Windows 11 Camera Won’t Start

The built-in camera on a Windows 11 Lenovo laptop stopped working for me all of a sudden the other week. I first noticed it when using Zoom but the issue persisted through other online video chat software like Google Meet and even the native Microsoft Camera application. In the Camera application I’d see error codes show up when trying to start the camera. First error code 0xA00F429E (PageOpenFailed) would show and it would quickly – about 1 second later – switch to 0xA00F429F (WindowShowFailed). And that was it – nothing would work after that…

I’ve worked with Windows for most of my life and thus I know how to ensure software is up to date, drivers are installed/working, etc. I also know there are people that work on computers for a living and they often publish their findings on the internet and thus I leaned on some searching. That lead to many articles and videos from people that are far more credentialed in computer repair than I am. But none of their steps worked.

Even Lenovo and a repair center couldn’t solve it for me… Though they were able to rule out hardware failure through their testing. They found that it is a Windows software issue but couldn’t/didn’t identify what software. This sounded plausible but also confusing to me… this laptop is used by a kindergarten student doing remote learning. Thus, it has Chrome and the Microsoft Office Suite installed. That’s it… The machine isn’t really used “heavily”… so why/what could be causing the problem?

The Solution

Stupidly I made a few changes at once and thus I don’t have a 100% definitive answer as to which change was the true solve. But I think I know what it was – resetting Web Media Extensions. Here are the changes I made when things started working again. NOTE: I did not need to restart the computer after making these changes. I simply re-opened the Camera application and it worked.

Reset Web Media Extensions

I believe this is the solution to the camera error codes 0xA00F429E (PageOpenFailed) and 0xA00F429F (WindowShowFailed).

According to Microsoft the Web Media Extensions are for Microsoft Edge but this action seems to be the solution.

• Click on the Start icon
• Type Add or Remove Programs
• Click on Add or Remove Programs
• Scroll down the list to Web Media Extensions
• Click on the three dots (...) on the right and choose Advanced Options
• Under the Reset section click the Repair and Reset buttons

Remove Unused Applications

I removed some unused and undesired applications and after that the camera started working again. I don’t recall all of the applications I removed but much of it was bloatware that came with the machine like a Dropbox Trial, ClipChamp, and Microsoft OneNote. Be careful with what you remove as some things are system-level applications that are helpful for audio controls, etc.

1. Click on the Start icon
2. Type Add or Remove Programs
3. Click on Add or Remove Programs
4. Find an undesired application in the list
5. Click on the three dots (...) on the right and choose Uninstall
6. Follow any directions that come up to complete the uninstallation process
7. Repeat steps 4 through 7 for any additional apps you wish to remove

Trouble Shooting Steps Taken

I started with these troubleshooting steps.

• Restart the computer
• Ensure Windows is up to date
• Ensure the system drivers are up to date using the Lenovo Vantage software
• Ensure the driver is up to date in Device Manager
• Ensure the camera is enabled in Device Manager
• Disable and enable the camera in Device Manager
• Uninstall Zoom (only non-standard installed application that would use the camera)
• Boot into Safe Mode and test the camera

I then called Lenovo support. They walked me through several steps:

• Toggle the physical camera shutter open/close
• Restart the computer
• Power off the machine. Hold the power button down for 15 seconds and then reboot
• Reset camera in the BIOS

The last debugging step they had was to reinstall Windows which would wipe the data off of the machine. I opted to not take that step.

The computer was under warranty so I took it to a Repair Depot. They ran diagnostics and found that the camera was failing. They then sideloaded an alternate operating system and the camera worked. Which implies that software installed in Windows is the source of the issue. They offered to reinstall Windows for a price greater than I was willing to pay (not warrantied due to being a Windows issue).

I was going to reinstall Windows but before I did I wanted to take a deeper look at the applications installed which is how I came across a solve for this issue as outlined in The Solution above.

System Specifications

Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5 (16″ AMD)

• Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 5 8645HS
• Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64 (24H2)
• Memory: 16 GB

Full Story

Day 1:

First noticed the camera won’t start when attempting to join a Zoom meeting

Day 2:

The camera worked as expected

Day 3

Camera failed again

Day 4

Performed troubleshooting steps. Unable to get it to work. I called Lenovo support (855-271-3878).  We did several troubleshooting steps including resetting at the BIOS level and such but still didn’t work.  The one troubleshooting step we did not perform was a full system reset (ie. Windows level) which would wipe files off of the machine.  The next steps would be to mail in the laptop for repair (7-10 business days) or take it to a repair depot (3-5 business days).  It is in warranty.  The support agent didn’t state this but I got the implication that the issue is that the camera shutter has a physical switch built into it that is failing to trigger the camera as being on.  She asked me to toggle that many times – no change. The camera errors with codes of 0xA00F429E (PageOpenFailed) and 0xA00F429F (WindowShowFailed) when using the Microsoft Camera app imply to me that this is the case.

Day 5

I took the laptop to a Lenovo repair depot.  They said the hardware is fine as it works in a side-loaded alternate operating system.  Thus they can’t repair it under the warranty.  For $100 they will reinstall Windows as some software within Windows is the culprit.  I declined their services.

Day 6

I booted into Safe Mode.  Camera still didn’t work.

I went into Add/Remove Programs and removed a few programs we don’t need/use on this machine.

Also in Add/Remove Programs I clicked on the three dots for Web Media Extensions and chose Advanced Options.  I then clicked the Repair and Reset buttons.

After those two actions the camera worked (no reboot needed).  I tested with the Camera app as well as Google Meet.