As many know, it can become very frustrating when you are trying to use a video cam with Skype and receive a message that the video cam is currently opened by another program.
Here is some help, for Windows based systems, to determine what program, currently, has a video cam opened.
Note: Sysinternals is a Microsoft owned company.
1. Please go here and click on the"Run Process Explorer Now from Live.Sysinternals.com" link there: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb
2. Once Process Explorer starts, using the Process Explorer Menu, choose:
Find -> Find Handle or Dll..
A window will open, please enter:
#vid
Then click the search button.
Important: Just because the search returns something, if you are not getting an error with Skype, that says it can't use your cam, because another program is using it, then please don't do, ANY of the following instructions. If you find more than 1 search item returned, only 1 of them maybe the cause of your issue, so after following the kill process instructions below, in that case, as you kill each item found, 1 by 1, then try to test your video with Skype, each time. Please only remove the ("ones") that are causing the issue, if you find these same programs in your startup programs using the msconfig instructions below, and not any others, that cause no issue.
In almost all cases, IF a program currently has your cam open, it will show what program has your cam opened. In some cases, to see the full name you will need to hold your left mouse button down on any | you see and drag right, to be able to see what is in any column, for example to see the full program name in the Process column.
If the search returns empty, then in almost all cases, there is nothing that currently has your video cam open.
When/If you found a program that has your video cam opened, you can now close the search window and select from the process explorer window that remains opened, that program name ("Note you can click the word Process and it will sort the program names") and then right click on that process/program name and choose "Kill Process".
Once that process is now gone, you should be able to access your video cam, you can click on the "Check your Audo and Video devices" link below, at the bottom of this post, to verify that Skype now has access to your video cam.
Here is an example of Yahoo Messenger currently having a video cam opened:
Most likely, what maybe going on, is that your system maybe starting the program you found, which is opening up your video cam, when you start your system.
To see, if this is fact, you can do the following which can be changed at anytime.
Please open a Run command window, which can be done by using the Windows Key ("Looks like a flag") and the R key at the same time on your keyboard. Then Enter:
msconfig
Then click the ok button.
Example:
You will now see a window like this, and you want to click on the "Startup" tab, which will list what programs start up when you start your system.
Note: The columns displayed here, can be expanded by using the same draging method you used in with Process explorer. Simply hold your left mouse button down on any | you see and drag right, to be able to see what is in any column. The Command column is the one that contains the Program name, However the Startup Item column being expanded, can also help with identification as well.
If you see the program name you found in the search window using process explorer, you can uncheck that box for that program, and then click the apply button and then the ok button. Otherwise, you can simply click the cancel button, if nothing was found here.
Note: The next time you re-start your system, a message box will display, if you made changes. When that happens, check the don't show me again checkbox. You can always go back and check the checkbox you unchecked, if needed, at anytime.
If you did not find any program using msconfig, you may still wish to see what you are manually doing to start programs, after you have restarted, and using Process Explorer, to see when that program goes away, based on you stopping it, from an icon in your system tray or closing it from your taskbar. This way you will at least know, what program must be stopped before you can use Skype video.
I hope these instructions will help more easily locate, what if any program, may have your video cam open, not allowing you to use your video cam, with Skype.
If you have any questions, please post them here.
Thanks.
What is explained in the above blog post, is a wise additional diagnostic option (my appreciation to the author). I will gladly add it to my usual recommandation to make a comparitive camtest with amcap.
Unfortunately, neither of the two diagnostics garantees success. Particularly, searching #vid handlers may deliver false positive and false negative findings. Possibly a camdriver is not recognized even if it is not used by a competing program.
For that reason the skype error text does not make the promise "Close certain programs, and your prob will be solved". But it is more cautious than one might wish: "Try closing other programs that might be using your webcam".
@ dda: As I reported elsewhere, you are not alone. On one asus netbook that I am supporting the webcam is expected to run with a video driver that came with windows (not azureware). But it is not recognized by any program. If and when the case is resolved, I'll gladly be back for report.
