How to Fix Error 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached on Windows 10

When it comes to working from home, there are few things worse than running late for a meeting due to webcam failure. Other kinds of users are also affected by malfunctioning cameras, such as gamers.

0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached is a common error message shown on the screen of Windows 10 users when attempting to launch the Camera app. The webcam screen turns black and shows white text, like in the image below.

We Can’t Find Your Camera

It usually happens to laptops or monitors with integrated webcams. But the error can occur on external webcam adapters, too. Don’t worry, though, since you should be able to handle this matter without turning to a professional. It’s typically a simple fix that never crossed your mind, like pressing a key combination that enables the webcam.

FIX: 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached

Before attempting to repair the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error code on your computer, it’s a good idea to create a system restore point. The last solutions on this list are advanced and make significant changes to your computer. In case anything goes wrong, you can always roll back Windows 10 to a stable restore point and try again.

Although the fixes below are tailored for the Camera app, they can also be applied to other apps (for example, if your webcam is not working on Skype).

1. Run Windows Update

Since the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error is triggered by the Camera app, and since the Camera app is intertwined with Windows, you should check for system updates and download any available updates. Here’s how to easily make it happen:

1. Press the Win key, type Check for updates, and hit Enter
2. Click Check for updates and wait until the online search is complete
3. If there’s anything available, click Download
4. Don’t turn off or restart your PC during the update
5. When it’s done, launch the Camera app and check for errors

2. Check the webcam cover, cable, and switch

Some laptops and monitors with integrated webcams have covers or buttons you must physically push or pull to toggle the webcam. It’s a security measure against webcam hijackers. For example, MSI laptops require you to press FN + F6 to toggle the webcam. Meanwhile, ASUS systems work with F10.

Because the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error message clearly indicates that Windows has trouble identifying your webcam, make sure to push the button or flip the switch responsible for turning the webcam back on.

In certain cases, it’s necessary to connect your monitor to the computer unit using a special cable for the webcam, even if the device is built into the display. Check the webcam case for a cable and plug it in.

If the cable was already installed, try detaching and reattaching it. You can also try using a different USB port in case the original port is malfunctioning.

3. Check webcam permissions

Your device and apps require webcam access. For example, Microsoft Teams can’t work with a webcam without your permission. Otherwise, you will keep seeing the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached on your screen. It particularly applies to users who have recently gone through a major Windows update or who have refreshed the operating system.

1. Sign in to Windows 10 with administrator rights
2. Right-click the Start button and go to Settings
3. Select Privacy
4. At app permissions on the left side, select Camera
5. Click Change and make sure that Camera access for this device is enabled. You can also allow camera access to other apps, such as Skype
6. Enable Allow apps to access your camera
7. At Choose which Microsoft Store apps can access your camera, set Camera to On
8. Scroll down to Allow desktop apps to access your camera and set it to On

4. Verify webcam compatibility

If you purchased or received your webcam a long time ago, it’s possible that the hardware is unsupported by Windows 10. In that case, there’s nothing to do except buy a new webcam. There’s a simple trick to quickly discovering this: finding a file called stream.sys. Here’s what you should do:

1. Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager
2. Expand the Cameras category to look for your webcam
3. Right-click the webcam device and select Properties
4. Switch to the Driver tab and click Driver Details
5. In the list of files, look for stream.sys. If you find it, it means that the webcam is unsupported by Windows 7 and newer versions, so you have to replace it with a new one. Otherwise, you’re good to go

If you can’t find your webcam in Device Manager, find out how to fix this problem.

5. Check the webcam drivers

It says so in the error message: you should inspect your webcam drivers to ensure that everything is in working order. There are three approaches to this: reinstalling the device, updating the driver, or rolling back the driver.

