When I try to join Teams, it says my camera is in use by a different program.

Hi @Crise Martha, 

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum and sharing the details of your issue. 

I truly understand how important it is to have your camera working properly when joining meetings, and I’m here to help you resolve the issue where Teams or Zoom shows that your camera is in use by another program. 

Below is a step-by-step guide that could help for your situation: 

1/ Sometimes, other apps may be using the camera in the background without showing it. 

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager 
• Look for apps like Teams, Skype, Zoom, OBS, or browser tabs 
• Right-click and select End Task for any app that might be using the camera 

2/ You mentioned you've already looked into this, but let’s make sure all necessary permissions are enabled: 

• Go to Start > Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera 
• Make sure Camera access is turned On 
• Scroll down and confirm that Microsoft Teams are allowed to use the camera under “Let desktop apps access your camera” 

3/ Clear Microsoft Teams Cache 

Sometimes, corrupted cache files can block camera access. 

• Close Teams completely 
• On Microsoft: 
  • Press Windows + R, then type: %userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams 
  • On Mac: Press Command + Q, type: rm -rf ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams 

rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2 

• Delete all files in this folder 
• Restart Teams and try joining again 

4/ You can try to update or reinstall Your Camera Driver 

• Right-click the Start button and choose Device Manager 
• Expand Cameras or Imaging Devices 
• Right-click your camera and select Update driver 
• If the issue continues, choose Uninstall device, then restart your computer. Windows will reinstall the driver automatically. 

5/ Restarting helps release the camera from any app that may still be holding onto it. 

6/ Try Using Teams in a Web Browser  If the desktop app still shows the error, try joining via teams.microsoft.com using Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. 

7/ Run a Test Call in Teams 

• Open Teams 
• Go to Settings > Devices 
• Click Make a test call to verify camera access 

If you’ve tried all these steps and the issue still persists, please let me know: 

• Your device model (e.g., laptop or desktop) 
• Whether you’re using a built-in or external camera 
• Any recent changes to your system (updates, new apps, etc.) 

Note: Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.  

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this.  

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.  

I'm looking forward for your reply.

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After trying ALL the fixes suggested above, I continued to have that error. I found my own fix (workaround) for now. I have a laptop camera and a usb camera, the error only happened on the usb camera. My fix was to disable the laptop camera in settings and I stopped receiving that error "camera is in use by a different program".

Hi @Crise Martha, 

I hope the information I shared earlier was at least somewhat helpful in addressing your issue. If the previous methods haven’t been effective, please feel free to let me know. I’d be happy to explore the issue more deeply with you so we can work together toward a better solution. 

If you found the answer helpful, we kindly invite you to mark it as the accepted answer. Once marked, it will automatically be pinned to the top. Since many other users also search for information in this community, your valuable contribution will help them easily find the right channel and useful insights more quickly. 

Thank you very much, and I wish you a great day.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment”.     Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.  

If your camera is open in Windows Camera app, then other programs, like Teams or Zoom will not be able to access your camera.

Try to close Windows Camera app, and then restart Teams or Zoom.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-the-windows-camera-app-ea40b69f-be6a-840e-9c8c-1fd6eea97c22