Cannot disable integrated laptop webcam

Hi,

I want to disable the integrated webcam in my laptop , when i disable the webcam or remove the driver from device manager it is automatically re-enabled or driver re-installed by windows , I am running windows 7 pro .

The device manager shows two driver files for the webcam ksthunk.sys & usbvideo.sys . Can i safely delete both these files to disable the webcam?

 

Is there a setting in your BIOS to disable the web cam?

 

Black electricians tape over the camera lens works

 

A little worn light brown fabric bandaid over the cam looks funnier than black tape.

Yup. Seen it.

 

No there is no setting to disable the cam , so i cant delete these default windows driver files?

 

I would recommend renaming the files in case you want to enable it later. Let us know

 

I don't think you can disable it permanently.

But anyway, why would you need it?

Isn't it enough to disable the webcam just when you use your preferred VOIP/chatting programs (ex. Skype), through their options?

 

I will try that & post back later

I want to disable it to save power & increase battery backup time.

 

Lol, disabling it won't increase your battery life. The screen is the biggest power draw then things like wifi, illuminated keyboard, what exactly you are doing etc. If you use the webcam while Skyping or something then yes it will shorten your battery life, but if it's just inactive in the background, it won't affect it.

 

I disabled it using Asus power4gear hybrid power management software, My laptop is a Asus , Asus power4gear hybrid has a option to disable both ODD & Webcam , now both are disabled.

 

Step 1: Download DriverView on your machine

Link: DriverView: Loaded Windows Drivers List

If you are using 64-bit edition of Windows, download the DriverView for x64

Step 2: Open the program and in the description category locate any driver associated to your webcam.

For example if you have a logitech webcam you might have say

logitechvideo.dll
logitechaudio.dll

Step 3: Write down or jot in notepad all of the names you found pertaining to your integrated cam.

Step 4: Next, open up the Services console by clicking start and typing "services" into the search box.

Locate any services that pertain ONLY to your integrated web cam. You should able to distinguish this based on the name of the webcam. For example you might have an HP laptop with built-in webcam software and services associated with it. If you locate any services, right-click on the service and choose Properties. Write down the "Service name".

Step 5: Open device manager. On the top navigate to view > show hidden devices

Step 6: Expand Non-Plug and Play Drivers

Step 7: Now with the two lists you created in Step 3 + Step 4, in the non-plug and play section locate any matching driver module or service names in your list and disable the driver accordingly. Go through the list until you can find no more.

Step 8: In device manager, expand Imaging devices and disable any matching criteria here. Disable the driver accordingly.

Step 9: In device manager, expand Sound, video, and game controllers and disable any matching criteria here. Disable the driver accordingly.

This process should effectively disable EVERY service or driver module associated with your integrated webcam.

 

^ Thanks for the info , i will try this method if i ever have to uninstall power4gear , right now power4gear has disabled the dvd drive & webcam.