Request for web cam support

[silversword05]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Is it possible to allow web-cam support in WSL so that Linux applications can inherently access the web-cam.

Describe the solution you'd like
Make the device /dev/video0 available.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Solutions mentioned in #8655 but none of them work properly. Also tried USB-IP https://github.com/dorssel/usbipd-win but the camera doesn't work because lack of Web Cam drivers.

Additional context
None

[github-actions]

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[craigloewen-msft]

What web cam drivers do you need exactly? What kernel modules / headers would we need to include?

If they are small, we could just include the relevant drivers which might be able to fix it.

[silversword05]

/feature Integrated web-cam support in WSL

I am attaching my WSL logs for an instance of running chrome within WSL where I cannot access my webcam.
WslLogs-2025-08-11_20-56-03.zip

What web cam drivers do you need exactly? What kernel modules / headers would we need to include?

I am not exactly sure what kernel modules you need to make this work. I have tried rebuilding the kernel from scratch with instructions mentioned in Building your own USB/IP. But this doesn't act as a stable fix. The end goal is simple: I want to fire up chrome in WSL and open a web cam test website like this. I should be able to see my web-cam feed.

Chrome installation guide

$ google-chrome
[1793:1931:0811/205732.749338:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[1793:1931:0811/205732.750229:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.GetDisplayDevice: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[1793:1931:0811/205732.750622:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.EnumerateDevices: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[1838:1838:0811/205733.402433:ERROR:components/viz/service/main/viz_main_impl.cc:189] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
WARNING: All log messages before absl::InitializeLog() is called are written to STDERR
I0000 00:00:1754971054.962366    1815 voice_transcription.cc:58] Registering VoiceTranscriptionCapability
[1793:1820:0811/205735.447332:ERROR:google_apis/gcm/engine/registration_request.cc:291] Registration response error message: DEPRECATED_ENDPOINT
Created TensorFlow Lite XNNPACK delegate for CPU.
Attempting to use a delegate that only supports static-sized tensors with a graph that has dynamic-sized tensors (tensor#-1 is a dynamic-sized tensor).
[2037:2037:0811/205747.625019:ERROR:gpu/command_buffer/service/gles2_cmd_decoder_passthrough.cc:1096] [GroupMarkerNotSet(crbug.com/242999)!:A0202F008C060000]Automatic fallback to software WebGL has been deprecated. Please use the --enable-unsafe-swiftshader (about:flags#enable-unsafe-swiftshader) flag to opt in to lower security guarantees for trusted content.

For my specific case, these are my camera details.

$  Get-CimInstance Win32_PnPEntity | Where-Object Caption -match 'camera'

Caption                     : Camera Share
Description                 : Camera Share
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Camera Share
Status                      : Error
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : 22
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : ROOT\CAMERASHAREDRIVERSOURCE\0000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : ROOT\CAMERASHAREDRIVERSOURCE\0000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : BOOK-AADI2024
ClassGuid                   : {ca3e7ab9-b4c3-4ae6-8251-579ef933890f}
CompatibleID                :
HardwareID                  : {root\CameraShareDriverSource}
Manufacturer                : Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
PNPClass                    : Camera
Present                     : True
Service                     : WUDFRd
PSComputerName              :

Caption                     : Intel(R) AVStream Camera
Description                 : Intel(R) AVStream Camera
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Intel(R) AVStream Camera
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : 0
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : DISPLAY\INT3480\4&2831BBB9&0&UID144512
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : DISPLAY\INT3480\4&2831BBB9&0&UID144512
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : BOOK-AADI2024
ClassGuid                   : {ca3e7ab9-b4c3-4ae6-8251-579ef933890f}
CompatibleID                : {INTC#ACPI3480}
HardwareID                  : {VIDEO\VEN_8086&DEV_7D55&SUBSYS_C1D8144D&REV_08&INT3480, VIDEO\VEN_8086&DEV_7D55&SUBSYS_C1D8144D&INT3480, VIDEO\VEN_8086&DEV_7D55&INT3480, VIDEO\INT3480}
Manufacturer                : Intel Corporation
PNPClass                    : Camera
Present                     : True
Service                     : camera
PSComputerName              :

