How to Fix Webcam Error on Windows 10

This practical guide walks through how to fix webcam error on Windows 10, explains the main requirements, and highlights common issues that may appear along the way.

1. What is the error of webcam freezing on Windows?

In Anniversary Update, Microsoft only allowed USD web using YUY2 encryption. Microsoft removed support for MJPEG and H264 streams, which many webcams use including the very famous Logitech C920 webcam.

This means doing something straightforward like playing HD video on Skype will cause your web to hang. Apparently no one on the Windows and Skype teams of Microsoft, or Logitech noticed this problem during the entire Insider Preview process for the Anniversary Update.

If you're having this problem, you can downgrade from Anniversary Update to an earlier version of Windows. Unfortunately, with Anniversary Update, Microsoft quietly changed the downgrade cycle from 30 days to 10 days. If you installed the Anniversary Update as soon as it was released, you probably can't downgrade.

Mike M, an engineer on the Windows Camera team at Microsoft, explained Microsoft's rationale for removing this feature in a thread on Microsoft forums. Microsoft has done this to enable more efficient simultaneous camera access, i.e. accessing the camera with multiple apps at the same time. Unfortunately, the change has caused problems with many existing webcams and apps.

2. How to fix Webcam lost, hang on Windows 10

Note the following registry fix to fix the frozen webcam that may be effective or ineffective. Registry Editor is a powerful tool and overusing it can cause your system to operate unstable or even inoperable. This is a pretty simple trick and as long as you follow the instructions, you should not have any problems.

Step 1: First, open Registry Editor by opening the Start menu, entering regedit and pressing Enter.

Step 2: Then navigate to the following key in the left panel:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows Media FoundationPlatform

Step 3: Right-click on the Platform key in the left panel and select New> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Step 4: Name the value as EnableFrameServerMode. Double click on it and set the value to 0.

Step 5: The next section depends on whether you use a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows. If you are on the 32-bit version, the troubleshooting steps are complete. If you are using the 64-bit version, then you will need to go to the following key in the left panel:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWOW6432NodeMicrosoftWindows Media FoundationPlatform

Step 6: Add the same settings here. Right-click on the Platform and add a DWORD value with the name EnableFrameServerMode and its value 0.

Now, you can close Registry Editor. Changes that have been made will take effect immediately. Just launch any app where the webcam hangs and it should work properly again without rebooting or logging out.

To undo this change in the future, then just re-visit the same location in Registry Editor and remove the value of Enable EnableFrameServerMode that you added.