"Webcam not connected" for my user account only

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Hi Folks,

So just last night my webcam decided to self-isolate. We've been having near daily Teams meetings and it's been working fine. But when I tried to use it in a meeting last night, I got the dreaded "Not connected" error. Same error with any other app that uses it. I logged in as a different user and it works fine. I've tried every "fix" I've found online and none have worked. I could follow Apple's advice and just create a new account for myself, but that's a royal pain to get everything back to where I want it. Once Time Machine finishes its current backup, I'll try restoring to a backup from last week. But I thought I'd check here to see if anyone knows how a user account gets corrupted to where it can't use the webcam. There has to be a reason.
 
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Was the other user already logged/signed in to the Mac? I believe only one user can “access” the camera at the same time, so if the other user was signed in, that may have been the issue.

Also, you should restart your Mac and test again, unless another user is logged. Then you should have them save their work and start.




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No, it was just one user at a time. And I've done several restarts and resets. I may just wait for Time Machine to finish up and then do a restore to some day last week. I just wish I knew what caused this.
 

IWT


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Yep, tried that last night. Going off the same page. This is such a common occurrence, you'd think Apple would have figured out how to fix it by now.
 
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Did you look in System Preferences > Security & Privacy, and make sure the Camera has been enabled?


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Yep, that's the first place I looked because I've had to enable it for a slew of apps lately along with the microphone and screen sharing.
 
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From Console. Can anyone make heads or tails out of this?

default 13:32:57.564486-0500 Photo Booth Player View controls changed to: 2
default 13:32:57.564798-0500 Photo Booth -[AVPlayerView _replaceCurrentControlsViewControllerWithViewController:] controlsViewController: <private>
default 13:32:57.605077-0500 AirPlayXPCHelper <<<< FigRouteDiscoverer >>>> FigRouteDiscovererCreate: CMSession: Registered discoverer of type 1
default 13:32:57.605302-0500 Photo Booth <<<< AVOutputDeviceDiscoverySession >>>> -[AVOutputDeviceDiscoverySession setDiscoveryMode:]: called (discoveryMode=1)
default 13:32:57.605343-0500 Photo Booth <<<< AVOutputDeviceDiscoverySession (FigRouteDiscoverer) >>>> -[AVFigRouteDiscovererOutputDeviceDiscoverySessionImpl outputDeviceDiscoverySessionDidChangeDiscoveryMode:]: Setting device discovery mode to DiscoveryMode_Presence (client: Photo Booth)
default 13:32:57.605428-0500 AirPlayXPCHelper <<<< FigRouteDiscoverer >>>> discoverer_SetProperty_block_invoke: CMSession: Client Photo Booth with PID 17359 of type Video setting discovery mode to DiscoveryMode_Presence
default 13:32:57.610299-0500 Photo Booth -[AVStatusOverlayView initWithFrame:] 61 0x7fc96b643cb0
default 13:32:57.662024-0500 distnoted register name: NSSnappingPrefsDidChangeNotificationNameGlobal object: kCFNotificationAnyObject token: f43b8 pid: 17359
error 13:32:57.734766-0500 Photo Booth AddInstanceForFactory: No factory registered for id <CFUUID 0x600000d35d60> 30010C1C-93BF-11D8-8B5B-000A95AF9C6A
default 13:32:57.735028-0500 VDCAssistant Client Connect for PID 17359
default 13:32:57.735119-0500 VDCAssistant [guid:0x1a11000005ac8511] GetDevicesState for client 36107
error 13:32:57.886260-0500 Photo Booth CMIOHardware.cpp:416:CMIOObjectSetPropertyData CMIO suspended by system
default 13:32:57.928097-0500 Photo Booth [Warning] CameraController setCaptureDevice - Unable to set the proper camera format due to camera locking error: Error Domain=AVFoundationErrorDomain Code=-11815 "Cannot Use FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)" UserInfo={NSLocalizedRecoverySuggestion=Stop any other actions using the FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in) and try again., AVErrorDeviceKey=<AVCaptureDALDevice: 0x7fc96b758550 [FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)][0x1a11000005ac8511]>, NSLocalizedDescription=Cannot Use FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)}
default 13:32:57.928795-0500 tccd Granting PID[17359] access to kTCCServiceCamera via entitlement 'com.apple.private.tcc.allow'
error 13:32:57.929038-0500 Photo Booth CMIOHardware.cpp:416:CMIOObjectSetPropertyData CMIO suspended by system
 

chscag

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Looks like you're getting an error with Photo Booth accessing the camera.

Try removing your Photo Booth plist file by moving it to the desktop and then see if the web cam can connect.

/Users/your user name/Library/Preferences/com.apple.PhotoBooth.plist

Since a new user seems to work okay, it may something as simple as a corrupt plist file. Give it a try.
 
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Thanks. I thought you were on to something there. Moving the PhotoBooth plist didn't work, but then I thought maybe moving the other plists that use the webcam like Teams and Whatsapp might do. I moved all 3 and then restarted, but still no joy. Very frustrating. Although truth be told, I rarely use the webcam anyway and I do have a Logitech USB webcam, so I could just live with it. I just hate it when things don't work as they should. :Angry-Tongue:
 

chscag

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Well, that's not good. It appears then something else with your current user account is corrupt. You may have to switch to a new account and move everything over. A pain, but sometimes it's the only way to cure a problem like that.
 
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Yeah, it might come down to that. I've found sites where users have been experiencing this problem as far back as 2010. No one seems to have found a general cure.
 
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Did you try these suggested and recommended Terminal commands??
At least for some earlier macOS versions:

sudo Killall VDCAssistant
or this one if first one doesn't work
sudo killall AppleCameraAssistant

Just maybe... maybe... :Smirk:






- Patrick
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I did. Killall VDCAsisstant ran ok, but didn't solve the issue.

Killall AppleCameraAssistant returned "no such process" or words to that effect.
 
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I can't even use an external Logitech webcam. Here's what I see when trying to choose a camera in Photobooth. Same thing happens in any other software that uses a camera. It seems both are "In Use."

- - - Updated - - -

I'd try Safe Mode, but I just read that Catalina doesn't load the appropriate .kext file to allow cameras to work in Safe Mode.

Screen Shot 2020-04-18 at 3.11.59 PM.png
 
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I’m sorry, I didn’t see which Mac this was happening with? Which OS version is it running?

I’m sorry if I missed it posted here.


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Late 2012 27" iMac with an i5 and 16GB RAM running 10.15.4. Everything is up to date.

Both cameras work fine for a different user I created. There is something about my particular user profile that suddenly won't allow me to use a webcam. The internal cam was working fine up until a couple of days ago. I can't think of anything new I installed or any changes I made.
 

chscag

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Did you try Safe Mode to see if it works there? I know that Safe Mode prevents all third party kexts and startups and kills the sound, but I don't know about the camera hardware.
 
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Did you try Safe Mode to see if it works there?


Safe Boot Mode would disable my old Logitech USB WebCam even in Snow Leopard, so I don't imagine there would be any change with Catalina. But maybe worth a try regardless.

Doesn't Catalina have some place insisting on getting users permission to use any camera with the software that is going to use it. Maybe it got turned off somehow wherever it is set. Or a corrupt preference file maybe??? But which one, maybe God only knows...


EDIT:
How about this or has it already been mentioned???:
Control access to your camera on Mac
Control access to your camera on Mac - Apple Support






- Patrick
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