Windows 11 problem
 

Tried looking for a solution on-line but nothing works, so decided it was time to call on the massed wisdom and experience of TOTV

Until recently, when I plugged my camera into the USB slot there was a ping, the camera screen would turn off and immediately the camera would appear under "This PC" and I could download the photos

After a recent Windows update (thanks for nothing, Microsoft) there is a ping but no sign of the camera and the camera screen remains on

I have searched for the camera - none found - run the MS camera troubleshooter (have you ever got one of their troubleshooters to do anything useful?) and checked all of the privacy settings to make sure I am not blocking it

Any other suggestions would be most welcome

Thank you

Look in your directory folder (the icon on your taskbar that literally looks like a manilla folder).

You'll probably see something on the LEFT menu panel with "Home" and "Gallery" and ">OBB - Personal"

And then a second menu beneath a line with Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music, etc. etc. etc.

Under THAT is a third menu that says something like:

This PC
USB20FD (D)
Network

That (D) is your camera. Click on it and on the RIGHT side of your menu, should be all the files your camera has. You can drag and drop them into "Pictures" or "Photos," or you can look up on the top of your directory for "select all" and then drag the whole bundle over to Photos. Warning - select all will probably take awhile, because cameras typically take photos in "raw" format which means each one is around 3mb in size.

Thank you, OBB - that is where it used to appear, but it no longer pops up there

The "ping" means that the computer has detected something being plugged in to the USB socket, but it can no longer determine what HAS been plugged in :-(

I have two cameras and neither is recognized any more

I had my favorite USB cable failed (no idea why!!), had a problem similar to yours, eventually tried I different cable and problem disappeared.

Oy yeah what Tinker said - try a different USB cable. My camera had an SD card in it, I just had to pull the card out and push it into the SD slot on the computer. I don't have the camera anymore, I use the camera on my Google Pixel phone instead. So everything copies automatically to my google drive and I can access it from anywhere that has internet service, or from the micro-SD card in my phone.

Thank you, VT

The two cameras have different cables (one is microUSB) and both fail to be recognised. I have also tried using all three USB ports but to no avail.

The camera will suddenly appear in "This PC" while I'm running through the various on-line suggestions, but it never seems to be the same one that triggers it. I was hoping that, once it had been found, the computer would recognize the camera next time it was connected, but no such luck.

Even more confusingly, I just connected my GoPro and it was recognized immediately.

I was going to say update the camera drivers. See this as it seems to agree, etc.
after windows 11 upgrade camera is not recognized - Google Search

Thank you, Carl - I'll try that

Unfortunately, since my camera isn't being recognized it doesn't appear under "Cameras" for me to update the driver, but it does eventually get recognized if I keep fiddling so, once that happens, I can tackle the driver update.

Will report back tomorrow.

Sadly, loading new drivers for the camera didn't change anything...

...apart from deleting the Function Lock

How did Microsoft ever get so successful when their software is forever messing up?

Need to go back to square one then. I would investigate whether the camera even supports Windows 11? I would look on the camera mfg. site for support. You may be able to roll back the windows update and try that?

Does your camera use removable storage such as an SD card? SD readers are inexpensive.

Make sure your computer doesn't have a pending system update. A pending update that is waiting for permission to proceed can and will temporarily lockdown some functions.

Have you rebooted the PC yet?
What motherboard chipset do you have, Intel or AMD? You can try going to the maker's site and download new motherboard drivers
You can also try updating drivers from the motherboard maker's website. ASUS, Abit, Dell, etc.

roll back to prior of the update until MS gets the problem fixed.

I may have missed it but did you check that your AV software is not blocking it.

When all else fails, call Michael McCleer, better known to Villagers everywhere as "The Geek God." [352-638-6720] I have yet to see a computer problem he can't fix. The guy is a genius, (and a heck of a nice person too).

Many computers have multiple USB ports …. Have you tried using a different port ?

This is the kind of reason I switched to Linux. Updates are up to you (never forced on you). With a community of 10's of thousands people willing to help (on line), you can solve almost any problem.

Thank you for all of your suggestions.

Most I have tried by now, but will work through the rest while the storm rages outside.

I think a stand-alone "reader" may well end up being the solution.