How to reinstall the webcam device:

1. Right-click the Start button and go to Device Manager
2. Look for your webcam in the Cameras group
3. Right-click the webcam entry and select Uninstall device
4. Proceed with the device removal
5. Right-click any entry and select Scan for hardware changes
6. Restart your computer. Windows will auto-reinstall the webcam adapters
7. Open the Camera app and check for errors

How to update your camera driver:

1. In Device Manager, right-click your webcam and select Update driver
2. Click Search automatically for drivers and wait
3. If the online search doesn’t return anything, click Search for updated drivers on Windows Update

If Windows can’t find a newer driver for your webcam, go to the official website to find and download a newer version. Then, retrace the steps above and use the Browse my computer for driver software to manually update the webcam driver.

On the other hand, if you accidentally installed an incompatible driver, you have to perform a rollback.

How to roll back your webcam driver:

1. Head over to Device Manager
2. Right-click your webcam and select Properties
3. Switch to the Driver tab
4. Click Roll Back Driver and follow the instructions
5. If the Roll Back Driver button is greyed out, then you can’t perform a rollback, so you can skip this entire step
6. Restart your PC and open the Camera app to inspect results

6. Scan your computer for malware

Your computer may have been recently infected with malware without even realizing it. As a result, the malicious agent could have disabled critical system processes and services related to the Camera app, and that’s why you keep seeing the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error message.

But you can run a malware scan and remove any infections to restore computer settings. If you don’t have a third-party antivirus tool installed, you can use Windows Defender.

How to run a malware scan with Windows Defender:

1. Click the Start button, type Windows Security, and press Enter
2. Select Virus & threat protection
3. Click Scan options
4. Select Quick scan and click Scan now
5. If the scan results don’t reveal anything suspicious, run another scan using Windows Defender Offline scan mode
6. Reboot your computer
7. Launch the Camera app and check for errors

7. Check your Internet security application

If you have a cyber-security solution installed on your computer, it could have a special feature dedicated to blocking webcam access, in an effort to stop spies from watching your every move.

Since the application overrides your computer settings, it could be the reason why you keep getting the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error code.

To fix this problem, just locate the webcam feature in your Internet security program and shut it down to allow webcam access to all your installed applications.

8. Review Camera app permissions

In a previous solution, we said how important it is to verify webcam permissions in the privacy settings of your operating system. However, it’s equally important to check the permissions of the Camera app to make sure that everything is in working order. Here’s how to make it happen:

1. Press the Win key, type Camera, and go to App settings
2. At App permissions, enable Camera, Microphone, Videos, and Background apps
3. Open the Camera app and check for errors

9. End any processes currently using your webcam

Windows Camera is just one app that requires webcam access, but there might be others currently running on your computer, such as Skype, Zoom, or Microsoft Teams. To avoid software conflicts, it’s a good idea to terminate all other processes besides the Camera app. Here’s how to do it easily:

1. Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager
2. Locate all apps with camera access beside Camera
3. Select each app and click Disable
4. Also, disable the Camera app
5. Relaunch Windows Camera and check for errors

10. Reset the Camera app

If there’s something wrong with the Camera app that could trigger the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error code, you can easily reset its settings from Microsoft Store. However, keep in mind that all app data will be deleted. Here’s what you have to do:

1. Click the Start button, type Camera, and click App settings
2. Scroll down and click the Reset button
3. Click Reset again to confirm
4. Open the Camera app and check for errors

11. Reinstall the Camera app

The reset option sometimes fails to fix the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error. A better but more complicated solution is to uninstall the Camera app and set it up again. To do this, you must first make sure that all its processes are properly closed.

How to terminate all Camera app processes:

1. Press the Windows button, type Camera, and select App settings
2. Scroll down and click Terminate
3. Right-click the taskbar and go to Task Manager
4. Look for the Camera process. If you can still find it here, select it and click End task

How to reinstall the Camera app using Apps and Features:

1. Right-click the Start button and go to Apps and Features
2. Find and select Camera (by Microsoft Corporation)
3. Click Uninstall and proceed with the app removal
4. Press the Win key, type Microsoft Store, and hit Enter
5. Click the Search button on top, type Windows Camera, and select this app
6. Click Get and then Install

If you can’t remove the Camera app from Apps and Features because the Uninstall button is greyed out, you can force the app’s uninstall with the help of PowerShell.

