Teams / Zoom / Meet — camera or mic not working
A blank video tile or silence instead of your voice right before an important meeting is one of the most common IT support requests out there. In most cases it's not broken hardware — it's a browser or system setting.
What to check, step by step
Check system-level camera and microphone permissions
Windows and macOS each have separate privacy settings that decide whether a given app (your browser, or the Teams/Zoom client) can access the camera and microphone at all. If access was ever turned off — manually, or through a company policy — no setting inside the app itself will fix it.
Check whether another app is already using the camera
On most systems, only one app can use the camera at a time. If another video call window, a tool like OBS, or even a forgotten browser tab with a different call is still open, the new app will show a black screen instead of video.
Check the selected device in the app's own settings
After plugging in USB headphones or an external camera, the app sometimes stays "pinned" to the previous device (like the laptop's built-in mic) and doesn't switch automatically. It's worth manually checking the audio/video device list in Teams, Zoom, or Meet settings.
In your browser, check permissions for that specific site
If you use Teams, Zoom, or Meet in a browser rather than the desktop app, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox all remember a "block" decision for camera/mic on a given site — even if it was set by accident a month ago. This has to be reset separately for each browser and site.
When it actually is the hardware
If the settings above are all correct and the camera or mic still doesn't work in any app — not just one — it's worth checking Device Manager on Windows or the sound/camera settings on macOS. At that point it's more likely a driver issue or a physical hardware fault than a single app's configuration.
Camera or mic still not working?
We'll check your system, browser, and video conferencing app settings remotely — usually without needing an on-site visit.