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If you encounter an error saying, “error accessing the registry” when you try to merge a registry key on your Windows 10 computer, you’re not alone as some users also experienced the same problem. According to these users, they encounter the error after they’ve re-installed their Windows version and tried to open a .reg file. Based on the reports, this error could occur if the registry file does not have administrative privileges. Meaning to say, the program does not have the necessary permission to merge the .reg file. This is common with fresh installs as well as reinstalls. Moreover, this kind of issue could also occur due to system file corruption. Whichever the case may be, here are some troubleshooting tips you can check out to resolve the error.

Option 1 – Try to import the .reg file with admin privileges

As pointed out, the error may be due to a lack of admin privileges. It could be that the Registry Editor does not have admin privileges to merge the registry file. This is common with new Windows installations especially since the Registry Editor hasn’t been opened before. So you need to import the .reg file again and this time, with admin privileges.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “Regedit” in the field and tap the Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys to open the Registry Editor with admin privileges.
• A User Account Control or UAC prompt will appear where you have to click Yes to proceed.
• After opening the Registry Editor, go to File > Import using the ribbon bar at the top.
• Next, use the import menu to go to the location of the file you were trying to merge. Once you’ve found it, click Open to merge it with your current registry. This should fix the problem. If not, refer to the next options below.

Option 2 – Try performing a System Restore

Running System Restore can also help you fix the error when accessing the Registry. You can do this option either by booting into Safe Mode or in System Restore. If you are already in the Advanced Startup Options, just directly select System Restore and proceed with the next steps. And if you have just booted your PC into Safe Mode, refer to the steps below.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type in “sysdm.cpl” in the field and tap Enter.
• Next, go to the System Protection tab then click the System Restore button. This will open a new window where you have to select your preferred System Restore point.
• After that, follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process and then restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed or not.
• Once the next startup is complete, you have to merge or import the file again and see if the error is now fixed or not.

Option 3 – Try to perform repair install by creating a Windows 10 installation media

• Click this link and then click the Download Tool Now button.
• Next, click the “Use the tool to create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file)…” option and follow the next given instructions on the screen.
• Now select the ISO file option in step 5.
• After that, you should now have an ISO file.
• Next, go to the location where you’ve downloaded the ISO file.
• Then right-click on the Windows 10 ISO file and select the Open with option and then select File Explorer.
• Now click on “setup.exe” and follow the next instructions that appear on the screen. When asked, you have to select either Nothing (clean install) or Keep personal files only option. Take note that you must not select the “Keep personal files, apps, and Windows settings since it doesn’t really work.

Option 4 – Try running the System File Checker Scan

As mentioned, the error when accessing the Registry might be caused by file corruption. And that’s where the SFC scan comes in. The SFC or System File Checker scan could detect and automatically repair damaged system files. SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files with good system files. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.

• Tap Win + R to launch Run.
• Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow

The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:

1. Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
2. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
3. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

• Now restart your computer.

As you know, System Restore is a useful tool in Windows operating system that helps users in fixing system issues by undoing any recent changes to the computer that may have caused the problem. However, there are times when you might encounter some issues when running this tool and one of these issues is when System Restore suddenly gets stuck or hangs up on initializing the restoration of the Registry in Windows 10. If you encounter a similar problem, read on as this post will guide you on what you can do in such cases. There are several things you can do when you face this kind of problem in System Restore. First, you can try to wait it out, give it more time to load, which should not take longer than 5 minutes. And if it’s still stuck after that time, give it another hour. However, if nothing changed after an hour, then you need to troubleshoot the problem further. Keep in mind that you must not interrupt System Restore by shutting it down abruptly, it could result in an unbootable system. To get started in troubleshooting the problem, you need to follow each one of the suggestions offered below.

Option 1 – Try to use the Windows Recovery Environment

The first troubleshooting option you need to try is to simply tap the power button for about 10 seconds. This is what you have to do when you have to interrupt System Restore or reset your Windows 10 computer. Tapping the power button for 10 seconds will perform a hard shutdown and once your computer shuts down, restart your computer again and follow the steps below but before you do that, make sure that you have a Windows bootable USB or DVD.

• First, insert the bootable USB or DVD and boot into it, and select the “Repair your computer” option.
• Next, once you see the manufacturer logo on your computer, tap the key to enter into Windows Recovery Environment.
• After that, change the Boot sequence to DVD drive under the UEFI Firmware settings and restart your computer.
• Once your computer has restarted, select the boot order and make changes accordingly as displayed in the BIOS.