How to reinstall the Camera app using PowerShell:

1. Click the Start button, type Windows PowerShell, and select Run as administrator
2. Type Get-AppxPackage -allusers | Select Name, PackageFullName and press Enter
3. Locate the Name entry that says Microsoft.WindowsCamera
4. Copy the PackageFullName associated with that entry (e.g. Microsoft.WindowsCamera_2018.826.98.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe)
5. Type Remove-AppxPackage PackageFullName and replace PackageFullName with what you copied (e.g. Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsCamera_2018.826.98.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe). Press Enter
6. Type Add-AppxPackage -register “C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\PackageFullName\appxmanifest.xml” -DisableDevelopmentMode. Replace PackageFullName with what you copied (e.g. Remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.WindowsCamera_2018.826.98.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe). Press Enter

Launch the Camera app and check if you still get the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error.

12. Run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter

Windows has a built-in troubleshooter prepared to repair common issues with hardware devices. It’s worth a shot to repair webcam problems and works with multiple apps (for instance, if Zoom won’t work with your camera). You can find it in Settings > Troubleshoot. Even if the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter is missing, you can still run its command.

1. Press the Win key + R, type msdt.exe -id DeviceDiagnostic, and press Enter
2. Click Next and follow the wizard instructions
3. If the troubleshooter finds a solution, click Apply this fix
4. Restart your computer
5. Launch the Camera app and check for additional errors

13. Run the Microsoft Store troubleshooter

Since Windows Camera is a Microsoft Store, you should also troubleshoot this application, especially if you have trouble running other Store apps, too.

1. Right-click the Start button and select Settings
2. Click Update & Security
3. Select Troubleshoot on the left side
4. Click Additional troubleshooters
5. Scroll down to the bottom of the window
6. Select Windows Store Apps and click Run the troubleshooter
7. Follow the on-screen instructions
8. If the troubleshooter finds any solutions, apply them
9. Restart your PC
10. Open the Camera app and check for errors

14. Uninstall recent third-party software

If you have recently installed third-party software applications, they might not be fully supported by Windows 10, resulting in various functionality issues. In some cases, they can even cause error 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached in your Camera app. But you can fix this problem by removing the problematic apps.

How to remove recent apps:

1. Right-click the Start button and select Apps and Features
2. Set Sort by to Install date
3. Select the first entry in the list and click Uninstall
4. Click Uninstall again to confirm and proceed with its removal
5. Reboot your computer and try to use the Camera app

15. Uninstall recent system updates

A system update that rolled out lately might not be fully compliant with Windows 10, resulting in problems with Microsoft Store apps. It can be tricky to tell, but it makes sense if you started receiving the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error code right after finishing a system update.

To test this, you can uninstall the most recent Windows update. Don’t worry since you can reinstall it later anyway.

1. Press Win key + R, type control panel, and press Enter
2. Click Programs and Features
3. Select View installed updates on the left side
4. Click the Installed On column to sort the updates (newest first)
5. Double-click the first update on the list
6. Click Yes to confirm its removal
7. Reboot your PC and open the Camera app

16. Fix corrupt system files

Your operating system might have damaged or missing files that are directly related to the Windows Camera app. However, you can fix this problem without having to use third-party software solutions, thanks to SFC (System File Checker) and DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management).

Get started by running SFC:

1. Press the Windows key + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open Command Prompt with admin rights
2. Type sfc /scannow and press Enter
3. Wait until SFC finds and fixes any issues
4. Exit CMD and restart your PC
5. Open the Camera app and check for errors

If SFC doesn’t do the trick, then you can turn to DISM to verify the component store of the Windows image.

