Microsoft fixes Surface Pro X cameras that stopped working

Microsoft has issued a temporary fix for Surface Pro X tablets after cameras on the device stopped working last week. Issues with cameras on some Arm-based devices, including the Surface Pro X, started on May 23rd, with owners reporting they couldn’t use their built-in webcams in apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

“Microsoft is deploying a critical troubleshooter to mitigate this issue on most affected Windows devices,” reads a support note from Microsoft late on Friday. “This workaround might disable some features of the camera or lower the image quality but should allow the camera to function until the issue is resolved by the device manufacturer with an updated camera driver.”

Qualcomm’s camera driver for these particular devices appears to be faulty, resulting in the camera refusing to work after the system date hits May 23rd, 2023. Surface Pro X owners discovered last week that they could just roll the system date back to May 22nd and the camera immediately started working again. Once an updated driver is released then “full camera functionality” will be restored, according to Microsoft.