How to identify your web cam (and then find its driver!)

Even if you’ve lost your web cam’s installation CD, all the product info, and have no clue “who the heck” even manufactured it you can still identify it! Actually, to phrase it more accurately, "you can simply let Windows identify it"!!!

Windows doesn’t require a device driver to detect device hardware or determine its Device Identification strings

Windows Device Identification strings may look cryptic (for example, USB\VID_093A&PID_2468\5&B114931&0&1) but these strings are fundamental to Windows Plug-and-Play and how Windows figures out which drivers work with what devices in the first place!

This guide
=> Will work for both XP and Vista based systems
=> Assumes your web cam connects via USB. If other then USB, the steps are still similar but the detail will be different

1. Connect your web cam

• Attach all power cords (e.g. laptop and/or web cam).
• Plug your USB cam directly into your computer (do not use any external USB hubs). Turn your cam on
• As long as your web cam and computer hardware are working, Windows should detect it!

2. Open Device Manager

• For Vista
  => Click Control Panel. If you have Control Panel Classic View, click Device Manager
  => Click Control Panel. If you have Control Panel Home View, click System and Maintenance->Device Manager
• For XP
  => Click Control Panel->System, then Hardware tab, then Device Manager button

3. Find your web cam in Device Manager

• Understanding Device Names
  => Windows provides user-friendly device names to accomodate us humans. As far as Windows is concerned, the device name is simply a comment!
  => It's those cryptic Device Identification strings that really identify a device
  => Device Manager displays whatever device name it happens to find in the device driver
  ...==> If Windows finds NO device driver, your web cam may be named “Unknown” or "Other" device
  ...==> If Windows finds the WRONG device driver you may see your web cam with the WRONG device name
• How to find your web cam
  => While your web cam is connected, look through all of Device Manager for devices with a yellow icon (probably a yellow question mark)
  => Be certain to expand the USB category to check all devices listed under it. Also, be sure to also check if category Other Devices appears in Device Manager and look under it as well
  => Your web cam will appear as a device with a yellow icon (probably a question mark)
  => Click on thumbnail to see the full sized image
  
• How to verify the device you found is your web cam
  => Your web cam device will only appear in Device Manager when the web cam is powered on and connected
  => Disconnect your web cam. Verify the device you had found is no longer displayed in Device Manager

4. Find your web cam's Hardware Ids

• In Device Manager, select your web cam device, rt click Properties. Click Details tab
• Select Hardware Ids from the pull-down. You'll see a list of one or more Hardware Id strings

5. Search for a driver based on Hardware Id
The best driver will match the Hardware Id at the top of the list. The next best driver match will match the next Hardware Id on the list, etc

• Start by searching for the Id at the top of the Hardware Id list
• If only due to how different search engines work, recommend you cut USB\ from the search string
  => Example: If the Hardware Id is USB\VID_093A&PID_2468&REV_0001 search for VID_093A&PID_2468&REV_0001
• You can start by clicking Search at the top of your TechSpot window to search TechSpot first
  
• For more help on how to search for a driver using the webcam's Hardware IDs see this post

Two final notes:

1) If you should find your driver elsewhere please update our "CIF Single Chip driver for webcam" thread and post your Hardware Id and the matching driver file info so others might also benefit on their next Search

2) as fyi...Vista let's you easily copy/paste your Hardware Ids. XP does not. However, you can use a handy tool called SysExporter - To grab text data from a window when Windows doesn't let you

Hi,

I tried finding the drivers through the above mentioned steps...but it didnt help me.

The Hardware ID for my camera is USB\VID_0553&PID_0100&REV_0000 and USB\VID_0553&PID_0100


I have a USB Camera which has a sticker "WeP Innovate" Seems to be Wipro Web cam...but i am not very sure if WeP Innovate is Wipro product.
I have been searching for the driver for this since last two weeks...and I just came across this website.
Can someone please help me with this.
This is a very old webcam with three legs and grey color ball with Green led.

HI!

