Fig 1.0 Windows 7 should acknowledge when you plug your webcam into a USB socket
| INSTALL A WEBCAM - DRIVERS ONLY |
This section will teach you how to install a piece of hardware (a webcam) using the Windows 7 Hardware Wizard and your hardware's (webcam's) Installation
CD, which is only needed for its software driver files. Software Driver Files (known as Drivers) are the core files that allow a piece of hardware only
to be installed (i.e. install a webcam only, but not its bulky audio/video software).
The idea of this section is to introduce you to installing hardware
only, so that you do not have to install the bulky software applications that come with a piece of hardware. For example. If you install a separate
printer, a separate scanner and a separate webcam they will more than likely all come with a photo package of some sort. So in this example you will know
how to install their hardware only and therefore cut out their bulky software applications.
When you buy a new WebCam the first thing you should do is Read the Installation Instructions, which normally suggest that you install the WebCam CD
first and then connect the webcam to the computer (using its USB cable) afterwards. That is the "Proper" (Idiot Proof) way, which is good if you want to
install the Video Recording software and Photo E-Mailing software that is normally a part of the CD installation as well but not good if you only want to
use the webcam to "Chit-Chat" using Windows Live Messenger for example.
Although CD installations are getting better with time, by allowing you to choose
which components to install, if you do not have any such CD installation options and/or want an installation that does not bloat your hard drive with
already installed components I would suggest installing your webcam as follows. Remember. This section applies to hardware in general, not just a webcam.
Begin by inserting your WebCam CD into the CD Drive and then shutdown (exit) any software windows that appear from that WebCam CD. This ensures nothing, at this
point, is installed from the WebCam CD. Next. Connect the WebCam to the computer using a spare USB socket. When you have done this Windows 7 should
acknowledge the connection with the following message.
The gray icon with the green rotating circle, in the notification area, is the Hardware Installation icon. Anytime you install new hardware, such as a WebCam, you should always wait for the hardware installation icon to disappear before using the hardware. The disappearance means the hardware is ready for use. This kind of installation is called Plug & Play - You plug in the hardware. Windows 7 installs it. And you are then ready to use (Play with) the hardware. However, many webcams are not built with Plug & Play technology. They are more of a Plug & Detect technology. Meaning. You plug in the hardware. Windows 7 detects it, but has no built-in software driver files to install it. Hence why the Hardware Wizard then gives out the following error message.
Windows 7 might not be able to install a piece of hardware's software driver files due to; No internet connection available, so it cannot download software driver files. No built-in software driver files for the hardware and/or No software driver files available on CD and so on. When all three of these are true you are in trouble! In which case the hardware wizard might automatically open Device Manager in order to display the Unknown Device (Unknown Hardware/WebCam).
Fig 1.2 Device Manager: Displaying the Unknown Device (Unknown WebCam) |
Fig 1.3 Select the UPDATE DRIVER SOFTWARE menu-item |
If device manager does not get opened automatically you can open it yourself by going to the Control Panel and clicking on the DEVICE MANAGER link. Once open you then need to right click over the unknown device, to bring up its options menu, and then select the UPDATE DRIVER SOFTWARE menu-item to continue. From there you have options to find, download and/or install the necessary software driver files, if any can be found, downloaded and/or installed of course.
| LET WINDOWS 7 FIND, DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL |
A natural option for many people is to just let Windows 7 take care of finding, downloading and installing any necessary, needed, software driver files for their unknown hardware device(s). If this option suites you as well, after selecting the UPDATE DRIVER SOFTWARE menu-item (Fig 1.3 above) click on the SEARCH AUTOMATICALLY FOR UPDATED DRIVERS hardware wizard link (below) to allow Windows 7 to search your computer and the internet for those necessary, needed, software driver files.
The main reason for allowing Windows 7 to carry out a search is because you know there may be existing, previous, driver files on your computer that Windows 7 could use to install your hardware and/or you are pretty sure that Windows 7 will have the necessary driver files built-in and/or can find them on the internet for you. This in turn may be based on the fact that you bought your hardware from a well-known manufacturer who has a good reputation for driver files support.
After clicking on the SEARCH AUTOMATICALLY FOR UPDATED DRIVERS hardware wizard link (above) the hardware wizard begins to search your computer, and then the internet (via the Windows Update service), for the necessary driver files. If it finds them it will install them automatically, otherwise it will show you an error message (Fig 1.9 below).
Figures 1.5 to 1.7 show the remaining part of the installation. When the driver files have been successfully installed (Fig 1.7 above) simply click on the CLOSE button to finish the installation process. Remember what I said at the beginning of this example. Always wait for the hardware installation icon, in the notification area (Fig 1.8 below), to disappear before using the hardware.
