If you are not using the camera or laptop webcam, you can completely disable it. Here are the steps to disable camera in Windows 10.
If you have a laptop or desktop with a webcam, you know that almost any application in Windows can access it. This is very helpful because you can use the camera to video chat with your friends or even live stream. To protect you from any unauthorized activity, Windows 10 has a permission manager that lets you restrict apps from accessing your camera. However, Windows 10’s permissions are not as polished and are not respected by many old and new win32 applications.
When you are not actively using the camera, along with restricting applications, it is important that you turn off the camera. On the other hand, if you never use the camera, you can completely disable it in Windows 10. Disabling the camera ensures no app can access it without you explicitly enabling it back.
In this quick and simple guide, let me take you though the steps to disable camera in Windows 10.
Turn off camera in Windows 10 settings
You can turn off camera in Windows 10 from the Settings app. Though not obvious at first glance, it is pretty easy to do. Here are steps to follow.
1. First, open the Settings application in Windows 10. You can do that by searching for “Settings” in the Start menu or by clicking the “All Settings” button in the notification center.
2. After opening the Settings app, go to the “Privacy” page. This is where you will find all the privacy related options for various parts and applications in Windows 10.
3. On the Privacy page, click on the “Camera” tab on the sidebar. As you expect, this is where all the permissions regarding the camera are available.
4. Now, click on the “Change” button under “Allow access to the camera on this device” section.
5. Turn off “Camera access for this device” option in the flyout menu.
6. Close the Settings app.
With that, you’ve turned off the camera via the Settings app in Windows 10.
Disable camera in Windows 10 device manager
If you want to completely disable Windows 10 camera and make sure no application can access it, you have to disable camera in the Device Manager. Here’s how.
1. First, right-click on the Start menu and click on the “Device Manager” option. You can also search for it in the Start menu.
2. After opening the Device Manager, double-click on the “Cameras” option to expand it. You will see all your cameras under this option.
Note: If you don’t see the Cameras option or any camera device under the Cameras option, your system might not have a camera. If you are sure you have one, it might not recognized by Windows or it might not be working as it should.
3. Now, right-click on the camera device and select the “Disable device” button.
4. If you see a warning window, click on the “Yes” button.
As soon as you confirm the action, Windows will completely disable the camera in Device Manager. You will see a little down arrow icon on the device icon in the device manager.
If you want to enable the camera back on, right-click on the camera device and select the “Enable device” option.
That is all. It is that simple to disable camera in Windows 10. If you are stuck or need some help, comment below and I will try to help as much as possible.