Caption                     : Windows Studio Effects Camera
Description                 : Windows Camera Effects
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Windows Studio Effects Camera
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : 0
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SWD\DRIVERENUM\MEP_CAMERA_COMPONENT&5&3915C80C&0
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SWD\DRIVERENUM\MEP_CAMERA_COMPONENT&5&3915C80C&0
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : BOOK-AADI2024
ClassGuid                   : {5c4c3332-344d-483c-8739-259e934c9cc8}
CompatibleID                : {SWC\Generic, SWD\GenericRaw, SWD\Generic}
HardwareID                  : {SWC\MEP_CAM&VEN_8086_DEV_7D1D_V1}
Manufacturer                : Microsoft Corporation
PNPClass                    : SoftwareComponent
Present                     : True
Service                     : UmPass
PSComputerName              :

Caption                     : Camera Sensor OV02C10
Description                 : Camera Sensor OV02C10
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Camera Sensor OV02C10
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : 0
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : ACPI\OVTI02C1\0
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : ACPI\OVTI02C1\0
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : BOOK-AADI2024
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e97d-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {ACPI\OVTI02C1, OVTI02C1}
HardwareID                  : {ACPI\VEN_OVTI&DEV_02C1, ACPI\OVTI02C1, *OVTI02C1}
Manufacturer                : OV02C10 Camera Sensor
PNPClass                    : System
Present                     : True
Service                     : OV02C10
PSComputerName              :

And here are few more information about my WSL linux kernel

$ hostnamectl
   Static hostname: BOOK-AADI2024
         Icon name: computer-container
           Chassis: container
        Machine ID: 05a3dbe2082d46cba491be9b009372fa
           Boot ID: 19891608af264009be813d524036ace5
    Virtualization: wsl
  Operating System: Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS
            Kernel: Linux 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
      Architecture: x86-64

Please let me know if I can share more information.

[github-actions]

Diagnostic information

Found '/feature', adding tag 'feature'
.wslconfig found
Detected appx version: 2.5.10.0

[sirredbeard]

I believe Camera Share and Windows Studio Effects Camera are virtual software-defined camera devices.

It appears the camera device is the Intel(R) AVStream Camera and sensor itself is Camera Sensor OV02C10.

Decoding the Intel(R) AVStream Camer HardwareID: ...VEN_8086&DEV_7D55... -> 8086-7D55 and if we search for that in Hardware for Linux, we get these results.

It appears to be supported in kernel 6.x+ with CONFIG_DRM_I915 and CONFIG_DRM_XE enabled/loaded as modules.

[silversword05]

So what should be my next steps to attach my webcam in WSL? Are there any steps mentioned in some documentation?

[silversword05]

TL;DR: I can see the video devices appearing with usbipd but I cannot capture camera feed from this devices. My web cam will not appear in usbipd list

Okay so I tried these steps. I followed the steps to attach an USB device from WSL #attach-a-usb-device.

My webcam will not show up, so I attached a USB camera

Windows PowerShell

$  usbipd --version
5.1.0-41+Branch.master.Sha.fe06088bb6916e6722bd66b03d245141ae8ec6c1.fe06088bb6916e6722bd66b03d245141ae8ec6c1

$  usbipd list
Connected:
BUSID  VID:PID    DEVICE                                                        STATE
2-3    046d:0825  Logi C270 HD WebCam                                           Not shared
2-5    1c7a:05a1  EgisTec Touch Fingerprint Sensor                              Not shared
2-10   8087:0033  Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R)                                Not shared

Persisted:
GUID                                  DEVICE

$ usbipd bind --busid 2-3
$ usbipd attach --wsl --busid 2-3 **
usbipd: info: Using WSL distribution 'Ubuntu-20.04' to attach; the device will be available in all WSL 2 distributions.
usbipd: info: Loading vhci_hcd module.
usbipd: info: Detected networking mode 'mirrored'.
usbipd: info: Using IP address 127.0.0.1 to reach the host.