Glad to help... I found a driver for you (i list it below) and i'm providing an explanation for anyone reading of how i found the driver using your webcam's Hardware IDs

After you find your webcam's Hardware IDs (as explained in the Guide) here's some steps to help search for a matching driver. In your case, Windows provided two Hardware IDs for your webcam device

USB\VID_0553&PID_0100&REV_0000
USB\VID_0553&PID_0100

Notes:

• Windows lists Hardware IDs in order of "best driver match". So we prefer a driver matching the first ID but if we can't find one Windows tells us the 2nd ID should also work
• When i go searching for a driver to match an ID, I use both Google and Yahoo. I usually search with Google first. If not happy with the result, I try Yahoo as well. (I've found Yahoo sometimes provides some good hits that Google missed - and vice-versa)

So let's start the search

1. Search for the 1st ID
   => Try to Search for: USB\VID_0553&PID_0100&REV_0000 But, in this case, neither Yahoo or Google find any matches
2. Next, cut the device enumerator from the search string. The "enumerator" is the text that precedes the first "\". In this case, we strip out USB\
   => Search for: VID_0553&PID_0100&REV_0000 But, darn, still no matches! If it did find matches, we'd need check it matched a USB driver
3. Next, check if REV_xxxx is part of the ID. In your case, it is!
   1. REV is the device Revision Level. If the vendor produced slightly different versions of the device they'll assign each version its own Rev level
   2. It's sometimes best to drop REV from the search
      • If your search now gets results, THEN see if REV is displayed in the results and use the rev level to help pick your driver
      • But! look at the 2nd Hardware ID Windows listed. We see Windows doesn't really care what the REV level is. (No REV occurs in the 2nd ID Windows listed)
   => So we now search for: VID_0553&PID_0100 And BINGO!

Here's a link to a driver (but note it's designated for Windows 2000 or Windows XP) returned by the search. Try it and tell me if it works for you!

A footnote: One last hint when searching for drivers using Hardware IDs, i've sometimes found it helps to repeat the above instructions but break the string up into separate search terms when searching

e.g. You might have searched for: USB VID_0553 PID_0100 REV_0000 instead of USB\VID_0553&PID_0100&REV_0000

However, if you do this, you must check the driver results carefully as (for example)
=> You may get a driver that matches VID_0553 but has a PID_0101 which isn't what you want

Hi,

Thanks a lot. I think this seems to be the driver. When I try to download it...its asking me to sign up and pay for the same. Do i need to pay for the download here?

Regards

Vinit

Also wanted to thank you for guiding me through the process. This will indeed help me for all my future searches.

No. you don't have to pay. Look at the second option they list

"Download this file by viewing a series of ads (no registration required)"

Choose this option. Then you must look at 4-6 ads they first show you (just keep click NO Thanks. Ususally, in small print in lower right i believe) until you can finally get to the download for free!

Hi,

Thanks a ton for the help. The camera worked fine after installing the drivers. You really made my day.

Regards, Vinit

Thanks for the feedback. It's good to hear a success story!

I found this site the most useful when trying to resolve my webcam problems. However I got as far as identifying the hardware ID (USB\Vid_Oc45&Pid_60b0&Rev_0101&Ml_00) of my webcam but never got to locate the driver on this site or with the use of any search engines. Thanks

Was that the ONLY Hardware ID Window provided? Or did it list more then one. (IF so, would be helpful if yoiu could provide the full list and preserve the ORDER of the list as well when you provide it)

Sorry these are the two

USB\Vid_Oc45&Pid_60b0&Rev_0101&Ml_00

USB\Vid_Oc45&Pid_60b0&Ml_00

Thanks for the reply

Looks like a Sonix (0c45) /Mikomi camera... (see elsewhere in Techspot)

It seems Ming Jong Technologies Co., Ltd. makes the Mikomi cameras
I was unable to locate your camera (& drivers) at their site...
http://www.mingjong.com.tw/eipe/fron...ategory=100003
http://www.mingjong.com.tw/eipe/fron...ategory=100060
You may have better luck there.

On an Ubuntu site I found a reference indicating a Genius camera using the same driver (same camera id - Oc45:60b0)
Here is a site for downloading the driver for the Genius camera

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/SCA...river-10.shtml

Perhaps someone else can confirm or correct my research before you try it.
?
Hope this helps.

A CSV List of webcams for which one linux driver will work.

Attached Files

sonix webcams.txt (1.1 KB, 3 views)

Good work B00kWyrm!

This one isn't easy to find for certain! (that's the only thing for certain!)

