Here’s how to fix Dell Inspiron webcam not working

Video calls are part of daily life; they allow people to see friends and family around the world and help them work remotely if circumstances prevent them from going to the office. That’s why many companies today give remote workers the ability to be part of their team.

In business, it is more common to use a laptop or desktop computer for video calling and conferencing than the telephone. But what can you do if your webcam suddenly stops working? If you have a Dell Inspiron laptop, here are a couple of solutions you can try.

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Webcam not detected issue on Inspiron laptops

If your laptop is unable to detect your webcam, there are several ways you can go about it. This could be a driver issue, in which case you can reinstall the webcam software driver, update it, or revert to the previous version.

If the driver is not causing the problem, you can try disabling the cam and enabling it again. Also, according to Dell experts, you can try uninstalling the USB Root Hub from Device Manager. Here are the steps to follow in each of these cases.

Reinstall or update the Dell Inspiron webcam driver

Reinstalling the webcam software driver can sometimes help get the camera working again.

1. Click the magnifying glass from the taskbar.
2. Log in to Device Manager and when it appears in the search results, click to open.
3. Go to Imaging Devices and click the arrow on the left side to reveal the name of your camera.
4. Double click or right click on the camera name to access the properties.
5. Open the Driver tab and select Update Driver if your driver needs to be updated.
6. If you want to uninstall the driver, after step 3, right click on the camera name and choose Uninstall device.
7. In a pop-up window, check the box and click Uninstall to confirm your choice.
8. After uninstalling the driver, restart the laptop. It should reinstall the driver automatically, so check if the camera is working now.

2. Restore the Dell Webcam Driver

If your camera worked before, but refuses to cooperate after a driver update, you can cancel the update by performing the following steps:

1. Launch Device Manager.
2. Go to “Cameras” or “Imaging Devices”, then right click on the camera and select “Properties”.
3. Go to the Driver tab and from there choose the Roll Back Driver option. Note that this option will not be available if there have been no previous updates.

3. Disabling and enabling Dell WebCam

Another troubleshooting option that could fix the webcam problem is to disable the webcam and then enable it again, not unlike restarting it.

1. From “Device Manager”, select “Cameras” or “Imaging Devices”, right click on the camera, then select “Disable”.
2. Confirm the action in the pop-up window by clicking “Yes”.
3. Repeat the first two steps, but click “Enable Device”. Check if the camera is working.

4. Uninstall the USB Root Hub

The USB root hub may affect the functionality of the camera. If other fixes don’t work, try the following steps:

1. Go to “Device Manager”, scroll to the bottom and select “Universal Serial Bus Controller”.
2. Click on the small arrow on the left to see the entire list.
3. Find and right click on “USB Root Hub”, then select “Uninstall Device” from the options listed.
4. Confirm your choice in the pop-up dialog.
5. Repeat this for other USB root hubs available in the section.
6. Restart the laptop and wait for the deleted drivers to be reinstalled. Next, check if your camera is working.

While in the USB Root Hub section, try disabling them instead of uninstalling them. When you disable them all, restart your Dell computer, then go back to Device Manager to re-enable the drivers.

5. Download Windows 7 webcam drivers instead of Windows 10

There may not be a suitable driver for your Dell Inspiron webcam if you’ve made it this far. Therefore, try downloading a webcam driver for Windows 7 or 8 (Windows 7 is generally the best). Here’s what to do:

1. Go to the Dell Official Website to download the driver.
2. Open Download on your laptop and locate the driver, usually an.exe or.zip file.
3. Right-click the.exe file and select Properties from the pop-up list.
4. Open the Compatibility tab and click the drop-down menu in Compatibility Mode.
5. Choose Windows 7 or 8, depending on the driver you downloaded.
6. Select Apply, then OK to save the changes.

Last resort options for solving Dell webcam problems

Of course, there are also the mundane and easy solutions you can try to fix your Dell Inspiron webcam problems, like restarting your computer or checking if more than one app is trying to access your webcam at the same time.

Double logging in usually causes a conflict and your webcam is consequently not detected. If that doesn’t help and the above solutions didn’t work, you may need a replacement webcam.