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My camera is still having issues after 2 years. Why does it deny access to apps?

Anonymous
2024-03-25T14:54:16+00:00

Hello,

I have had issues with the Surface camera for over 2 years now. Microsoft refused to honor my warranty and send me a replacement so I have just been trying to deal with these issues. My camera will randomly stop working even though it says in Settings that the app is fine. Google Meet, Teams, and ExamSoft do not work with the camera. I have now had 2 interviews where my camera has stopped working in the interview (and I of course did not get the job because of this). Currently, I am trying to prepare my computer for the New York Law Exam and ExamSoft/Examplify need access to my camera. I get an error message when I grant access saying "Access Denied." However, when I open settings, "Let desktop apps access your camera" is "on" and Examplify is the first app listed with a last accessed date of that day.

Please help with this issue. I tried to upload screenshots of the Settings page but it said "files failed to upload."

I also need this computer for the Bar exam and the camera has to work the entire time.

Best regards,

James

Surface | Surface Book | Sound and camera

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-03-25T23:25:32+00:00

    Hi James H Stitt [student]

    We appreciate your active participation in the Microsoft Community. I apologize for the inconvenience you’re facing with your Surface camera. It’s likely that the camera driver is either outdated or corrupted, which might be the cause of the issue. You can attempt to resolve this by updating the camera driver through Device Manager. Alternatively, consider uninstalling the camera driver and then restarting your Surface; this should trigger an automatic reinstallation of the driver.

    1. If updating or reinstalling the driver doesn't work, you can try resetting the camera app by going to Settings > Apps >Installed apps> Camera >click on the 3dots> Advanced options > Reset. This will clear any settings or configurations that may be causing the issue.
    2. Then open again the device manager.>click on system devices>Then right click on the Microsoft camera front>Select uninstall> then do not put any check mark if there a small box that pop-up says complete delete, just click uninstall then okay.
    3. Then, right click on the Microsoft Camera rear>Select uninstall> then do not put any check mark if there a small box that pop-up says complete delete, just click uninstall then okay.
    4. Thendownload and install the driver pack on your Surface device. This will help us update the hardware and firmware.
    5. After installation, restart the Surface device to apply changes.

    If none of these solutions work, the next steps are to reset the Surface device back to default. To clear out that this is not a software issue.

    If the issue persists after reset, possible this is already a hardware issue on the Surface device. Need to repair or replace. Handling replacement orders, order status inquiries, and case escalations falls outside the scope of our community support. Unfortunately, we lack the tools required to create or verify orders. For assistance with these matters, please reach out to our live support team.

    To contact the live support team.

    1. Go to Contact Us - Microsoft Support
    2. Choose how you would like to get support for your Surface device.
    3. Type in the problem you need help with.
    4. Look at any available solutions offered and select Contact Support.

    You can also check this forum article for a more detailed guide in reaching our live support: How to get Phone and Chat Support (for Surface Home/Consumer - Microsoft Community

    You can also click this link for the phone number. Global Customer Service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

    Thank you for your understanding.

    Kind regards

    Christopher

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-03-28T02:49:05+00:00

    Hello James H Stitt [student]

    We haven't heard from you, so we assume that your issue has already been addressed. We will not be monitoring this thread moving forward so, if you need further assistance, please create a new thread to discuss these concerns by clicking this link: Create a new question (microsoft.com) Thank you for understanding.

     Regards,

    Christopher

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