** I had to do sudo modprobe vhci_hcd in Linux to make this work

WSL Linux Terminal

❯ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:0825 Logitech, Inc. Webcam C270
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

❯ ll /dev/video* # This is different from the last time I checked. I now see the video devices appearing
crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 0 Aug 12 21:44 /dev/video0
crw-rw---- 1 root video 81, 1 Aug 12 21:44 /dev/video1

❯ google-chrome  --enable-unsafe-swiftshader
[1465:1573:0812/214507.779146:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[1465:1573:0812/214507.779573:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.GetDisplayDevice: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[1465:1573:0812/214507.779828:ERROR:dbus/object_proxy.cc:590] Failed to call method: org.freedesktop.UPower.EnumerateDevices: object_path= /org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.UPower was not provided by any .service files
[1509:1509:0812/214508.429630:ERROR:components/viz/service/main/viz_main_impl.cc:189] Exiting GPU process due to errors during initialization
WARNING: All log messages before absl::InitializeLog() is called are written to STDERR
I0000 00:00:1755060310.972129    1498 voice_transcription.cc:58] Registering VoiceTranscriptionCapability
Created TensorFlow Lite XNNPACK delegate for CPU.
Attempting to use a delegate that only supports static-sized tensors with a graph that has dynamic-sized tensors (tensor#-1 is a dynamic-sized tensor).
[1465:1492:0812/214511.060323:ERROR:google_apis/gcm/engine/registration_request.cc:291] Registration response error message: DEPRECATED_ENDPOINT
[1465:1465:0812/214532.281246:ERROR:components/capture_mode/camera_video_frame_handler.cc:687] Recieved error: 18
[1465:1492:0812/214538.923818:ERROR:google_apis/gcm/engine/registration_request.cc:291] Registration response error message: DEPRECATED_ENDPOINT

Information about my USB camera

$  Get-CimInstance Win32_PnPEntity | Where-Object Name -match "Logi C270 HD WebCam" |  Format-List -Property *


Class                       : MEDIA
FriendlyName                : Logi C270 HD WebCam
InstanceId                  : USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_02\6&BED4FFF&0&0002
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :
Caption                     : Logi C270 HD WebCam
Description                 : Logi C270 HD WebCam
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Logi C270 HD WebCam
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_02\6&BED4FFF&0&0002
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_02\6&BED4FFF&0&0002
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : BOOK-AADI2024
ClassGuid                   : {4d36e96c-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
CompatibleID                : {USB\COMPAT_VID_046d&Class_01&SubClass_02&Prot_00, USB\COMPAT_VID_046d&Class_01&SubClass_02, USB\COMPAT_VID_046d&Class_01, USB\Class_01&SubClass_02&Prot_00...}
HardwareID                  : {USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&REV_0562&MI_02, USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_02}
Manufacturer                : Logitech
PNPClass                    : MEDIA
Present                     : True
Service                     : usbaudio
PSComputerName              :
CimClass                    : root/cimv2:Win32_PnPEntity
CimInstanceProperties       : {Caption, Description, InstallDate, Name...}
CimSystemProperties         : Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSystemProperties

Class                       : Camera
FriendlyName                : Logi C270 HD WebCam
InstanceId                  : USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_00\6&BED4FFF&0&0000
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :
Caption                     : Logi C270 HD WebCam
Description                 : Logi C270 HD WebCam
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Logi C270 HD WebCam
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_00\6&BED4FFF&0&0000
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_00\6&BED4FFF&0&0000
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : BOOK-AADI2024
ClassGuid                   : {ca3e7ab9-b4c3-4ae6-8251-579ef933890f}
CompatibleID                : {USB\COMPAT_VID_046d&Class_0e&SubClass_03&Prot_00, USB\COMPAT_VID_046d&Class_0e&SubClass_03, USB\COMPAT_VID_046d&Class_0e, USB\Class_0e&SubClass_03&Prot_00...}
HardwareID                  : {USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&REV_0562&MI_00, USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_00}
Manufacturer                : Logitech
PNPClass                    : Camera
Present                     : True
Service                     : usbvideo
PSComputerName              :
CimClass                    : root/cimv2:Win32_PnPEntity
CimInstanceProperties       : {Caption, Description, InstallDate, Name...}
CimSystemProperties         : Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSystemProperties

Class                       : AudioEndpoint
FriendlyName                : Microphone (Logi C270 HD WebCam)
InstanceId                  : SWD\MMDEVAPI\{0.0.1.00000000}.{008D19E2-8B2C-42F6-A684-7CA8E6CC8BC2}
Problem                     : CM_PROB_NONE
ConfigManagerErrorCode      : CM_PROB_NONE
ProblemDescription          :
Caption                     : Microphone (Logi C270 HD WebCam)
Description                 : Audio Endpoint
InstallDate                 :
Name                        : Microphone (Logi C270 HD WebCam)
Status                      : OK
Availability                :
ConfigManagerUserConfig     : False
CreationClassName           : Win32_PnPEntity
DeviceID                    : SWD\MMDEVAPI\{0.0.1.00000000}.{008D19E2-8B2C-42F6-A684-7CA8E6CC8BC2}
ErrorCleared                :
ErrorDescription            :
LastErrorCode               :
PNPDeviceID                 : SWD\MMDEVAPI\{0.0.1.00000000}.{008D19E2-8B2C-42F6-A684-7CA8E6CC8BC2}
PowerManagementCapabilities :
PowerManagementSupported    :
StatusInfo                  :
SystemCreationClassName     : Win32_ComputerSystem
SystemName                  : BOOK-AADI2024
ClassGuid                   : {c166523c-fe0c-4a94-a586-f1a80cfbbf3e}
CompatibleID                : {GenericAudioEndpoint, SWD\GenericRaw, SWD\Generic}
HardwareID                  : {MMDEVAPI\AudioEndpoints}
Manufacturer                : Microsoft
PNPClass                    : AudioEndpoint
Present                     : True
Service                     :
PSComputerName              :
CimClass                    : root/cimv2:Win32_PnPEntity
CimInstanceProperties       : {Caption, Description, InstallDate, Name...}
CimSystemProperties         : Microsoft.Management.Infrastructure.CimSystemProperties

$  Get-CimInstance Win32_PnPEntity | Where-Object { $_.Service -eq 'usbvideo' } | Select-Object Name, PNPDeviceID

Name                PNPDeviceID
----                -----------
Logi C270 HD WebCam USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_00\6&BED4FFF&0&0000

$  Get-PnpDevice -PresentOnly | Where-Object { $_.Class -eq 'Camera' } | Format-Table -Autosize

Status Class  FriendlyName             InstanceId
------ -----  ------------             ----------
OK     Camera Logi C270 HD WebCam      USB\VID_046D&PID_0825&MI_00\6&BED4FFF&0&0000
Error  Camera Camera Share             ROOT\CAMERASHAREDRIVERSOURCE\0000
OK     Camera Intel(R) AVStream Camera DISPLAY\INT3480\4&2831BBB9&0&UID144512

[sirredbeard]

Okay, so you are trying to use your Logi C270 HD WebCam, not the built-in Intel webcam. This webcam is widely supported since kernel 2.2.

In the WSL kernel 6.6 config:

CONFIG_USB_VIDEO_CLASS=m

But PCI ID devices starting 046d may require:

CONFIG_OF CONFIG_PCI CONFIG_USB CONFIG_USB_GADGET CONFIG_USB_OTG_UTILS

but these are not all set in the WSL kernel, specifically CONFIG_USB_GADGET here.

You would need to recompile your 6.6 kernel to include these.

[silversword05]

Thank you for your answer. Can you kindly give me a little more information about what should I set these values to? Also, kindly can you share instructions to You would need to recompile your 6.6 kernel to include these.

If this works, I will share a detailed step by step guide here to set the correct configs and recompile the kernel with webcam support. I believe that will be a great help to others searching for Web Cam support in WSL.

Also, is there any way I can use my webcam in WSL instead of using a external webcam via USBIPD?

[craigloewen-msft]

Please see the README of the WSL2-Linux-kernel GitHub for the build and install instructions:
https://github.com/microsoft/WSL2-Linux-Kernel

There you should be able to configure the kernel options on, build a kernel and the modules and then set it up in WSL.

As well there is currently no way to use a built in webcam, you can only use an external one over USBIPD (This is due to virtualization constraints in WSL!)

[silversword05]

Thank you! I will give a try

[sirredbeard]

Let us know how it goes. Learning how to build the kernel is an interesting challenge but also really fun learning experience.