Option 2 – Try to run the Automatic Repair Utility

You might also want to use Automatic Repair in fixing the error. To do so, follow the steps below.

• You can start by creating and booting from a bootable Windows 10 USB Stick.
• After that, click on Repair your computer located on the bottom left corner when you are on the initial Windows Startup screen.
• Next, click on Troubleshoot, and then on the other screen, click the Startup Repair option.
• Now select the operating system you want to repair. Once you do that, it will start to repair your operating system. Wait until the process is completed and then check if the problem’s now fixed.

Option 3 – Try to run System Restore in Safe Mode

If you can’t boot into your Windows 10 computer, you can try to run System Restore again in the Advanced Startup Options.

• Boot your computer into Safe Mode.
• After that, select an option > Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart.
• Once your computer has restarted, tap the F6 key to enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt and to run System Restore from there.
• Now in Command Prompt, type the “rstrui.exe” command to run System Restore in Safe Mode. This will help in fixing the problem since it would be safer to perform System Restore of the computer.

We couldn’t update system reserved partition” - What is it?

Customers will most likely encounter the “We couldn’t update system reserved partition” error when upgrading to Windows 10 from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. This error may also come with error code 0xc1900104 or error code 0x800f0922.

Solution

Error Cause

“We couldn’t update system reserved partition” Windows 10 upgrade error is normally caused by too little space on the System Reserved Partition (SRP). The System Reserve Partition is an additional small partition created by Windows, which stores boot files. The SRP can be filled up with security apps and third-party anti-virus. Once this partition has insufficient space, the system will not be able to upgrade to Windows 10.

Further Information and Manual Repair

Caution: The following steps are complex and need to be done by experienced users especially using the command line. Once an error is made in entering commands, there’s a chance that your device can be put in a no-boot situation, or data stored on the device can possibly get lost.

To upgrade to Windows 10, your device needs to have at least 15MB free space on the System Reserved Partition. Follow the procedure below and then try upgrading again.

First, know if the System Reserved Partition is whether in GPT or MBR partition style:

1. Open the Run window by pressing the Windows key + R. Type msc in the window then press Enter.
2. Right-click on the Disk where SRP is located then select
3. Click over the Volumes
4. On the Partition Style line, you’ll see which partition style your device is using, either Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT)

Second, determine which method you will need:

Depending on what partition style your device has and whether you’re currently on Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, there are various methods you need to do.

Method 1: Windows 7 or 8/8.1 with GPT partition

1. Click on the Start button and search for cmd. In the results, right-click on Command Prompt then choose Run as administrator. The command prompt window will appear.
2. Type mountvol y: /s at the command prompt then press Enter. This command will add the Y: drive letter where you can access the System Partition.
3. Type taskkill /im explorer.exe /f then hit Enter. Afterward, restart explorer in Admin mode by typing exe and hitting Enter.

NOTE: While in Admin mode, some apps like OneNote will not run.

4. Open File Explorer then type Y:EFIMicrosoftBoot in the address bar. Hit Enter.
5. Choose the language folders you want to permanently delete. Language folders are named with four letters split with a hyphen. For instance, you want to delete the German language: choose de-DE.
6. Optional: You can also delete unused font files for more space. Type Y:EFIMicrosoftBootFonts in the address bar then press enter.
7. Once you permanently deleted the unnecessary files, reboot the device to return to explorer.exe to normal mode and remove the Y: drive letter.

Method 2: Windows 7 with MBR partition

Doing this method will make a permanent, but small increase in the free space of the device’s SRP.

1. Delete language folders

a. Open the Run window by pressing the Windows key + R. Type diskmgmt.msc then hit Enter. b. Select System Reserve partition then right-click on it.

c. Choose Change Drive Letter and Paths then select Add.

d. Type Y for the drive letter then click OK.

e. Click on the Start button and search for cmd. In the results, right-click on Command Prompt then choose Run as administrator. The command prompt window will appear.

f. Type Y: at the command prompt then press Enter.

g. Once you’ve switched to drive Y, type takeown /d y /r /f . then hit Enter.

