Zoom not using webcam, but other apps do (RDP)

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
March 30, 2022
2 replies
8 views

The video preview in the Zoom desktop app just shows a grey box. My webcam is the selected webcam. It is the only webcam on the list. Other apps (like webcamtests.com and splitcam) show video from my webcam. Zoom DOES pass through audio. Since other apps show video and Zoom does audio, I've obviously configured the RDP connection to pass through video and audio. Why would Zoom fail to do video when other apps can?

Best answer by Tim_Myth

Thanks @YaBoiB ,

This is a Windows Server 2019 terminal server my users log in to for a virtual desktop. Apps are allowed to use the camera in Privacy settings, but Zoom is not a listed app. Only Cortana and Desktop App Web Viewer are listed. Even when looking at my Windows 10 laptop Camera Privacy Settings, Zoom is not a listed app, and Zoom works as expected on my laptop. However, I did notice that Remote Desktop was NOT allowed to use my webcam in my local machine's privacy settings. I enabled it, and now it works!

So apparently the real question I should be asking is why the other apps didn't respect my privacy settings!!

Thanks for making me look in the right place! 🙂

YaBoiB

Community Champion | Employee

Hello @Tim_Myth,
My name is Brandon. Thanks for joining the Zoom Community! Have you given the Zoom App permission to utilize your camera in your system settings? If you are a macOS user, it will be in your system preferences, like the screenshot below.

If you are a Windows user, we have a support article created to assist you with your video settings. https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/208362326-Video-not-working-on-Lenovo-devices

T

Tim_MythAuthorAnswer

Explorer

Thanks @YaBoiB ,

This is a Windows Server 2019 terminal server my users log in to for a virtual desktop. Apps are allowed to use the camera in Privacy settings, but Zoom is not a listed app. Only Cortana and Desktop App Web Viewer are listed. Even when looking at my Windows 10 laptop Camera Privacy Settings, Zoom is not a listed app, and Zoom works as expected on my laptop. However, I did notice that Remote Desktop was NOT allowed to use my webcam in my local machine's privacy settings. I enabled it, and now it works!

So apparently the real question I should be asking is why the other apps didn't respect my privacy settings!!

Thanks for making me look in the right place! 🙂