Macbook Pro 2016 - Camera "no video capture devices were found"

My wife's MBP 2016 was working fine for zoom video conferences up until this morning - all of the sudden it isn't recognizing the camera - not for zoom, not for facetime, nor in the system report under hardware/camera.


I found and removed two search-related malware issues - akamaihd.net and anysearch - not even sure if those were the issues but removing them didn't fix it.


Tried the 'killall', removed all login items, fixed permissions, different user, none worked.


BUT - the camera does work in safe mode under the original profile. If this was 20 years ago, I would use an extension manager and start with half of the extensions disabled, if it still happened try half of that half, etc. and figure out what was causing the issue that way. Not sure how to do that now.


Unfortunately this is vital as she is a high school counselor in NYC and has to do several video sessions a day with at-risk students.

MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.12

Posted on Apr 1, 2020 10:53 AM

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5 replies

Apr 1, 2020 12:04 PM in response to John De Risi

A Troubleshooting Procedure that may Fix Problems with macOS El Capitan or Later


You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.


    Be sure to backup your files before proceeding if possible.


  1. Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
  2. Disconnect all third-party peripherals.
  3. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
  4. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
  5. Reset your Startup Disk and Sound preferences, if needed, after resetting the PRAM.
  6. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.  Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac and Playing Safe - what does Safe mode do?
  7. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.  Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
  8. Repair permissions on the Home folderResolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder.
  9. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
  10. Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Install OS X then click on the Continue button.
  11. Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:


     1. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.

     2. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.

     3. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.

     4. Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

     5. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.

     6. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.

     7. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


Jun 1, 2020 3:34 PM in response to JohnGroves

Yes, she had the Yahoo redirect malware so removed that first (lots of steps there but I don't know it had anything to do with the camera, but see below*)... also installed the Zoom update... then did a time machine backup, rebooted into recovery, and immediately restored the accounts/apps/etc. - everything. Everything came back up, and the camera worked.


*A few weeks later, the camera disappeared again, I found a remnant of the Yahoo redirect malware, removed it, restarted and the camera came back and has worked since.

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Macbook Pro 2016 - Camera "no video capture devices were found"

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