PowerShell Script to Disable and Enable Webcam on Windows 10 and Windows 11

While using laptops, sometimes you may want to disable the built-in webcam for some reasons, such as security or debugging webcam related programs. Not like a USB webcam, the built-in camera is unpluggable. Therefore, a general way is to open the device manager, find the camera, and disable it. To save time, we can create PowerShell scripts to toggle camera status quickly.

What you’ll build: A PowerShell script pair that disables and re-enables any connected webcam on Windows 10/11 by querying PnP device IDs, plus .cmd batch file shortcuts that run with a double-click as administrator.

Key Takeaways

  • PowerShell’s Disable-PnpDevice and Enable-PnpDevice cmdlets can toggle any USB or built-in webcam without opening Device Manager.
  • Filtering by -Class Camera prevents accidentally disabling audio input on combo peripherals like the Logitech C920.
  • Scripts work on Windows 10 and Windows 11 with PowerShell 5.1 and PowerShell 7.
  • Batch file wrappers let you create desktop shortcuts to toggle webcam status with a double-click at administrator privilege.

Common Developer Questions

  • How do I disable a webcam using PowerShell on Windows 10 or Windows 11?
  • How do I find the InstanceId of a webcam device using PowerShell?
  • How do I run a PowerShell .ps1 script as administrator from a .cmd batch file?

Prerequisites

  • Windows 10 or Windows 11
  • Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7, running as administrator
  • A connected webcam (built-in or USB)

Step 1: Disable and Enable Webcam on Windows 10/11 with PowerShell

List All Webcam Devices Using Get-PnpDevice

Run the Windows Powershell command-line tool as administrator.

We can use Get-PnpDevice cmdlet to enumerate all devices known to PnP (Plug and Play).

Since I just want to list webcam devices, I can filter the devices by name:

Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName *webcam*

PnP device

As you can see, I have two webcams: a built-in USB webcam and a Logitech C920 webcam.

The Logitech C920 webcam also supports audio input which should not be listed here. Therefore, I need to take a further step to filter the results by adding the class name:

Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName *webcam* -Class Camera,image

list webcam by powershell script

The Logitech C920 webcam is physically removable, and thus my target is the built-in XiaoMi USB 2.0 Webcam.

Disable and Enable the Webcam by Instance ID

Use Disable-PnpDevice cmdlet to disable the built-in webcam by instance Id:

Disable-PnpDevice -InstanceId (Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName *webcam* -Class Camera -Status OK).InstanceId

Once a device is disabled, its status will be changed to Error. To make the webcam work again, use Enable-PnpDevice cmdlet. Change the current status from OK to Error:

Enable-PnpDevice -InstanceId (Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName *webcam* -Class Camera -Status Error).InstanceId

I can use the online webcam app to check the camera status as I execute the commands.

Create Batch File Shortcuts to Toggle Webcam Status

Finally, in order to quickly run the scripts, save the commands to disable.ps1 and enable.ps1 files.

By default, a *.ps1 file will be opened in Notepad when we double-click it. To run the script directly, I created two batch files and corresponding desktop shortcuts. We have to use an absolute path, not a relative path for finding the ps1 file.

// disable.cmd
powershell -file d:\disable.ps1

// enable.cmd
powershell -file d:\enable.ps1

Right-click a shortcut file and go to Properties > Advanced. Check “Run as administrator”.

run as administrator

Now I can double-click the batch files to toggle webcam status.

run powershell from cmd

Common Issues & Edge Cases

  • “No devices found” with Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName *webcam*: Some OEMs register built-in cameras under a different display name (e.g., *camera* or the model name). Run Get-PnpDevice -Class Camera to list all Camera-class devices regardless of friendly name.
  • Interactive confirm prompt blocks the script: By default, Disable-PnpDevice and Enable-PnpDevice ask for confirmation. Add -Confirm:$false to suppress the prompt when running non-interactively from a batch file.
  • Command fails after a Windows 11 feature update: Occasionally, Windows 11 updates can change how webcam classes are registered. If -Class Camera,image returns empty results, fall back to Get-PnpDevice -Class Camera alone, or query by -FriendlyName with the exact model string shown in Device Manager.

Source Code

https://gist.github.com/yushulx/27ecfc190ed091dc6373e43c6558e582