Privacy and Security Enable or Disable Apps Access to Camera in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to allow or deny apps access to the camera for your account or all users in Windows 11.

Many apps and services request and use the camera, and Windows settings give you control over which apps can use your camera.

There are three types of cameras that apps and services may have access to, depending on what type of cameras come with or are installed on your device:

• A color camera is used for taking traditional color photos or videos.
• An infrared camera takes a gray scale (black and white) photo or video based on infrared intensity.
• A depth camera can see the shapes of items in front of it, and how far they are from the device. For example, a depth camera can be used to recognize when a person is in front of the device.

You can choose which apps can access the camera.

If you turn on Windows Hello facial recognition, it will use your camera to sign you in even if the setting that allows apps to access your camera is turned off.

If your device comes with a camera light, the light will turn on when the camera is in use.

If your system doesn’t have a camera light, you’ll get a notification to let you know when the camera turns on or off.

Starting with Windows 11 build 26340.9233 (Experimental 26H2), Windows Insiders can now manage camera, microphone, and location permissions for individual desktop apps. Previously, access for traditional desktop applications was managed through a single device-wide setting. With this update, you can review and control access on an app-by-app basis, giving you greater visibility into which apps are requesting access to sensitive resources and more control over your privacy choices. Our goal is to make privacy permissions easier to understand and manage across the wide range of desktop apps people use every day.

• Allow or deny access for each desktop app individually.
• Go to Settings > Privacy & security > Camera, Microphone, or Location to review and manage permissions.
• Apps that haven't yet accessed a resource prompt for permission the first time access is requested.

• Existing app permission decisions are preserved.
• Apps previously granted access continue to have access.
• Apps previously denied access remain denied.
• No action is required, and no settings are reset.
• Existing enterprise policies continue to function as designed. We're exploring additional management capabilities.

• Most desktop apps appear with clear app attribution. However, some apps that rely on shared system components, browser-hosted experiences, or similar technologies might appear under a different name than expected.
• Some desktop apps might appear as Unsigned if Windows can't verify publisher information. Only grant access to apps you recognize and trust.

References:

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Camera on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Turn On (default) or Off Camera access for what you want. (see screenshots below)


4 You can now close Settings if you like.

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

This is the same setting as Option One.

1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin), and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Copy and paste the command below you want to use into Terminal (Admin), and press Enter to apply. (see screenshot below)

Turn on Camera access
SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe SetCamSystemGlobal webcam 1

OR

Turn off Camera access
SystemSettingsAdminFlows.exe SetCamSystemGlobal webcam 0







1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Camera on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Turn On (default) or Off Let apps access your camera for what you want. (see screenshot below)

Turning off Let apps access your camera, will disable and gray out Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

4 You can now close Settings if you like.

This is the same setting as Option Three.

This option is now ignored by Windows 11, and no longer works.

1 Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you want.

This is the default setting to allow you to use Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will disable and prevent you from using Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 If you have Smart App Control turned on, you will need to unblock the downloaded REG file.

6 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

7 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

8 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

This option is no longer available starting with Windows 11 build 26340.9233 (Experimental 26H2) for Insiders.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Camera on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Click/tap on Let apps access your camera to expand it open. (see screenshot below step 4)

4 Turn On (default) or Off Let desktop apps access your camera for what you want. (see screenshot below)




5 You can now close Settings if you like.

This is the same setting as Option Five.

This option is now ignored by Windows 11, and no longer works.

1 Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you want.

This is the default setting.

This will also turn on the required Let apps access your camera setting in Option Three and Option Four.

(Contents of REG file for reference)






(Contents of REG file for reference)

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 If you have Smart App Control turned on, you will need to unblock the downloaded REG file.

6 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

7 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

8 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.





1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Camera on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Click/tap on Let apps access your camera to expand it open. (see screenshot below step 4)

4 Turn On (default) or Off the apps you want. (see screenshot below)

This setting is saved to the Value string value (REG_SZ) as the Prompt (off) or Allow (on) data for each app listed as a subkey in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\webcam

5 You can now close Settings if you like.

This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 26340.9212 (Experimental 26H2) for Insiders.

1 Open Settings (Win+I).

2 Click/tap on Privacy & security on the left side, and click/tap on Camera on the right side. (see screenshot below)



3 Turn On (default) or Off Let unsigned apps access your camera for what you want. (see screenshots below)


4 You can now close Settings if you like.

This option is only available starting with Windows 11 build 26340.9212 (Experimental 26H2) for Insiders.

This is the same setting as Option Eight.

1 Do step 2 (on) or step 3 (off) below for what you want.

This is the default setting.

(Contents of REG file for reference)






(Contents of REG file for reference)

4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5 If you have Smart App Control turned on, you will need to unblock the downloaded REG file.

6 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

7 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

8 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Eleven to configure the same policy.

1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc).

2 Navigate to the policy location below in the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor. (see screenshot below)



3 In the right pane of App Privacy in the Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Let Windows apps access the camera policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4 Do step 5 (enable), step 6 (disable), or step 7 (default) below for what you want.

This will turn on and prevent using Option One, Option Two, Option Three, Option Four, Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

This will turn off and prevent using Option One, Option Two, Option Three, Option Four, Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

This is the default setting to allow using Option One, Option Two, Option Three, Option Four, Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

8 You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.

You must be signed in as an administrator to use this option.

This is the same setting as Option Ten.

1 Do step 2 (enable), step 3 (disable), or step 4 (default) below for what you want.

This will turn on and prevent using Option One, Option Two, Option Three, Option Four, Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This will turn off and prevent using Option One, Option Two, Option Three, Option Four, Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

This is the default setting to allow using Option One, Option Two, Option Three, Option Four, Option Five, Option Six, Option Seven, Option Eight, and Option Nine.

(Contents of REG file for reference)

5 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

6 If you have Smart App Control turned on, you will need to unblock the downloaded REG file.

7 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

8 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

9 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink