HP ProBook 450 G8 webcam driver as "PC Camera"

[kbdl]

Description:

I have an HP ProBook 450 G8 with windows 11 latest update.

The webcam driver is wrongly assigned as "PC Camera", when it should be "HP HD Camera". The camera app shows a black screen, and when trying to take a picture, it displays an error probably related to the driver.

Troubleshooting:

1) In device manager, I check to view hidden devices, the HP HD Camera does show up as disabled, and there is no option to enable it. Updating drivers automatically does nothing. I've uninstalled it and it doesn't come back.

2) For the PC Camera device that shows up: updating the drivers also does nothing. Installing the Universal Camera Driver for the correct model (sp168640.exe) does not work. Trying to manually change the driver, uncheck "compactible hardware" and pick one of the sunplusIT "HP HD Camera" does not work (it displays a message saying theres a duplicate device with this driver)

3) Last week this issue appeared and after a whole morning trying to solve it, I managed to solve it by uninstalling the USB Composite Device that has the PC Camera driver inside, and after a restart, the HP HD Camera showed up and everything worked as expected. But now the issue is back and this solution isnt working.

4) Uninstalling the PC Camera driver and clicking to check for hardware changes makes it appear again. I've even tried to move the usbvideo.sys driver out of the system32 folder so it doesnt find it, but it comes back after a restart.

5) In device manager, clicking to add drivers and picking the sp168640 install folder; it lists all the drivers, but 0 devices installed.

6) I tried other model's Universal Camera Drivers and none worked.

I'm out of options. Please help.

PC Camera device ID: USB\VID_1BCF&PID_0B13&REV_0100&MI_00

[BeemerBiker]

You tried all the right things.   I assume you tried this driver already.

See if you can restore the PC to when the camera was last working.

This video describes how to use a restore point.

If the camera functionality is restored, make a note of the driver version so the next time that Microsoft updates your system you will know which driver to select to get the working driver back.

Worst case is to do a factory restore from the cloud (if available)

HP is removing cloud recovery for system over 5 years old.
The actual wording is a limited time after the warranty expires
You may want to get a copy of the cloud recovery before it is too late.
Cloud recovery provides all the custom HP drivers.
Go here and enter your product ID including the 3 characters after the # character
If you have cloud recovery you can restore your system using a 64gb flash.
It may take an hour or more to create the recovery USB.
Alternately, download from the MS windows store
Click here for instructions.

Many commercial or "business" laptops have an alternate recovery tool different from that cloud.