OBS Virtual Camera may affect built-in webcams

[Cloudmage]

Using OBS virtual camera in Microsoft Teams able to use teh power of OBS, however on subsequant uses following a reboot of the laptop the inbuilt camera is no longer available on the device. Its being uninstalled or wont load properly.

This has happened on several devices, Lenovo and HP.

Platform

Operating system and version: Windows 10 1909
OBS Studio version: 26.0

Expected Behavior

OBS virtual camera should allow the selection of cameras (inbuilt/external) but also allow them to be accessed via additional applications such as Microsoft Teams.

Current Behavior

OBS is holding the cameras after it has been closed and the only choice available for other applications in the OBS Virtual Camera.
In Device Manager the internal camera is now show as uninstalled and trying to reinstall with updated drivers does not work
Uninstall of OBS does not solve this as the uninstall is not removing everything.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install OBS 26.0 on a laptop with an inbuilt camera, MS Teams
2. Run a Teams meeting using OSB virtual camera
3. Reboot laptop - internal camera now missing in Teams

Additional information

This has happened to several people all using different hardware.

[WizardCM]

What does Device Manager say about the device?

[Cloudmage]

Said it was uninstalled. Tried to reinstall the camera and now its not showing at all. I should have copied out the error, but cant get back to it now.

[Cloudmage]

Found the device in device manager now - says

" Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45) To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer."

Its an internal device and is already connected. latest drivers have been installed.

My thinking is that the OBS Camera is using something that the inbuilt cameras need and has taken the priority on it.

[WizardCM]

If you uninstall OBS, then uninstall the real device in Device Manager and reboot, does that help?

I'm booting up my laptop now to try and reproduce.

[Cloudmage]

tried that. no still the same. Not sure if OBS is leaving something there. Windows install not removing everything

[WizardCM]

The general rule is that OBS only "uses" webcams if OBS is open and the camera is selected in the "Video Capture Device" source. Otherwise, it has no context of such devices. Once uninstalled, it cleans itself up and as of OBS 26 also removes the virtual camera that contains the OBS output.

[Cloudmage]

After an uninstall I still have a desktop icon and obs-virtualcam-module64.dll is still present in c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow\

Edit - another process has this DLL - Probably as Teams is open - will try again with everything closed down.

Tried a reinstall first to then do an uninstall to check it removed all - OBS has said - "OBS files are being used by the following applications: Skype of Business, Microsoft Teams Please close these applications to continue setup."

There is no checking on the uninstall that another process has the DLL. Just assumes it has uninstalled correctly - only a reinstall.

The OBS Virtual Camera is not the selected camera, but does appear on the dropdown list in Teams. I havent selected it in Skype at all.

[Cloudmage]

after removing obs, still unable to get the internal camera active again

[Fenrirthviti]

Unfortunately, I don't think this is anything OBS is doing. We don't interact or affect other devices on a system, and the virtual camera is entirely self-contained. This sounds like an issue with the system itself, especially if the issue is present after OBS is removed and the virtual camera dlls unregistered. I'll leave this open though as there is no conclusive solution, and if there is something on our end causing this, we should certainly fix it, I am just not even a little sure where to begin.

[Cloudmage]

@Fenrirthviti @WizardCM Thanks for looking into this. Im going to look at a rebuild of the system ground up and try again. A collegue of mine did experience similar issues when their camera also went. They had two camera (front and back on device) and its the main one at the front that dropped. Ive asked them to post some details here.

Appriciate the time spent looking into this though.

[WizardCM]

I have tested this on my Surface Book 2 which has 2 cameras and so far neither has disappeared. I'll keep an eye on it, and additionally I'll test on a couple laptops this upcoming weekend. At the moment, I agree with Fenrir that it's unlikely that it's caused by OBS - maybe a Windows update of some kind?

[WizardCM]

I spend 2 hours with a user on Discord yesterday who came in with the same issue. The system had trouble recognising his webcam (also a Lenovo laptop), though it would work for a few seconds it'd disappear from Zoom, and Device Manager would report that the "Device Descriptor Failed". In my experience this usually means the device couldn't get enough power to properly communicate with the system. A System Restore to before OBS was installed did not restore functionality.

For anyone having this issue, please provide the following:

Windows Release Version: (2004, 1909, etc - Settings -> System -> About -> Windows specifications)
Device ID: USB\VID_xxxx&PID_xxxx (can be found using Device Manager -> Details -> Device instance path)
Laptop Brand/Model:
Camera Model: (can be fetched from Device Manager or via USBView)
Device Manager Error: (this could be a variety of errors, visible on the General tab under "Device status")
Apps Tested: (Zoom, MS Teams, Skype, Discord, etc)

[nicholas-cross-fujitsu]

Windows Release Version: 1803
Device ID: USB\VID_046D&PID_082D&MI_00\9&24CEEA53&2&0000
Laptop Brand/Model: Fujitisu
Camera Model: Logitech HD Pro C920
Device Manager Error: none that i have seen
Apps Tested: Zoom, Teams (fat app, online), MS Camera app,

So i have uninstalled OBS Studio Pro, took the uninstall.bat file from this repo and run that, I still have "OBS Virtual Camera" in Teams and MS Camera App.
Oddly only Teams fat-app and Camera fail when i switch from local laptop camera or OBS Studio to the logitech USB camera.
Zoom, Teams online (any web-based camera) all work fine.
So something has upset Teams and makes it "glitch" and restart the teams fat-app.

Any help appreciated.
thanks

[WizardCM]

@nicholas-cross-fujitsu If you uninstalled OBS before running the uninstall.bat file, it won't successfully uninstall the virtual camera. You either have to manually unregister the DLL, or re-install then go to the C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow and run the uninstaller that's automatically in there.

[nicholas-cross-fujitsu]

@nicholas-cross-fujitsu If you uninstalled OBS before running the uninstall.bat file, it won't successfully uninstall the virtual camera. You either have to manually unregister the DLL, or re-install then go to the C:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow and run the uninstaller that's automatically in there.

I tried

dir "c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow\obs-virtualcam-module64.dll"
 Volume in drive C is Windows
 Volume Serial Number is 20DF-E51B

 Directory of c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow

29/09/2020  12:51           906,768 obs-virtualcam-module64.dll
               1 File(s)        906,768 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  229,792,468,992 bytes free


%windir%\System32\regsvr32.exe /u /s "c:\Program Files\obs-studio\data\obs-plugins\win-dshow\obs-virtualcam-module64.dll"

but i get a return code 3. LoadLibrary failed

Though this did remove the "OBS Virtual Camera" in teams.

thanks