NOTE: Ensure that the space and period after “f” is included in order for the command to work properly      

h. Type icacls Y:* /save %systemdrive%NTFSp.txt /c /t then hit Enter to back up the permission to the drive.

NOTE: Ensure that all files are marked as successful and that no files are marked as failed.

i. Type whoami then hit Enter. Record the username that appears. Afterwards, type icacls . /grant <username you got from whoami>:F /t then press Enter.

NOTE: Ensure that there’s no space between the username and “:F” or the command will not work.

j. In the File Explorer, open the SRP drive and select the Boot folder. Choose the             language folders you want to permanently delete. Language folders are named      with four letters split with a hyphen. For example: de-DE is the German language          while en-US is the U.S. English language.

2. Truncate the NTFS Log:

a. Open the Command Prompt then type chkdsk /L Y: to check the size of the NTFS Log. If the NTFS Log size is less than 5000KB, you need not truncate the file.

b. Type chkdsk /L:5000 /X /F then hit Enter to truncate the NTFS Log.

c. Return to Disk Management window. Select Action menu then select Check if the device’s SRP now has a larger amount of free space. Once there’s enough space, right click the System Reserve Partition then select Change Drive Letter and Paths. Choose Y: then select Remove.

3. If there’s still not enough available space after truncating the NTFS Log, resize the USN journal:

a. Open the command prompt then type fsutil usn queryjournal Y: to display the size in hex value. Convert the hex value to decimal then divide it by 1048576. The result you will get will be in MB. If the journal size is 30MB or more, proceed with truncating the file.

NOTE: To convert the Hex value to Decimal, open the Calculator app in Windows then choose View menu. Select Programmer then choose Hex. Type the Hex value then choose Dec.

b. Type fsutil usn deletejournal /D /N Y: then hit Enter to delete the journal. Type fsutil usn createjournal m=1500 a=1 Y: to recreate the journal having the new log size value.

4. Restore permissions

a. Type icacls Y: /restore %systemdrive%NTFSp.txt /c /t in the Command Prompt. Check if the files were successfully processed before proceeding. If you see a message saying some files failed while processing, this is normal since some of the files have already been deleted before performing a backup. However, if there are no successful files indicated, the command was not properly executed.

b. Type icacls . /grant system:f /t then hit Enter to adjust the ACL back to System. Now, you can set the owner of the drive by typing icacls Y: /setowner “SYSTEM” /t /c then press Enter.

c. Check if the device’s SRP now has enough free space by going back to Disk Management and refreshing the data. If the SRP already has sufficient space, you can now remove the drive letter. Right-click on the System Reserved Partition then choose Change Drive Letter and Paths. Select the Y: drive then choose Confirm deleting the drive letter by clicking OK.

Method 3: Windows 8/8.1 with MBR partition

This method makes a larger, but temporary, increase in the SRP free space.

1. Be sure you have an external drive having at least 250 MB free space and formatted as NFTS.

2. Open Run by pressing the Windows key + R. Type mscthen to choose the Recovery Partition. Right-click on it then choose Change Drive Letter and Paths.

3. Select Add then type Y for the drive letter, click

4. Click on the Start screen then type cmd in the search bar. In the results, right-click on Command Prompt then choose Run as administrator. The command prompt window will appear.

5. Switch to another drive by typing Y: in the command prompt. Once you’re in the drive Y, type takeown /d y /r /f .

NOTE: Ensure that space and period after “f” are included in order for the command to work properly.

6. Type whoami then hit Enter. Record the username that appears. Afterward, type icacls . /grant <username you got from whoami>:F /t then press Enter.

NOTE: Ensure that there’s no space between the username and “:F” or else the command will not work.

7. Once the command is completed, type attrib -s -r –h Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim then hit Enter.
8. Open File Explorer and check the drive letter of the external drive you’re using (In this case, let’s assume F: is the drive letter of the external drive so when you see F: for the rest of the steps, this means the drive letter of the external drive you’re using).
9. Type mkdir F:RecoveryWindowsRE in the Command Prompt then hit Enter. Afterward, type xcopy Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim F:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim /h
10. Type C:WindowsSystem32Reagentc /SetREImage /Path F:RecoveryWindowsRE /Target C:Windows to map the new path
11. Verify if the copy was successfully done then type del Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim /F
12. Return to Disk Management window. Click on the Action menu then hit Check if the device’s SRP now has a larger amount of available space. Once there’s enough space, you can proceed with the upgrade.
13. Upon completion of the upgrade, move back the wim file to the Recovery Partition. At this point, you can re-map now the location by:
    1. Open the Command Prompt then type xcopy F:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim Y:RecoveryWindowsREwinre.wim /h and press Enter.
    2. Type C:WindowsSystem32Reagentc /SetREImage /Path Y:RecoveryWindowsRE /Target C:Windows to re-map to the original path.
14. Return to the Disk Management window. Right-click on the Recovery Partition then choose Change Drive Letter and Paths. Select the Y: drive then choose Remove.

