SOLVED

7/17/2020 - Latest Teams update breaks Virtual Cameras - Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.18164

Brass Contributor

Mac OS Catalina 10.15.5 - Just prior to today's update on my machine to the above version 1.3.00.18164, Teams was able to utilize my OBS and Wirecast virtual cameras which I use all the time. Now Teams doesn't see them and yep, the permissions for screen recording, etc are all accounted for and I disabled and re-enabled the settings, as well as restarting the app(s), including Teams, etc. and the machine. Previously, I was able to choose the appropriate virtual camera. Now I only have access to the Mac's built-in webcam. Obviously, this is not ideal. Has anyone else seen this defect today (or recently)? Is there something I'm missing besides checking the security permissions, restarts, etc?

 

Thanks!

23 Replies
Have a look at this thread. Its for an entirely different app but it might provide some insight into the root cause of your issue as it relates to MacOS Catalina and virtual webcams not working after an update.

https://forum.manycam.com/t/virtual-webcam-no-longer-works/1806/3

@hackerx I appreciate the link! Attempting some of the recommendations did not address the issue, unfortunately. This appears to be directly related to the MS Teams update as the functionality was working directly prior to the update and not working after the update, with no updates to the OS or other Catalina-specific software in the interim.

Temporarily, I was able to completely remove the updated version and was thankfully presented with the slightly older version 1.3.00.15561 which restored virtual camera capabilities. I've worked to fuddle up the teams updater daemon to hold off for a couple of versions to hopefully have the functionality restored. 

This is also affecting me--  The ability to use virtual webcams for complex output (CamTwist and Iruin Webcam) is disabled; as a college instructor, I need webcam capability.  I hope that this bug is addressed quickly.  It is directly a Microsoft Teams update issue; other software on the Mac is not affected.

@eRayHarrison Would it be possible for you to post instructions for how you successfully downgraded and are blocking the auto-update for now?  Thank you!

Just came here to say that this latest update has broken Virtual Cameras for me, as well. I'm on a Mac using Mojave. I was using Virtual Cameras one day and then updated Teams. As soon as I updated Teams, my ability to use Virtual Cameras went away that same day. I'm currently using Microsoft Teams Version 1.3.00.18164.

@AndrewBonham Did you ever get any answer to how to downgrade Teams for Mac to a version that doesn't break the OBS Virtual Camera? 

 

I can get the OBS Virtual Camera to show up and operate in the preview devices, but as soon as I connect it freezes.

@eRayHarrison My GoPro webcam just broke with this version as well with version 1.3.00.18164. 

 

Zoom had a similar issue with signed applications and using virtual webcams, but fixed it. I really think this is a Teams issue.

@hackerx I can confirm unsigning the teams app doesn't enable virtual webcams. 



sudo codesign --remove-signature /Applications/"Microsoft Teams.app"



Does not do anything after restarting the system. 

I can confirm that it is a Teams issue only. If you install an older version of the app it actually fixes the issue, but then it breaks again within 24hours because Teams auto-updates (which you cannot turn off). 

 

Microsoft, please fix this. You have made Teams worthless for those of us who have to do trainings with multiple cameras. This breaks Teams for many in the tech and EDU community.

When Zoom had the same issue, it tooked like 3 or 4 days to them to release a new version with the solution to this problem. It has been passed 12 days since the problem was detected with Teams and still nothing. Please Microsoft solve the issue now.

@AWMooney  I managed to get around this (temporarily) on macOS by doing the following;

  1. In Word, click on "Help"
  2. Click on "Check for updates"
  3. Uncheck "Automatic updates"
  4. Restored a previous version of Teams from TimeMachine

This allowed me to continue to use Teams on an older version which worked with Virtual Cameras (iglasses in my case) and stopped the autoupdate from MS.

 

I hope that helps?

 

Obviously this means that no MS updates will load automatically but hopefully, MS will sort the Teams issue out soon...

@Stmpy Thank you for this information! Unfortunately, in our organization, Teams updates roll out separately and there's no way for us to turn them off. Only by editing the Teams update plist file to set updates to 'No' and turning off system writes to that file afterwards allowed me to keep a previous version. Hopefully, the next update will restore that functionality. 

@rodrigosalinas Agreed! They seem to release updates every couple of weeks so hopefully very soon we'll see the functionality restored.

@eRayHarrison Most recent update from 7/29 did NOT restore functionality, unfortunately.

@eRayHarrison same here - I just built some virtual backgrounds and lower thirds for a client that uses TEAMS and I can't even demo the work much less implement it for them - Hey Microsoft - is there a fix coming out for this??? ASAP please???

best response confirmed by ThereseSolimeno (Microsoft)

@xstjames Thank you VERY much! That was the answer - I'd seen variations on that theme but not the codesign on both of those applications. 

@xstjamesThanks for the share, this worked for me.

 

Anyone who is affected by this, please vote up the user voice bug to address: 

 

https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/908686-bug-reports/suggestions/40961347-latest-teams-upd...

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by ThereseSolimeno (Microsoft)