Opening Properties on Webcam crashes OBS and makes OBS an unkillable process

[PsyMarth]

Hey all!

Logs: https://obsproject.com/logs/3ChnEDyysmOLOnso

Repro Steps:

1. Open a fresh install of OBS.
2. Select No on the Auto-Configuration Wizard.
3. Click the + icon, then select Video Capture Device.
4. On the Create/Select Source window, click OK.
5. On the "Properties for 'Video Capture Device'" window, select a Webcam (in this case, I used a Logitech Brio) then click OK.
6. Right-click the newly added Source and select Properties.

Expected: Webcam is functioning on the "Properties for 'Video Capture Device'" window and the main OBS window.
Actual: Webcam is frozen on both windows. After closing the Properties window, OBS will stop responding. Force closing OBS will result in an unkillable suspended process.

I've actually been running into this issue since June 27th, though the last time I had ran OBS without this issue was on June 21st. To be honest, it's been a long time since I ran into this type of issue with streaming software, so I'm curious what is possibly causing this issue.

One thing to note is that I'm on the Windows Insider Preview builds, so there could just be some issues there (Build 20152 was released in that window, on 2020-06-24). Another thing I noticed was that my webcam is using a driver that dated to 2020-07-17, so I can't really confirm whether an update happened during the June 21st-26th range.

 

[R1CH]

An unkillable process means a kernel handle is stuck, this suggests a driver or Windows insider bug.

 

[PsyMarth]

That's what I figured, but I thought I might as well make a thread in case others run into this issue. I'll post an update when this is resolved or I find a workaround.

Plus, I can pretty much just copy this write-up and give it to MS as a bug. :p

 

[seri]

Hi, just registered to chime in - can confirm that it's happening over here as well (20175, updating to 20180 to see if it helps).

Found a matching feedback hub post for it over here: https://aka.ms/AA94jf1

Anything that interacts with the configuration of the webcam/video device causes it to hang.

 

[Sean Duffy]

I'm also having this problem and I'm also on Windows Insider, I've done a fresh install and it still didn't fix it, I didn't realise there were extra steps to go onto a live version of windows.

 

[seri]

It's not a live version, it's a prerelase/unstable build, so breakages are to be expected.

 

[Sean Duffy]

It's not a live version, it's a prerelase/unstable build, so breakages are to be expected.

Sorry, what I meant was I did a fresh windows install but that automatically puts you back onto the windows insider version, I wasn't aware that when resetting there are extra steps to make sure you end up back on the live version.

 

[seri]

Ah, gotcha! Yeah, usually you can't go "back" in Windows versions, except the rollback function directly after an update. Going back to the current stable version usually means a full reinstall.

 

[seri]

FYI: Build 20201, issue still persisting

 

[Kuukunen]

I've also had the same issue for months now after updating to an Insider build. (Which I installed to fix ANOTHER massive Windows Update problem, but that's another sad story...)
Or for me, also, no matter the app, the camera would show for like 3 seconds and then freeze. I don't know if that's exactly the same thing.
But at least I finally figured out something that helped me.

At some point, I had installed Chromacam to mess with friends on Discord. I have uninstalled it since, but apparently, the software is garbage and doesn't uninstall properly. I still had "Personify Virtual Camera Universal" listed under Cameras in Device Manager. Uninstalling the device manually from there fixed everything for me.

 

[bbbzoom]

this has been happening to me for months as well, but only for the "Virtual Camera" video layer. all others were unaffected.
In the newest version 26.0.2, it freezes and crashes when exiting the program where as before it would only happen if i attempted to interact or change the webcam layer properties, windows version is 20197

 

[seri]

I guess it'll only get fixed once it happens in a stable windows build.

No other programs that use my webcam have any problems like this btw.

 

[jumowa]

Guys, I've had this problems for months or even years. I read this post and
Kuukunen was right. it was chromacam. I was so relieved I made a video at this moment when obs didnt crash. Also told chromacam about this, but they kinda answered that this is normal if you have several webcam apps installed. I told them I always had multiple webcam apps installed and it never crashed my broadcasting software. Anyway, thankful I stumbled across this post. thank you
Kuukunen. Check your webcam softwares guys.#

OBS crashes every time I choose a webcam or source FIX SOLVED

How I "FINALLY" found the source of this stupid problem. In case you have the same problem, but use other apps with obs, uninstall each of them and check if ...

www.youtube.com

 

[BearMiniman]

This happened to me about a week or 2 ago and then after trying every fix under the sun i could find it resolved itself. Like I said that was about 1 to 2 weeks ago and I was just using obs earlier today with everything working fine I then closed the app while I ate my dinner and watched some shows and then about an hour after closing it I re-opened it and the issue is back but this time non of the fixes i tried previously are working. One of the most common fixes I've seen is to uninstall chromacam but i don't have and have never had it so that fix is irrelevant for me. If anyone finds a reliable fix i would love to know as I'm not very tech savvy and this is driving me insane.

 

[R1CH]

The latest NVIDIA drivers have serious bugs with video capture devices, try downgrading them.

 

[alvaron]

I got on Acer Aspire E5-571
0xA00F4244<NoCameraAreAttached>
tryed everything... now man can wont work anymore on any app

 

[Unchained]

I found that Vseeface was causing my issue. If you even have it installed in any way go to vseeface_data -> streamingassets -> unitycapture and run the uninstallall.bat fixed mine immediately.

 

[R1CH]

This has been traced to virtual cameras based on Unity Capture, many vtube camers and other virtual camera software use this. Without a critical bug fix, these cameras will all exhibit freezing. Try updating / removing any such camera software if you experience this issue.

If you did fix the issue, it would be helpful to know what virtual camera software you had to uninstall or update so we can look into blocking it in a future version of OBS.

 

[k3ziah]

I found that Vseeface was causing my issue. If you even have it installed in any way go to vseeface_data -> streamingassets -> unitycapture and run the uninstallall.bat fixed mine immediately.

Same! Thanks for the idea.

I found, though, that updating to the latest version of VSF (currently v1.13.38c2) allowed me to use the virtual camera feature without triggering the OBS crash issue. I guess maybe they fixed it at some point because the version I was using before was *very* old.

@R1CH tagging you so you're aware of this. Hope it helps :)

*edit: OH and for reference I am *not* using Windows Insider. I'm on Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.2604

 

[R1CH]

Vseeface is the most popular one and we know about the issues there - at some point we'll block the older versions from loading and causing problems. I'm more concerned about the less popular ones that we may not know about.