Windows 10 1903 Allow Desktop Apps Access to Camera & Microphone

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This new privacy settings doesn’t provide a way to remove or add individual “desktop apps”! It’s all or nothing. Problem is the apps themselves don’t necessarily allow disconnect from camera or microphone. E.g., Teamviewer lets you turn off the camera but not the microphone. I’ve complained to them about this but meanwhile Microsoft should allow enabling/disabling a “desktop app” the same way it allows with Store apps.

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Elly

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It’s just the nature of the beast, I’m afraid:

Camera, Microphone, and other privacy settings tied directly to a peripheral device. Some desktop apps may not be affected by turning off these privacy settings. For example, an app that also installs a driver could interact directly with your camera or microphone hardware, bypassing the ability of Windows to control the access. For more comprehensive protection of your personal data associated with these settings, you could consider disabling these devices, such as disconnecting or disabling your camera or microphone.
Windows 10 desktop apps and privacy

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That’s not acceptable. Never had this issue with the same hardware on 1809 before moving up to 1903. We should be able to tell it what desktop apps to allow the same as we can with Store apps.

 

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How was the issue better on 1809, which didn’t have the camera/mic settings for desktop apps?

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In 1809 I could run various programs that might want to use the camera & microphone without it automatically giving it over to them unless I requested it within the app. With 1903 any of the “desktop apps” that appear in that separate list are assumed to want to take over the devices so first one that you open then owns them and you can’t access with any of the others until you close that application. E.g., I use Teamviewer to connect to clients but rarely do a conference. Teamviewer, wants to access camera & mike just in case but with 1809 didn’t auto grab those. So I could still use Skype or whatever while connected to a client. Since ALL the desktop apps are either on or off with 1903 it’s no longer possible to do this! And if you turn the all-or-nothing off then you can’t use the camera with any of them. It’s absurd!

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How to control which Microsoft Store apps can use the camera
Go to Start > Settings > Privacy > Camera.
Choose your preferred setting for Allow apps to access your camera.
Under Choose which apps can access your camera, turn the individual settings for apps On or Off.

Starting with Windows 10 version 1903, an additional setting is available on camera and microphone settings pages that provides limited control over desktop apps that access your camera and microphone using supported methods. You can find this setting under the Allow desktop apps to access your camera or <strong class=”x-hidden-focus”>Allow desktop apps to access your microphone sections. Here you will find the list of desktop apps that Windows has detected which have interacted with the camera or microphone. Turning the setting on or off will impact all apps listed under this setting.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4468232/windows-10-camera-microphone-and-privacy

Version 1903 does not remove the ability to choose on a per-app basis. It gives you more options, located in a different Settings Page. The old ability to set permissions per app is still there, though it may be more hidden than before.

See also:

Windows 10 desktop apps and privacy

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4468234/windows-10-desktop-apps-and-privacy

If any of this has changed or is inaccurate, I’m sure those who have upgraded will chime in here. I will be upgrading to Version 1903 (Pro) later in November, after dealing with the October Updates.

 

-- rc primak

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For desktop apps (which is the topic here) you can only allow ALL or NONE to access camera or microphone, as indicated by the last sentence of your quote.

Per-app applies to store apps, and settings for those are not more hidden than before.

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@rc primak, where can I find this option to select how other desktop apps can access my camera? I do not have such an option on my Camera privacy settings screen. Thank you.

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anonymous wrote:

@rc primak, where can I find this option to select how other desktop apps can access my camera? I do not have such an option on my Camera privacy settings screen. Thank you.

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