Windows 10: PC found my new camera first time I connected it but now it can't find a camera attached.

Does the Logitech c920 require a USB 2 or 3 or will it work with a USB 1?

:)

 

Change the camera that the Windows 10 camera app uses.

Unintuitively, the icon in the upper left that looks like it's meant to switch between your front and back camera will also cycle through your other attached cameras. At least, this worked for me on a Surface Pro 4 (front and rear camera) with a USB Microsoft LifeCam attached. The Camera application's version is listed as 2018.227.30.1000.

 

Trying to Connect Network CCTV Camera

You can connect the camera two ways:

1. Directly to your router using a standard network cable or;
2. Directly to the PC's ethernet port using a network crossover cable, in which case you will have to assign an appropriate IP address manually using the manufacturer's utility.

Personally I only use the first method as it's usually easier and automatic... and it's the only one that's not only easier to set up but may also allow remote viewing of the camera over the internet As a result, I'm only going to list the steps I think you need for method 1.

Method 1: (Use an automatic IP address.)
1.1. Connect the camera to your router using a standard network cable.

1.2. Check the operation/connection LEDs on the back of the camera.





The Operation LED (labelled 3) should light immediately it detects a network. If the router assigns an IP address automatically then after a short delay the Connection LED (labelled 4) should light up and start flashing.

That's it... except you'll need to know what IP address has been assigned to the camera automatically by the router so you can view the results in a web browser (or any Camera Viewer software).

1.3. You could spend time finding out how to access your router to find the webpage showing the IP addresses of network attached devices but I find the quickest method is to just download/unzip Scottie's LAN Scanner tool (free, portable, tiny) and double-click on the lanscan.exe file. (For Windows 10 choose v2.02.)

Whoosh - in a second or two you'll see the info you need in the first 2 columns, i.e. device name and IP address.





What if you can't see a device name that looks like your camera? Look at the MAC addresses in column 3. On your camera (or the box it came in) should be a sticker showing the camera's MAC address which you can use to identify the IP address in use.

1.4. Copy/paste that IP address into a web browser (prefixed by http://) and that should be it... you should see the view from the camera.

(Alternatively, if you have a smartphone, install Fing. It will also do the same (and more) as Scottie's LAN scanner.)


Method 2: (Use a network crossover cable)
I hate this proposed method. It's time-consuming, means you have to install/use the manufacturer's often poorly-written manual connection software, follow equally poorly written instructions.

Practically, you have to create a peer-to-peer LAN (i.e. direct connection) between the PC and the camera using the PC's ethernet adapter and a network crossover cable. This peer-to-peer connection won't have the benefit of IP addresses being asssigned automatically ('cos there's no router/DHCP in the mix) so you'll have to manually assign fixed IP addresses to both the PC's ethernet adapter and the camera (using the camera manufacturer's Network System IP Setting Utility.

I've tried this in the past without success so hopefully someone else will chip in with greater experience. The biggest drawback in my opinion is that - even if you get this to work as a peer-to-peer connection - I cannot think of a way that you will be able to view the camera feed over the internet (if this is what you were hoping to do)... again, 'cos there's no router involved.

There's more to it than this but method 1 should get you up and running. Note that devices like network cameras benefit from fixed IP addresses, not auto-assigned ones. My own front-and-back security cameras (and ethernet-over-power devices) use fixed IP addresses tied to their MAC addresses and set in the router... but that's just a bit off-topic and more complex.

Hope this helps...

 

Digital Camera for ~$150

• 
  Oh god you're one of those noobs who think it's all about megapixels.