Method: Download a Powerful Automated Tool

Not inclined to go through a long and technical process (as highlighted above)? Download and install a powerful automated tool and get the job done in a jiffy.

What is RTX

Nvidia GeForce RTX is a high-end professional visual computing platform created by Nvidia, primarily used for designing complex large-scale models in architecture and product design, scientific visualization, energy exploration, and film and video production. Nvidia RTX enables real-time ray tracing. Historically, ray tracing had been reserved for non-real-time applications (like CGI in visual effects for movies and in photorealistic renderings), with video games having to rely on direct lighting and precalculated indirect contribution for their rendering. RTX facilitates a new development in computer graphics of generating interactive images that react to lighting, shadows, and reflections. RTX runs on Nvidia Volta-, Turing- and Ampere-based GPUs, specifically utilizing the Tensor cores (and new RT cores on Turing and successors) on the architectures for ray-tracing acceleration.

Advantage in games

With incredible lighting and shadows, reflection, better smoke, and water effects, and more, RTX has managed to place awesome real-time effects on your desktop all that’s to Nvidia technology behind it. Of course, in order to harvest this kind of technology and features game itself needs to support and have RTX in it, you can not turn RTX in just any game, the game itself must have technology build in it. Therefore we are bringing you the list of all RTX games you can find currently on the market so you can enjoy at the moment best graphics a PC can offer

List of games supporting the technology

• Amid Evil
• The Ascent
• Battlefield V
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Control
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Deliver Us the Moon
• Doom Eternal
• Dirt 5
• Fortnite
• Ghostrunner
• Justice Online
• Weibo
• JX3
• Lego Builder’s Journey
• Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries
• The Medium
• Metro Exodus (and The Two Colonels DLC)
• Minecraft
• Moonlight Blade
• Mortal Shell
• Observer: System Redux
• Pumpkin Jack
• Quake II RTX
• Ring of Elysium
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Stay in the Light
• Watch Dogs: Legion
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood
• World of Warcraft: Shadowlands
• Xuan-Yuan Sword VII

Upcoming games that will support RTX

• Atomic Heart
• Boundary
• Bright Memory: Infinite
• Convallaria
• Dying Light 2
• F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach
• Grimmstar
• Maneater
• Project X
• Sword and Fairy 7
• Synced: Off Planet
• Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2
• The Witcher 3: Complete Edition

In Windows 11 if you do not own a mouse or it has suddenly malfunctioned you can still move your arrow on-screen using the numeric pad. In this guide, we will guide you on how to turn this option ON, follow this easy guide step by step.

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + I to open Windows settings
2. Click on Accessibility on left
3. Scroll down to reach the interaction section on the right and click on Mouse
4. Click on Switch beside Mouse keys under accessibility options
5. Set your preferences
6. Close settings

Settings will be as always automatically applied.

I do not know about you, but I prefer to set my Windows to be more to my liking and not how Microsoft thinks it should be. Let’s face it, not all users feel comfortable whit Microsoft settings and idea how things should be. One of the things I particularly did not like even in Windows 10 is icons that come by default on my taskbar, now so far, well until the latest Windows 11 update you could remove default taskbar icons the same way as in Windows 10, just right-click on them and unpin, sadly with latest update build on Windows 11 this option has been removed. In order to remove default icons from the taskbar, one must go now to Windows 11 settings and choose from there which one you would like to be placed on it. Of course, this is nothing game-breaking but it still feels strange why the standard option has been removed, it just makes no sense but lately not many things that come from Microsoft do. I do not know about you, but I prefer to set my Windows to be more to my liking and not how Microsoft thinks it should be. Let’s face it, not all users feel comfortable whit Microsoft settings and idea how things should be. One of the things I particularly did not like even in Windows 10 is icons that come by default on my taskbar, now so far, well until the latest Windows 11 update you could remove default taskbar icons the same way as in Windows 10, just right-click on them and unpin, sadly with latest update build on Windows 11 this option has been removed. In order to remove default icons from the taskbar, one must go now to Windows 11 settings and choose from there which one you would like to be placed on it. Of course, this is nothing game-breaking but it still feels strange why the standard option has been removed, it just makes no sense but lately not many things that come from Microsoft do.

