Inbuilt HP widevision HD camera not working anymore, misdetected as PC camera

[mkcouh]

Hello!

My inbuilt HP widevision HD camera in my HP ENVY 13-aq0003na suddenly stopped working, right when I joined a MS Teams call from an additional device (tablet). Since that moment the Device Manager only detects "PC Camera" and the "HP widevision HD camera" only shows up as a hidden device and as disconnected (error code 45). 

I tried the following things:

• Turning the physical privacy switch on the side on/off
• In privacy settings, allowing the camera to access all relevant apps, but it still does not work in all apps
• Running all the windows updates and reboot
• Restarting, pressing Esc and F2 to run a component check on the camera, it says the webcam hardware is properly connected
• Uninstall/reinstall/update drivers of "PC Camera"  in the device manager
• Uninstall/reinstall/update drivers of the hidden and disconnected "HP widevision HD camera"  in the device manager, unfortunately that made the whole device disappear, it even does not show up anymore as a hidden device...
• Ran a system file checker (SFC), CHKDSK and DISM, all did not help

I think it must be something system specific, as I know the exact moment when it stopped working. It seems that the system got confused when I added the additional device to the video call, and that since then it does not detect the inbuilt camera as the HP widevision HD camera, but installed a more general driver for "PC camera" instead. My windows build is Windows 10 version 21H1 (OS Build 19043.1620).

I tried already most options that can be found online.. Recovering and reinstalling windows is not a good option for me as I have many specialised programs installed and configured.. I hope someone can be of help!

All the best and thank you!