I have an integrated webcam in my laptop. I know that it works and that ubuntu recognized it because at installation it asked if I wanted a photo taken for some kind of image associated with my account. When I look in system settings, I do not see any webcam in the hardware section. I would like to disable the webcam like you can do in Windows, but as I can't find it in my hardware section, how can I disable it? I cannot even unplug it as it is integrated into the monitor. Am I looking in the wrong place?? I am using 12.04
-
You do not see the webcam in the hardware section? Where are you looking at? What is the output of the lsusb command?– jap1968Jul 22, 2012 at 19:24
-
6In case you want to do this for security reasons, consider disabling the webcam in the system's BIOS settings as disabling it in software won't stop an attacker to re-enable it.– gertvdijkDec 24, 2013 at 19:00
4 Answers
Cameras are controlled by the uvcvideo
kernel module.
You can disable the camera until reboot by opening a terminal and typing sudo modprobe -r uvcvideo
. You will be asked for your password, and after typing it, if there are no errors shown in the terminal, your webcam should be disabled.
If you got the error message: modprobe: FATAL: Module uvcvideo is in use.
after trying to remove the uvcvideo module, you can try to force its removal with the following: sudo rmmod -f uvcvideo
(thanks thiagowfx)
To enable your webcam again, type sudo modprobe uvcvideo
into terminal.
If you want the camera to be disabled when you reboot, then press ALT+F2
and paste this command:
gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
You will be asked for your password. After giving it, a text file should open. Paste at the end of the text file on a new line:
blacklist uvcvideo
Then save the file and exit. Next time you start Ubuntu, the webcam should be disabled.
-
2Much better comment. Thanks for letting me know how to disable right away, and mentioning restart required! Aug 14, 2013 at 14:29
-
Thanks for the complete answer! I would like to add the following: if you got the error message:
modprobe: FATAL: Module uvcvideo is in use.
after trying to remove the uvcvideo module, you could try to force its removal with the following:sudo rmmod -f uvcvideo
. Dec 1, 2013 at 21:12 -
Thank you, I want to bind to Fn+Esc a script that enable/disable camera and microphone, and this is what I need to know. Sep 30, 2014 at 13:32
-
2I know this answer is from 2012, but it is one of the top results on google and I don't have the reputation to answer here: gksu doesn't seem to be in Ubuntu 18 anymore, you just have to do
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
and addblacklist uvcvideo
– FelsAug 3, 2018 at 9:12 -
Changing that file in Ubuntu 18.04 significantly slows down startup. Jun 20, 2019 at 15:23
How to disable all webcams:
- Run (for pre ubuntu 18.04):
gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Or run (for ubuntu 18.04 and later):
gedit admin:///etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
- Then add...
blacklist uvcvideo
...at the bottom. Save the file and quit the text editor.
How to disable a single webcam:
- Find your webcam with
lsusb
. My output:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:0328 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0a2b Intel Corp.
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:568c Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 001 Device 042: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
If it isn't clear which device is your webcam, you can try lsusb -t
and look for Class=Video
or Driver=uvcvideo
or similar to guess which one it is. My output:
/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/6p, 5000M
|__ Port 4: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 5000M
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/12p, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 42, If 2, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
|__ Port 2: Dev 42, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
|__ Port 2: Dev 42, If 1, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
|__ Port 5: Dev 2, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
|__ Port 5: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
|__ Port 7: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
|__ Port 7: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
- Next, find the vendor id and device id from the output of
lsusb
surrounding the colon:
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:568c Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
So in my case, the vendor id is 0bda
and the product id is 568c
.
- Next go to:
cd /sys/bus/usb/devices/
- To find the correct directory do a
grep
there with the product id and if you get multiple results then also with the vendor id:
grep 568c */idProduct
returned:
1-5/idProduct:568c
and
grep 0bda */idVendor
returned:
1-5/idVendor:0bda
2-4/idVendor:0bda
In my case 1-5
is what I need.
cd
into the directory from the previous step.The file
bConfigurationValue
in this directory needs to contain a0
to disable the device or a1
to enable it. But this file is owned by root so to alter it (change the 0 to a 1 to enable) ...
echo 0 | sudo tee bConfigurationValue
...to disable. You can check the camera and it will be disabled.
- This is not permanent yet. A reboot will set it back to what it was before. To make it permanent:
echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/devices/1-5/bConfigurationValue
(where 1-5
is the directory we used and use a 1
to enable)
-
3This disables all webcams. The OP states that "I would like to disable the webcam like you can do in Windows..." Windows (through the Device Manager) enables individual devices to be disabled and not an entire class of devices. It would be helpful if this answer was expanded to include instructions for disabling a specific webcam. Dec 24, 2015 at 8:14
-
"like you can do in Windows..." Windows (through the Device Manager)" I am expected to know what windows does? >:-D Is this sufficient?– RinzwindDec 24, 2015 at 9:41
-
-
Dear Rinzwind, would something like `# chmod a-r /dev/video0' work? just guessing!– MaximMay 4, 2020 at 0:08
-
yes but ONLY until you reboot. You are better of removing the user from the group video0 is set too. and there could also be a video1 or video2 if you have more camera's. Put some tape over the camera is a 100% foolproof trick ;) Or disabling it in BIOS if possible– RinzwindMay 4, 2020 at 4:35
How about just taping it with some black colored tape? Take some black tape and put it on the webcam. Webcam disabled successfully! Unlike the answers above, this method works against malware attacks that try to enable your webcam as well!
-
7
-
@Gracchus Hmm. Transparent aluminum? Has that been invented yet? A hole in every hole! :P– SethJan 26, 2014 at 2:12
-
-
I had luck with going into the BIOS for my laptop (Dell XPS 15 9570), where there was an option to disable the built-in webcam and microphone.