If you suddenly encountered an error when you try to run the Windows Sandbox that says, “Windows Sandbox failed to start, Error 0xc030106, The virtual machine or container exited unexpectedly”, read on as this post will guide you on what you can do to resolve the problem. According to security experts, this kind of error in Windows Sandbox is due to some issues with the supporting virtualization component. It could also be caused by other factors and to fix it, there are several potential fixes you need to check out. You can try running the Windows Sandbox as an administrator. You should also make sure that all the supporting processes are running properly, as well as try to install any pending Windows Updates.

Option 1– Try to run Windows Sandbox as an admin

• In the Start Menu, scroll down until you see the entry for the Windows Sandbox.
• Then right-click on it and select More and then select the “Run as administrator” option to open it with admin privileges.
• Next, if a User Account Control or UAC prompt pops up, just click on Yes to proceed.
• You should now be able to open the Windows Sandbox without the error. However, if the error persists, proceed to the next given options below.

Option 2 – Ensure that all the supporting processes and services are running properly

If running Windows Sandbox as an administrator didn’t fix the error, you have to ensure that all related processes for Windows Sandbox are running properly. To do that, follow these steps:

• Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run utility and type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Windows Services Manager.
• Next, from the list of services, look for the following services in the given order:
  • Network Virtualization Service
  • Virtual Disk
  • Hyper – V Virtual Machine
  • Hyper – V Host Compute Service
  • Container Manager Services
• After you find the aforementioned services, restart each one of them.
• Once done, try to open the Windows Sandbox again and see if the error is fixed or not.

Option 3 – Try to install any pending Windows Updates

If the second option still didn’t work, then you might want to check Windows Updates on your computer and see if there are any pending Windows Updates you have to install. All you have to do is go to the Windows 10 Settings app and then go to the Windows Updates section and click on the “Check for updates” button to check if there are any pending updates that are needed to be installed. This could fix the Windows Sandbox error.

If you are experiencing a Low Wi-Fi signal strength on your Windows 10 PC after you’ve updated or reinstalled it, read on as this post will guide you on what you can do to fix the problem. The way devices connect these days has evolved with our cognitive revolution. Various devices use some or other wireless technology to connect with other devices. However, all wireless technology has some kind of limitation when it comes to range and signal strength. From time to time, you might have faced several Wi-Fi issues. Low Wi-Fi signal strength usually happens after you update or reinstall your Windows 10 system. This issue can be identified easily by looking at the signal bars in the Wi-Fi icon or by measuring its strength. Since this problem is wide scope, there are tons of possibilities which is why this post covers the most generic situations that could help most users. Refer to the options given below to fix the low Wi-Fi signal strength of your Windows 10 PC.

Option 1 – Try running the Network Adapter Troubleshooter

If a few days ago the range and signal of the Wi-Fi was perfectly fine before you did an update or reinstall, it is possible that there were some changes made in the configuration as well. In most cases, the latest configuration that came with the update has not aligned the config in your computer or laptop. The easiest and simplest way to fix this is by using the Network Adapter Troubleshooter. How? Follow the steps below.

• Right-click on the Wi-Fi icon from the system tray to start troubleshooting.
• After that, select Troubleshoot problems. Note that it might take a while to run it but once it’s finished, it will show you all the problems with the network adapter.

Note: The Network Adapter Troubleshooter will also fix the issues in the background but there might be some issues that will require manual action. And if the troubleshooter wasn’t able to identify and fix the problem for you, proceed to the next given option below.

Option 2 – Try using the Device Manager

If the problem is related to hardware, you need to seek out the help of the Device Manager. To do so, follow the steps below.

• Pull up the Device Manager.
• Next, look for your Wi-Fi adapter under the Network Adapters.
• Once you found it, right-click on it and open Properties.
• After that, you will see all the actions related to drivers under the driver tab.
• You can either update or roll back the selected driver or you could also disable and re-enable it to see if the problem’s fixed.

