preview on Google Meet then –

• Go to meet.google.com.
• Click on the padlock on the left where the URL starts and click on Site settings.
• Under Permissions, click on the dropdowns next to Camera and Microphone and click on Allow on each dropdown.
• Reload the webpage and you

Solution No 9 – Check Camera Settings

If your webcam is still not working on your Chromebook, you can check if you are using the right camera settings. To do that do the following things –

Step 1 – Open Chrome browser.

Step 2 – Click on three dots next to extensions and click on Settings.

Step 3 – From the left-hand side, click on Privacy and Security.

Step 4 – Click on Site Settings.

Step 5 – Under Permissions, click on Camera.

Step 6 – Check for three things – Under Camera, the right camera should be selected if you have multiple cameras. Second, ensure that you have clicked on the radio button that says Sites can ask to use your camera. And finally, check if the site that you want should use your webcam is not added under the Not allowed to use your camera section.

Solution No 10 – Relaunch The Video Conferencing App

Like Windows video conferencing apps, even Chromebook offers some great video chat apps like Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, etc. Chances are that the video conferencing app is undergoing some minute glitches that can be resolved by a simple restart or by updating it.

Solution No 11 – Use An Alternate Webcam

If your Chromebook’s inbuilt webcam is not working, you can instead use an alternative till you can fix your Chromebook’s camera.

We Hope Your Chromebook’s Camera Is Working Fine?

The above solutions should be sufficient enough in fixing your Chromebook Camera issue. However, you might also want to check for any physical damages. Do let us know, if this post was able to help you out. For more such content, keep reading WeTheGeek, you can also find us on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, and, Instagram.