You're also right the webcam is built using a Sonix device. And, like you, I also see evidence pointing to a Genius Webcam

If I could find/see the driver's .inf installer file could check for certain but it's harder to know for certain when the .inf is embedded in setup files such that the .inf isn't visible.

But i think your driver find if is an excellent guess and one to try

Timothy Raj

Which operating system are you using? You can
1. Try the Setup file B00kWyrm found if it matches your OS. See if and how well it works
2. I also found the Genius webcam site. From the title of B00kWyrm's driver and other evidence i found, i think it might be a Genius Look camera???? (Their Look model, not i-Look model) Anyway you can scroll through the site to find it and see the pic. (Multiple drivers by OS are also available)
=> Click for their home page
=> Click Support->Drivers->Drivers. Look down a bit to see the Webcam tab. Click it.
=> Now look at their webcams. In particular, scroll down and see the Look 317 (is just a guess). Checkout out all the Look models

Let's us know if any of these hints help find it!

Got it to work with the driver B00kWyrm identified. Downloaded it from the Softpedia site you posted. What great work. I was kicking myself for wasting all my time looking as I figured it would be cheaper time wise to simply by a new one as it is a shitty camera anyway.As it turns out it was worth my while simply finding this forum and you guys and seeing how help doesn't necessarily come with a hidden agenda. (I had so many attempts to sell me driver location software/scanners etc)
Thanks again,nice meeting you guys. Will be visiting again......Do have a nice weekend.

Hello sry to pop in,
but i tried searchin for the Hardware Ids but no luck
any1 can help?

USB\Vid_058&Pid_6130&Rev_0201&MI_00
USB\Vid_058&Pid_6130&MI_00

(Enet e360)

Ahhh.. another success story. Always puts a smile on my face!

And hi alicarlos13

I assume the top two lines are the Hardware IDs.

What' that bottom line?
(Enet e360) ?

Hi!
No success yet
Can;t seem to find the driver :P

Enet e360 is the name of the Webcam! But its no where to be found!

Hi alicarlos13

I was going to take a look but just noticed something! You must not have copy / pasted the Hardware IDs as they can't be correct as displayed in your post!

You stated "USB\Vid_058&Pid_6130&Rev_0201&MI_00" but, by definition, the Vid format is Vid_xxxx where xxxx represents four "hexadecimal " digits and you only show three digits (i.e. hexadecimal is numeric base 16, not base 10 which is our normal decimal system). Meaning:

• Each hex digit will be either: 0-9 or a, b, c, d, e, or f
• Note this representation allows for 16 different characters ("digits") when using hexadecimal base 16
• (This is vs. the 10 digits normally needed for decimal base 10 - which we otherwise normally use!)

So you must have dropped a hex digit as you state: Vid_058? Double check the Hardware Ids and let us know!

Hi,

I followed the mentioned steps above, and I successfully found my webcam driver!
My webcam now is working!

I want to thank a lot Spyder_1386, especially LookinAround for helping me on my webcam problem. I followed the mentioned steps given by LookinAround and I found my webcam's driver!Thank you very much!I don't know how to thank you for this. I want to thank Spyder_1386 for giving me the link of this thread. and LookinAround for the steps. I also want to thank all in TechSpot!This website is great!and you guys are great!Thank you very very very much!

I posted a thread regarding my webcam problem,
and thank god that Spyder_1386 replied and give me the link of this thread.

I found out that my webcam's Hardware ID is USB/VID_0AC8&PID_307B7REV_0100 and USB/VID_0AC8&PID_307B.

I used to search the first ID and it didn't match.
then as LookinAround said that the 2nd ID works, it actually works!
I found the driver of my webcam on google. (thanks LookinAround).

Hope you guys can help more people with this webcam issue.
If you guys only know how happy I am.
because that webcam has sentimental value because its a gift from my childhood bestfriend.

Thank you TechSpot for such a great help!

From,
PortalTreaf

And thank you for posting! We love to hear success stories!

(and could you also hit the Edit button on your post to add a reference to the link you found for your hardware id. Thx )

I'm not able to post links yet.
I'm a newbie here.
I need to post atleast 5 to post links.

I'm quite busy right now.
btw,thanks again!
i'll be posting more here in TechSpot. then I'll put the link where i found my webcam's driver.
thanks LookinAround,
and thanks to TechSpot.

Regards,
PortalTreaf