Note: If updating the driver didn’t help, you might have to dig into the advanced settings. From this post on, it can get a bit complicated as there are terms that you might not understand as well as some configuration. To make it easier for you, you can search for your Wi-Fi adapter online and try following the instructions from there. And before you make any further changes to your computer’s settings, make sure that you create a system restore point first.

Option 3 – Try changing the Wi-Fi Roaming Sensitivity

If you want to enhance the Wi-Fi reception as well as the performance on your Windows 10 PC, you might want to change the Wi-Fi Roaming Sensitivity or Aggressiveness. Roaming Sensitivity is the rate at which your computer chooses and switches to the nearest available point of access which offers a better signal. It is based on the strength and quality of the Wi-Fi and not on the distance to the Wi-Fi point.

Option 4 – Try adjusting the Wi-Fi range

The issue could also be caused by the position of your computer with respect to the Wi-Fi router instead of your hardware or drivers. It could be that your physical location might be a factor for the low signal strength of your Wi-Fi so you might want to adjust the Wi-Fi range to fix the problem.

Microsoft Designer, a new application developed by Microsoft will bring design backed with DALL-E 2, an AI image creation open-source software. The new app is shown as a dedicated graphic design tool that will help you in the creation of stunning social media posts, invitations, digital postcards, graphics, and more, all in a flash.

Use of the application will be by typing headings and then typing text into the prompt to generate a background image. Since Microsoft uses DALL-E 2 for image creation output should be fairly good but if you wish you will be able to use your own images instead of using AI to generate one.

The designer will be a free application once it is ready and it already has a web preview version, also free but with a waitlist. There will be premium features inside the app once it is released that will be available to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers. Microsoft also wants to add a version of a designer directly to the Edge browser as well.

Error 0xA00F4244 or 0x200F4244 is when Windows can not detect the WEB camera in your system and it is usually accompanied by the message: We can’t find or start your camera. There could be several reasons for this error and in this guide, we will cover all of them in order to help you to get back on track and start using your WEB camera which is perhaps now more required than ever in this world we live in.

1. Check privacy settings

   With the latest Microsoft Windows updates come the latest issues and it is not strange that privacy settings can become reset or changed when an update is applied. This is a quick fix to this issue and can be the sole reason why you get this error, go to Windows settings, then to privacy and check to see if the WEB camera is turned OFF, if this is the case turn it back ON and make sure that option Allow apps to access your camera is also set to ON.

2. Check if the camera is enabled

   Sometimes it is by mistake, sometimes by an update but the web camera could be disabled in the device manager of Windows. Right-click on the Windows Start button and click on device manager to open it up, find and expand the cameras category. Right-click on your camera, if it is disabled, you will have the option to enable the camera, if it is enabled and Windows is detecting that it is working fine you will have the option to disable it.

3. Check antivirus settings

   Antivirus and firewall applications are in today's world and life-essential piece of software but they can sometimes create more harm than good, from stopping windows updates to killing important services of applications and preventing internet access being just some examples of their paranoid behavior. Try disabling or turning your protection software OFF and see if your WEB camera will miraculously come back to life. If this is the case, somewhere in the settings of software there is an option that controls this aspect, try to locate it and set it in that way so you are able to use your camera.

4. Reinstall camera driver

   If the previous three solutions failed to produce a satisfactory solution then reinstalling the camera driver might fix the problem. Go to your manufacturer's camera website and download the latest driver for your camera. Go to the device manager and uninstall the driver for the camera, then apply the latest driver and reboot the system.

5. Check connections and cable

   Sometimes an issue is not due to software nature, sometimes it is hardware. Try checking connections and plug the camera in another USB port, twist and turn the cable a little to see is issue cable-related.

6. Check to see if the application supports your camera

   If Windows has detected the camera and is not reporting any issues with it check your application to see if it can detect your camera and that it supports it fully. Sometimes newer applications tend to support only newer camera models. Try to use the camera in other software as well to see if the problem is with the application you are using.

7. Try camera on another computer

   If everything else fails, try the camera on another computer to see if it will work there. If the camera is not working there as well it is probably malfunctioned and broken for good. If it does work there, try to find out what is different in that computer in comparison to yours, maybe it is some service running in the background, certain application configuration, Windows version itself, USB port version, or something else.