Change a hidden setting in Windows 11 to force it to show a notification on your PC screen when your webcam is in use.
If you have a recent PC and it incorporates a webcam, there is a good chance that the latter is equipped with a small diode, sometimes colored, to indicate to you that it is in use. Unfortunately, some PCs (or some webcams) are simply devoid of it. It is therefore difficult to know if an application running in the background is accessing your camera without your knowledge.
To remedy the problem, Microsoft has integrated a safeguard within the Registry: NoPhysicalCameraLED. Thanks to this key, the PC is able to detect that the camera does not have any LEDs and is then responsible for displaying a notification directly on the screen of the machine. If this registry key is only reserved for PCs equipped with a webcam without a diode, it is quite possible to activate it to take advantage of it on a machine equipped with an LED indicator on the webcam. A good way to be doubly alerted when your camera is in use by a process.
1. Create a restore point
The manipulation to activate the webcam activation notification requires modifying the value of a key in the Windows Registry Editor. As this element is particularly sensitive, it is strongly recommended to create a restore point on your PC before any manipulation. This way, in the event of a problem, you can restore your machine to its last known working state.
2. Open Registry Editor
To perform the operation, first be sure to connect to a Windows session with administrator rights. Then, to open the Windows Registry Editor, use the keyboard shortcut Windows + R. In the window Execute which opens, just type Regedit and validate by pressing the Enter key on the keyboard.
3. Find the key
At the top of the Registry Editor window, copy and paste the following link into the path field:
OrdinateurHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftOEMDeviceCapture
You should then arrive in the directory containing the registry key NoPhysicalCameraLED.
4. Change the key value
Now double click on the key NoPhysicalCameraLED. In the Edit Value window DWORD which is displayed, in the field grafted under the title Value datachange the value displayed by default, 0, by 1.
Then click on OK to save your changes and close Registry Editor.
5. Restart your PC
For your changes to be taken into account by the operating system, restart your PC.
Now, whenever your Webcam is used, a notification saying Camera On or Camera Off will appear at the bottom center of the screen.