Camera freezes in Teams

[Christian_Stokes]

Hi,

I've had around 6/7 users contact me regarding their camera freezing when doing a video call on Teams. During the ringing stage the camera works fine but as soon as the person they are ringing  joins, the user's camera then freezes. You can hear them fine but the camera is just frozen.  The person's camera they have called works fine though and doesn't freeze.

I have tried uninstalling the in built camera & driver on the laptop & then re-installing, this has worked on a few occasions but then the users report it has frozen again. I have also tried uninstalling Teams & re-installing but this hasn't resolved the issue either. I've checked for any driver updates relating to the camera but it's all up to date.

I'm not too sure what is causing the issue as it's not happening to every user, only a handful. They are all using the same laptop make & model - HP Elitebook 840 G3.

Does anyone have any other ideas to try and fix this issue?

[#2]

I have a user that is having the same problem.  Video works fine in other applications.  Teams cause the problem.  The audio is fine.  Video starts, and then will freeze.  

I am sorry I don't have a solution.  I hope to see one on here.

@Christian_Stokes 

[#3]

Yes, I've had the same thing with other applications working fine but as soon as Teams has a video call it just freezes & then like you say, the audio is fine. 

I tried with 1 of the users today logging them in via the Teams web client & doing a video call that way but again, as soon as the video connected the camera froze!

@Brandon Hallock 

[#4]

@Christian_Stokes 

I have the same problem.   I did some searching and it might be due to this silly situation:

I am logged on in the old fashion as the laptop administrator and NOT as a microsoft user.

If I try to login with my email which is a valid microsoft account then it says the account does not exist so I can't.

If I try to log in as a collegue then it allows me to go further

Very frustrating .....

Is this also your situation, not logged in on a windows account?

[#5]

All of my users who are using their webcam with Teams have MS accounts.  They are all set as admin on their respective computers.  All of the users but one have no problems with their webcam and Teams.  

I think I have narrowed down the one who does to it being an issue with the camera.  It will freeze in the Camera app as well.  

@alexJ25 

[#6]

Ik discovered the same problem myself and one off my customers called today with the same issue. One off them is using a MacBook and one off them is using Microsoft Surface 3. Since the message has been read more than 1300 times, I think many more people are experiencing the same problem.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

@Foliero 

The registry hack I found here fixed my camera freezing problem

https://windows101tricks.com/webcam-freezes-windows-10/

[#8]

@Sonia2020 

Many thanks.   The simple change in regedit worked for me.   Happy days.

[#9]

@Sonia2020 Hi, I've tried this with a number of the users that have reported the camera freezing problem. I'm pleased to say that the registry change has worked!

For anyone else looking here's how it was fixed - Taken from the website above:

• Press Windows + R, type regedit and ok to open windows registry editor.
• Backup registry Database, Then navigate to the following key.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Media Foundation\Platform
• just right-click inside the right pane and select New>DWORD (32-bit) value.
• Name the new value ‘EnableFrameServerMode’ and make sure its value is set to ‘0’.

Test a phone call.

Thank you for the fix!

[#10]

Does anyone know of a way to implement this registry edit on a computer running Win 10 in S mode?

you can't run Regedit or Rgedit32...

[#11]

@Christian_Stokes 

Hey,

I've tried this but still no help. My laptop camera is working perfectly during all the Teams meeting. I also have a SOLO Spark USB document camera that I use to show students drawings as I talk them through it. It worked perfectly last Wednesday but yesterday and today the USB document camera freezes are a couple of seconds. A warning pops up to say the camera has stopped working, try plugging it in and out.

Any idea why my build in web camera is working but my USB one freezes?

[#12]

Christian,

The first thing that comes to mind for me is drivers.  Does the USB camera have drivers you can download?

@Martin390 

[#13]

@Christian_Stokes The same thing happens to me on my Surface Pro 7. The camera freezes and I have to tell my class not to leave while I turn off my Surface Pro which takes ~20 seconds. Then have to restart. I have my school-issued laptop available so I usually switch but it is much slower. I spent an hour online last week with MS Tech. They uninstalled Teams & reinstalled and did some other "tricks" but I am back where I was before.

[#14]

@Christian_Stokes That reg key appears to have worked for one of my users.  Thank you.

[#15]

@Christian_Stokes 

This advice for people where the registry fix outlined by @Sonia2020  didn't do the trick.

If Teams video is freezing right after connecting a call, then I've had great success with rolling back the driver for the Integrated Camera in Device Manager. This has worked even when it was an external webcam attached to the computer.

One other thing that has helped for the same issue has been Disabling GPU hardware acceleration in Teams Settings on the General tab.

For @Martin390 where Teams video works but the USB document camera doesn't, I'd recommend looking for the external camera's device driver in Device Manager under Cameras or Imaging devices and roll back the driver. There's a good chance that some update threw a tilt in it's operation.

On a side-note, for people with other Teams video problems of lagging and freezing but not necessarily right from the moment they connect a call, there's one more area to check. Go to %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams\Cache and delete everything there. Teams cache seems to fill up quickly and can significantly slow down the app, most notably impacting video quality.

Finally, not for @Christian_Stokes but if video is lagging/freezing in other apps as well as Teams, then it might be worth checking internet band-with which can play a significant role in video.

[#16]

@Christian_Stokes 

I am experiencing the same.

I use external USB webcams that since I installed Teams, they freeze every few seconds everywhere. Not only on Teams. This is the second time it happens, different computer and different webcams just after I install Teams and log in.

Teams asked me to sign on my companies network and after that the cam stopped working.

There is something with teams or signing with the domains that messes this up. For months the cam worked awesome until I logged to teams. BTW my computers are not on my company's domain.

Hope this helps to track the issue.

[#17]

Hey together,

im facing the same issue in macOS and a Philips 272B7QUBHEB Monitor.

Camera freezes instantly after the call ist started. I can fix this problem by starting the Apple "PhotoBooth" app, but this isn't a good workaround.

We definetely need the Microsoft Support to help us with this.

[#18]

Worked for me! Thanks

[#19]

Getting the same issues too. Several of my work colleagues also get this now were moving to Teams from Skype for Business.

Sometimes the only way to fix is to rapidly turn the camera on and off several times.

Updated all the windows drivers from the manufacturer Lenovo and running the latest Teams version. An odd few users on a Microsoft Surface have also experienced this.

Tried all the suggested fixes like the registry changes, updating drivers etc.

Wondered if others are on VPN when this happens or not?

[#20]

@Christian_Stokes 

I have the same problem and noticed it always freezes when I receive a notification that I got another message sent. I am on Mac and when I get a new message, I get a bubble notification for a few seconds. The interesting part is that my video freezes only when the notification disappear.

Have others noticed this?

Miguel.