Hardware Access Error - Messenger - Webcam and Mic

I had this same issue. The root of the problem seems to be your (by your I mean you the reader in general and not just the O.P.) system having multiple devices that fall under camera/microphone. For example someone here mentioned having a bluetooth device with a microphone that they removed as having solved the issue for them.

In my case, under device manager I have two devices under cameras: the regular camera and an IR camera/sensor. After disabling the IR camera I stopped receiving the error.

So with that being said the solution I would suggest if none of the other suggested solutions worked for you is to check to see if you have more than one camera and/or mic sensor, then try disabling whichever ones you don't need.

Something to point out though, this issue only occurred on Messenger with Chrome. Messenger worked fine in Edge and and a a call in the web version of Skype worked fine on Chrome. I didn't try other browsers but based on that it seems that the issue is specific to Messenger on Chrome (or perhaps Chromium based browsers).

IF ITS GIVING YOU A HARDWARE ACCESS ERROR MESSAGE, THAT MEANS THERE IS ANOTHER PROGRAM WHICH IS CONFLICTING WITH YOU CAMERA. IF YOU LOOK AT THE CAMERA OPTIONS IN THE FACEBOOK SETTING, THERE SHOULD ONLY BE THE ONE OPTION FOR YOUR WEB CAM.  IF A DIFFERENT CAMERA NAME IS SHOWN, THIS MEANS IT IS CONFLICTING WITH YOUR WEB CAM.  YOU MUST UNINSTALL THE CONFLICTING PROGRAM SUCH AS COREL VIDEO MAKER AND SUCH, RESTART YOUR COMPUTER AND YOUR PROBLEM SHOULD GO AWAY.

I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH MY WEBCAM, AND AS SOON AS I UNINSTALLED THE CONFLICTING PROGRAM, MY WEBCAM ON MESSENGER BEGAN WORKING AGAIN.

THIS SHOULD FIX YOUR PROBLEM.

SPIRO

Hi,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

In regards to your concern, please help me with following questions:

1. Are you using Messenger application or on the Web Browser?
2. What is the error message/code you are getting?
3. Is the Webcam an external or internal?
4. What is the make and mode of the Webcam/computer?

If you are using the Messenger application:

Try to allow the privacy settings for the app to make use of the Webcam and Mic.

To do that, you can go to Settings>Privacy>Camera. Look for the Messenger app and toggle the camera access option to ‘On’.

Do the same for the Microphone option as well.

Since you mentioned that the issue occurred after the computer was paired with the Bluetooth speaker. You can try to remove the specific device.

To do the same, you can go to Settings>Devices>Bluetooth & other devices. Select on the device name and click on ‘Remove device’.

Please get back to us with the required details, if the issue persists.

Hope it helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed by clicking Yes or No.

Rohit Raina

Microsoft Community - Moderator

I too am getting the same error for about 2 months now.  Is there a fix out there? I have tried everything listed and it still doesn't work.  Thanks in advance!

how to acces video cam and mic