In addition to the LED indicator light, Windows 11 lets you enable a visual notification when an app uses the camera. Each time an app accesses it, a notification appears in the center of the screen. Handy, right? Especially if the LED is hidden (by a clumsy finger, for example) or there is too much ambient light to see it clearly.
And then well, sometimes, the LED simply stops workingIn this case, this visual notification becomes absolutely essential.
From Windows 10, Microsoft has integrated a small pop-up on the screen that appears as soon as the webcam is activated or deactivated. This was originally intended for devices that do not have a physical indicator light. If Windows doesn't detect an LED on the device, it automatically shows the notification. But good news: you can also force activation of this notification, even if you have an LED, thanks to a small modification in the Registry.
Here is what this famous notification looks like:
Enable “Camera On/Off” Notifications on Windows 11
Follow the steps below to enable or disable camera usage notification on Windows 11:
- Press the keys Win + R to open the “Run” box.
- type
regeditand validate with Starter to launch the Registry Editor.
- Go to this address in the Registry: CopyEdit
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\OEM\Device\Capture(you can copy and paste this path into the Registry Editor address bar) - In the file Capture, check if you have the entrance NoPhysicalCameraLED. If it already exists, go to the next step, otherwise:
- In the left panel, right click on the “Capture” folder, then select New > 32-bit DWORD Value.
- Name this new value: NoPhysicalCameraLED
- Double click on it and set the value to
1to enable OSD (On-Screen Display) notifications.- Value 1: notifications enabled
- Value 0: notifications disabled
And now, it's over !
Now, launch an application that uses the camera (the built-in “Camera” app in Windows works well for testing). If the notification still does not appear, restart your PC.
