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Built in Isight camera not working in High Sierra

I recently installed High Sierra and the Supplemental Update on a Macbook Pro, 13", mid-2010. Isight camera will not work in Facetime, Skype, PhotoBooth. Booting up in Safe Mode, the camera works in all applications.


I have tried SMC Reset, PRAM/NVRAM, and re-installing High Sierra.


Thanks for the help!

MacBook Pro, osHigh Sierra

Posted on Mar 13, 2018 12:55 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Apr 30, 2018 4:39 AM

Try this from this website: https://goo.gl/BdwfrE


Works for me:


The error message “There is no connected camera.” comes up when the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air detects an issue with the camera’s connection. The problem appears to be with VDCAssistant, which is the process or daemon that is responsible for the built in iSight camera. Killing this process often fixes issues with the built in web-cam.



To Diagnose ‘There is no connected camera.’



First check If The OS recognises that the camera is installed by doing the following:



1. Alt + Click on Apple (Top Left)

2. Then Alt + Click System Information

3. Under Hardware in the Left Column, click Camera

If no camera appears, then there may be a hardware problem, such as a lose ribbon connection on a laptop, so it is a trip to the Genius Bar or your local Tech Support.



How To Kill the VDCAssistant Process



If the camera is recognised then it is possible that the VDCAssistant process has stalled. To kill the VDCAssistant ~(and AppleCameraAssistant)~ and any associated processes, close all applications1 that use the camera such as Photo Booth, Face Time or Skype. Then carry out the following steps:



1. Open the Terminal application: Click on the Spotlight search and enter Terminal, and then select Terminal – Utilities.

2. Enter **sudo killall VDCAssistant** in the Terminal window and hit Return (and(?) **sudo killall AppleCameraAssistant**)



3. If the Password prompt appears, enter your password, followed by Return.

Open Photo Booth and see if the camera is working. The green camera light should be on



Still ‘There is no connected camera.’?



If the camera has now been restored, then the process has been killed and then successfully restarted. You can also kill the process by restarting the machine, although that is not always convenient. If you still get the error message “There is no connected camera.”, then the quick fix did not work, and there is a more challenging problem to deal with. In this case it is off to the Apple Genius Bar2 or your local Tech Support.



Notes: although not recommended, it is possible to do this with the application(s) running, as the VDCAssistant process will restart automatically.

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Apr 30, 2018 4:39 AM in response to kobarrows

Try this from this website: https://goo.gl/BdwfrE


Works for me:


The error message “There is no connected camera.” comes up when the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air detects an issue with the camera’s connection. The problem appears to be with VDCAssistant, which is the process or daemon that is responsible for the built in iSight camera. Killing this process often fixes issues with the built in web-cam.



To Diagnose ‘There is no connected camera.’



First check If The OS recognises that the camera is installed by doing the following:



1. Alt + Click on Apple (Top Left)

2. Then Alt + Click System Information

3. Under Hardware in the Left Column, click Camera

If no camera appears, then there may be a hardware problem, such as a lose ribbon connection on a laptop, so it is a trip to the Genius Bar or your local Tech Support.



How To Kill the VDCAssistant Process



If the camera is recognised then it is possible that the VDCAssistant process has stalled. To kill the VDCAssistant ~(and AppleCameraAssistant)~ and any associated processes, close all applications1 that use the camera such as Photo Booth, Face Time or Skype. Then carry out the following steps:



1. Open the Terminal application: Click on the Spotlight search and enter Terminal, and then select Terminal – Utilities.

2. Enter **sudo killall VDCAssistant** in the Terminal window and hit Return (and(?) **sudo killall AppleCameraAssistant**)



3. If the Password prompt appears, enter your password, followed by Return.

Open Photo Booth and see if the camera is working. The green camera light should be on



Still ‘There is no connected camera.’?



If the camera has now been restored, then the process has been killed and then successfully restarted. You can also kill the process by restarting the machine, although that is not always convenient. If you still get the error message “There is no connected camera.”, then the quick fix did not work, and there is a more challenging problem to deal with. In this case it is off to the Apple Genius Bar2 or your local Tech Support.



Notes: although not recommended, it is possible to do this with the application(s) running, as the VDCAssistant process will restart automatically.

Mar 13, 2018 12:57 PM in response to kobarrows

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.
  6. Start the computer in Safe Mode. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.
  7. Use Apple Hardware Test to see if there is any hardware malfunction.
  8. 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.
  9. Repair permissions on the Home folder: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder.
  10. 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.
  11. Download and install the OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Combo Update or 10.12.6 Combo Update or Download macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Combo Update as needed.
  12. Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Reinstall OS X then click on the Continue button.
  13. 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 Continue button.
  2. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.
  3. Click on the Erase icon 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 Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

If none of the above helps then make an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar for service. If you need to find an Apple Store - Find a Store - Apple.


Mar 15, 2018 7:32 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks for the great list of things to try....unfortunately none of them worked. An interesting twist, the camera works in safe mode.


If I perform a PRAM reset, the computer does not list the camera in the system report. Once I perform an SMC reset after that, the camera appears again in the system report, but still won't work.


I had high hopes for being able to install a mac OS Sierra or earlier, but when I try to install anything earlier than High Sierra, the installation package won't proceed because of an error that says "This installation requires macOS xxxx" which is an earlier version. Very frustrating.

Built in Isight camera not working in High Sierra

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