This response won't help you much other than letting you know that you are not crazy! I have the exact problem with my Iphone 15 and Windows 11. I get a "ding" when connecting it to a USB port but I don't see the device in file explorer or anywhere on my PC so I can no longer download pics or update music. I found a lot info on this issue while researching, but none of it was helpful enough to work. Conjecture on my part after reading the research is that it has something to do with the device not being "trusted" yet I can't change the security properties on the device since it is not recognized beyond the initial "ding". Frustrating enough for me to give up for now.

For both of your issues that is why it’s best to just go to cloud based devices and beam them up there. I did this with my external HD (for pics) finally giving up the ghost of connecting to a laptop, etc. For the iPhone, I am not sure why they even suggest using a laptop for ITunes, etc. Not even needed for recovery, etc.

You could look over the Microsoft help forum - here's a thread that describes the same thing you're describing and one Advisor's series of responses:
Redirecting

Linux is great for knowledgeable users who have no need for Windows software. I'm going to guess that applies to less than 1% of the TOTV audience.

I'm pretty computer savvy, and I can't deal with Linux when SUDO anything.

I'm not familiar with iPhones, but with Android when you connect the phone via USB to a PC, the default is to charge the phone battery. You can enable file management by tapping the screen and changing the input option. Maybe similar on iPhone...or not.

Similar issue but with the printer
 

I did a windows upgrade to Windows 11 and both my printers were not recognized. I rebooted both of them, my computer, checked for diver updates, ran a system check, Checked bios on my computer, NOTHING Worked. Out of desperation I deleted the drivers for both and rebooted my computer. Plugged them back in, and BAM! They both started working again. I think you may have a corrupted driver. Windows thinks it's the most current but,,,,,, it can't make it work until you uninstall it and let windows reinstall it. Just my opinion.

The problem with most of the solutions on-line is that they refer to the built-in camera, rather than an external one that is connected via USB

Even when I manage to get this camera recognized, it does not appear under "Cameras" in the Device Manager so I don't know how to uninstall the driver to see if a reinstall fixes the problem

Any thoughts where it might be hiding, or where there is a list of installed drivers? I have seen "driverquery/v" and "driverquery /v" mentioned but I get the error message "Windows cannot find..." for both

Thank you

Is this a desktop computer or a laptop? If it's a desktop, is it an all in one, or is it a tower with separate monitor? If it's a separate monitor, does the monitor have a built-in camera? If it doesn't, do you have a webcam otherwise connected to the tower?

I'm wondering if your computer is looking for your webcam, and that's why it's not obeying your command to recognize your manual camera.

Also is it an SLR camera? It might simply be too "legacy" to work with Win11.

It is a laptop with built-in camera

The cameras I am trying to get recognized when connected via USB are a mixture of a digital compact (old, but works with W11 once it gets recognized), a newish SLR (which stopped being recognized even before the recent W update) and a new GoPro (which gets recognized immediately).

I have found a work-around which, while not ideal, gets the job done. I downloaded the "compact" driver from the Canon website. As before, when I plug the camera in, the computer pings but doesn't show the camera, but just clicking on the downloaded program immediately brings the camera on-board.

Will now have to find a way to trick the computer into recognizing the SLR :-)

That would explain things. DSLR and SLR cameras don't play nice with Win11. They're considered legacy. Glad you found a workaround. But your (D)SLR should have a micro SD card in it. My old one that stopped working 8 years ago had that. Any photos you took would automatically be saved to the SD card and I could take that card out and upload to any device that had an SD slot.

Agreed - I am currently accessing the SLR photos by putting its SD card into the other camera and plugging that in to the computer, but having an SD reader would be easier.

My computer has an SD reader. My microSD card comes with a converter (I don't think you can even buy them without one, can you?). I use the microSD card in my tablet for an extra 128GB storage. It's how I can watch a movie on my tablet when the power is out and the internet is down. I have a few stored. And a couple dozen books as well :)

My cameras all use the regular SD card but my laptop doesn't incorporate a card-reader so I'll have to get a stand-alone one. A shame, as I travel a lot and am always trying to cut back on what I have to tote around - but that is when I take most photos...

You know you can get an SD/microSD card reader that fits into the mini-pocket of your front bluejeans pocket right? Looks like a flash drive with a couple of slots on the side. Some are double-ended with one end being a USB-C and the other a USB. You can get them on Amazon for around $10.

I think something has changed in the default action to take when the device is connected.

Do a Google search for “change default action on connecting a usb device”.