How to use DISM:

1. Open Command Prompt with elevation rights
2. Run DISM /online /cleanup-image /scanhealth
3. If DISM reports any issues, run DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
4. Reboot your PC and restart CMD as admin
5. Run the SFC command
6. Restart your computer, open the Camera app, and check for errors

17. Reset BIOS settings to default

Several users reported that they got rid of the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error message by resetting BIOS settings to default. It’s an easy task that requires just a couple of clicks. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Reboot your PC and quickly press the key shown on the screen to enter BIOS mode
2. Go to the advanced BIOS settings
3. Find the option that resets configuration data and enable it
4. Save the current BIOS configuration and exit to Windows
5. Open the Camera app to check for improvements

18. Check a registry setting

Microsoft Store apps like Camera or Skype need a specific registry in order to function normally. If it doesn’t exist, then you can wake up with error messages like 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached.

But you can check this issue by taking a look in Registry Editor and by adding the entry if it’s missing. Don’t worry since there’s no risk of damaging your PC because you will create a registry backup first.

1. Click the Start button, type Registry Editor, and select Run as administrator
2. Click Yes if prompted by UAC (User Account Control)
3. Open the File menu and select Export
4. Write a file name and indicate a folder where you want to save the registry backup. Then, click Save
5. If you’re running 32-bit Windows, visit the following location

   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Media Foundation\Platform

6. For 64-bit Windows, go to this address instead

   Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows Media Foundation\Platform

7. Check if you have an entry called EnableFrameServerMode
8. Otherwise, open the Edit menu, click New, and select DWORD (32-bit) Value
9. Rename the entry to EnableFrameServerMode
10. Double-click EnableFrameServerMode and set its Value Data to 0
11. Set Base to Hexadecimal and click OK
12. Exit Registry Editor and restart your PC
13. Open the Camera app to see if it works now

If you have started experiencing other issues on your computer after making this registry change, you can roll back settings by double-clicking the .reg backup file you previously created. Or, if you didn’t create a backup, simply revisit that registry location and delete the EnableFrameServerMode entry.

19. Create a new user profile

It’s pretty rare, but the Camera app might not be working properly due to data corruption in your user profile. As a result, you get the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error on your screen. But you can fix this problem by setting up a new local user profile. Here’s how to do it:

1. Right-click the Start button and go to Settings
2. Select Accounts
3. If you’re logged in with your Microsoft account, click Sign in with a local account instead. Otherwise, click Add someone else to this PC
4. Set up the username and password of the new account
5. Click Change account type and select Administrator
6. Log out of your current account and log back in with the new one
7. Try to use the Camera app now

20. Use System Restore

Finally, if you can’t pinpoint the software event that caused the 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error code, you can roll back Windows 10 if there are any restore points created before the Camera app started acting up. However, keep in mind that it will affect your programs, so you will lose apps installed after the restore point was made.

1. Make sure you’re signed in to Windows 10 with the admin role
2. Press Win key + R, type control panel, and hit Enter
3. Select Recovery
4. Click Open System Restore
5. Select a restore point from the list
6. Click Scan for affected programs if you want to learn more about the changes
7. Click Next and proceed with the instructions
8. System Restore might take a while. Once it finishes, restart your PC
9. Launch the Camera app and try to use it now

The 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached error can be fixed

To recap, 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached is an error code that appears in the Windows Camera app, preventing you from using your camera. To fix this problem, you can run Windows Update, check the webcam cover, cable and switch, review webcam permissions, verify webcam compatibility, and inspect the webcam drivers.

It’s also a good idea to scan your PC for malware, check the settings of your Internet security solution, verify Camera app permissions, end all processes currently using your webcam, reset or reinstall the Camera app, as well as to run the Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.

Moreover, you can run the Microsoft Store troubleshooter, uninstall recent third-party software and system updates, fix corrupt system files, reset BIOS settings to default, add a registry entry if it’s missing, create a new user profile, and use System Restore.

How did you manage to get rid of error 0xa00f4244 NoCamerasAreAttached on your Windows 10 PC? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.

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Elena Constantinescu

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