As said above. If your hardware cannot be installed using this method, for whatever reason(s), you will see an error message similar to the following:
Windows 7 will not always be able to find your unknown hardware device's (webcam's) software driver files using this method; so when possible, and preferably before buying a piece of hardware, try and make sure it is Windows 7 compatible. That way it has a better chance of being recognised, installed and/or possibly updated now and in the future. A common mistake is to buy second-hand computer hardware from a car boot sale, without any installation cd, for example that is only compatible with Windows XP and/or Windows 98SE. This spells disaster because the manufacturer might of made that hardware obsolete and/or no longer support driver files for it, if the manufacturer is still around of course.
| MANUALLY LOCATE THE DRIVER FILES |
If you prefer you can locate the necessary driver files yourself from a CD/DVD, Folder or other location. You would normally do this when you want to
install the driver files only, either from an Installation CD that does not give you an INSTALL DRIVERS ONLY option or from a downloaded Drivers.zip
file for example that once extracted leaves you with a DRIVERS folder.
To manually install driver files; Select the UPDATE DRIVER SOFTWARE menu-item (Fig 1.3 above) and then click on the BROWSE MY COMPUTER FOR DRIVER SOFTWARE
hardware wizard link (below) to continue. The hardware wizard will then ask you to BROWSE for a folder containing the necessary software driver files
(Fig 1.11).
At this point you can either click on the BROWSE button to locate the software driver files or click on the LET ME PICK... hardware wizard link to select from a list of Windows 7 built-in software driver files. In this example just click on the BROWSE button to bring up the Browse For Folder requester.
In the above example, after clicking on the BROWSE button (Fig 1.11) I then navigated the Browse For Folder requester (Fig 1.12) towards my webcam's Installation CD, inside the E: Drive, and more precisely to its Drivers folder. From there I selected that Drivers folder and then clicked on the requester's OK button so that the Pathname (E:\Drivers) of that selected folder is then placed inside the BROWSE edit box.
The pathname inside the BROWSE edit box before (Fig 1.11 above) defaulted to my Windows 7 DOWNLOADS folder. Therefore in this example I had to change that pathname, by using the BROWSE button, because no driver files would be inside my DOWNLOADS folder. Anyway. Once you have navigated the requester to your driver files folder click on the NEXT button to continue (above). The hardware wizard will then begin searching your selected folder, and its sub-folders if any, for the necessary driver files. Hopefully it will not only find them but also find them compatible with Windows 7 and therefore install them.
If all went well you should have a scenario of events like the above. In this example my Logitech driver files were compatible and therefore installed, which is denoted by the update of Device Manager. If there was a problem though (i.e. no compatible driver files) I would of received the error message displayed in Fig 1.9 above.
| USE WINDOWS 7 BUILT-IN DRIVER FILES |
If none of the above worked for you, for whatever reason(s), or you know Windows 7 has your driver files built-in (and therefore do not need an installation cd) do the following:
Select the UPDATE DRIVER SOFTWARE menu-item (Fig 1.3 above) and then click on the BROWSE MY COMPUTER FOR DRIVER SOFTWARE hardware wizard link (below) to continue. The hardware wizard will then ask you to BROWSE for a folder containing the necessary software driver files (Fig 1.19). Ignore this and click on the LET ME PICK FROM A LIST OF DEVICE DRIVERS ON MY COMPUTER hardware wizard link instead.
After clicking on the LET ME PICK FROM A LIST OF DEVICE DRIVERS ON MY COMPUTER hardware wizard link a List Of Common Hardware Types will be displayed whereby you then need to select your unknown hardware device (i.e. webcam) from that list. In this example I have selected IMAGING DEVICES from the list because a webcam is classed as an image device. When you have selected a device type click on the NEXT button to continue.
When you click on the NEXT button (above) a List Of Manufacturers will appear, together with Model names. With this list you first select your hardware's Manufacturer and then the list is updated to include Model names specific to that manufacturer. If you only want to see compatible hardware manufacturers/model names in the list tick the SHOW COMPATIBLE HARDWARE option. So in this example I clicked on Logitech and then the Model names list was updated to contain only Logitech model names. I then clicked on QUICKCAM FOR NOTEBOOKS DELUXE before clicking on the NEXT button. All with the SHOW COMPATIBLE HARDWARE option unticked.
From this point onwards Windows 7 will install the driver files for you, as in Figures 1.15 and 1.16 above. Once installed, you might be asked if you want to download/install the main software, if your hardware has a main software. Because this is only an example of driver installation I declined.
If you cannot see your manufacturer and/or model name listed you may have to select a different manufacturer and/or model name in order to get your unknown hardware device working. However. This is only as a last resort and for advanced users - Taking this route could break your Windows 7 and/or could leave your system in a partly, or fully, non-working/broken state. Therefore, if this is the case for you I would advise you call out your local computer engineer first. Either way, you have been warned by me of the dangers. So if you continue with this advanced route you do so knowing the above risks and you do so of your own accord.
| GENERAL NOTES |
A word of caution: DO NOT assume that just because the hardware wizard has installed software driver files from your selected folder that all is well. All could be wrong/bad, later. The hardware wizard is only installing from the folder you selected. It would not necessary know if there was to be a side effect from installing those software driver files. For example. Suppose you have WebCam G110 but do not have the installation cd for it and cannot find any driver installation file for it on the internet, but you do have a friend's WebCam G117 installation cd to hand. Installing the G117 software driver files for your G110 webcam might work, because they are identical webcams from the same manufacturer, but then again those driver files might give your computer and/or G110 webcam one or more side effects. So always make sure you know what software driver files you are using, where they came from and more importantly which folder to select.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
