USB Webcam Disables Ethernet

I’m having a strange issue when running Microsoft Teams, and turning on video from a USB Webcam. When I do that, the USB Ethernet adapter dies (no more traffic in or out) and the Wi-Fi starts to have problems. I have to reboot to get the ethernet adapter working again.

This happened on both Windows 10 and 11. I’ve used two different USB docs (one USB-C and one USB-A) that provide Ethernet. I’ve updated drivers, reinstalled Microsoft Teams, updated the BIOS. It just seems to persist. I can use the webcam in other applications, like Slack, but Microsoft Teams just kills it.

It’s livable, to be honest, as I now have a legitimate excuse to not turn my camera on during company meetings. But I would like to solve the mystery somehow.

Any advice?

Hi Nat and welcome to the forum!

It would probably be helpful if you could disclose the makes and models of the accessories you’re using, maybe someone else is using a similar device.

One suggestion would be to try whether the same issue occurs with a different webcam model. And it would be very interesting to find out if it would work with Teams when you route the webcam’s signal through something like OBS Studio.

To me it sounds like a driver issue, and if I had to guess I would say it is the USB webcam’s driver that is the culprit.

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