Virtual Camera Set Up for PCs

Why a Virtual Camera?​

On a Microsoft operating system, your webcam can only provide a stream to one application at a time.* For example, if you wish to use your webcam in Zoom and also in Chrome at the same time, Microsoft will prevent this.  

Fortunately, a technology called “Virtual Cameras” has been out for years to get around this limitation.  We recommend you to use Virtual Sapiens Camera, however, if you have a virtual camera preference, please feel free to use that. 

*This only affects Microsoft systems, not Macs.  

Setting up your Virtual Camera

If you wish to use Virtual Sapiens Camera, here are some step-by-step instructions or you may watch the video above to see the process.

  1. Download Virtual Sapiens Camera
  2. Open the downloaded MSI file to start the installation
  3. Install Virtual Sapiens Camera
  4. When you close the installer after the installation is completed, the Virtual Sapiens Camera window will launch
  5. Choose your preferred video device from the “Video device” select box
  6. Check “Auto-start on startup by default” if you want Virtual Sapiens Camera to be ready for use even after a reboot
  7. Click “Start Virtual Camera” and the window will minimize in the taskbar
  8. Restart all applications which will be using your camera so that you can see Virtual Sapiens Camera in the video devices list
    1. Restarting Chrome:
      1. Open a new tab
      2. Type chrome://restart in the Address bar, you will notice the browser shut down and restart.
      3. All previously opened tabs – and any other windows with Chrome open – will now be restored.
    2. Restarting desktop client apps such as Zoom or Teams:
      1. Right-click on the desktop app from the taskbar and choose “Quit” or “Exit”(depending on the app) to stop it.
      2. Then open it again from the Start menu to start it.
  9. Now Virtual Sapiens Camera should be an available video device in any app.
How do I stop Virtual Sapiens Camera?

To stop Virtual Sapiens Camera:

  1. Launch the Virtual Sapiens Camera window and click “Stop Virtual Camera”
  2. Then click on “Exit” from the navigation bar
How do I change my video device in Virtual Sapiens Camera?

To change your video device:

  1. Stop Virtual Sapiens Camera, if it’s working.
  2. Select a different video device and click “Start Virtual Camera”
  3. Restart all applications which are using Virtual Sapiens Camera to make sure the media stream is updated