[VideoConferenceMute] known issues in 0.48

[enricogior]

NOTE: the application preview (Teams, Meet, etc.) may show the overlay image flipped horizontally but that is expected, the image will show correctly to the other people on the call.

Known issues in 0.48

• In order to enable/disable the VCM, PowerToys should run as administrator
• In some cases, the overlay image can be shown flipped vertically (the workaround is to edit the image and flip it before selecting it).
• With some webcams, there is an incompatibility with Teams and the overlay image is not rendered, instead a corrupted frame is shown.

Status toolbar:

• it uses .png instead of .svg images (causing to be fixed size and too small on high DPI screen)

Camera overlay image:

• Browse button doesn't work when settings application is launched as admin

[Jeej]

I can confirm that with the v0.24 version is muted correctly.

I noticed also that my overlay image is flipped horizontal and that the image is stretched / shrunken. I changed the resolution of the image down to 1080x720 and flipped the image in paint.net, now it is OK.

A new thing I noticed, what I think is annoying, is when I join a meeting in Microsoft Teams you get the screen with on / off sliders for audio / webcam. When I turn on my webcam in Teams and disable the webcam in PowerToys (so Teams has the overlay image) and I join the meeting PowerToys switches my webcam on and disables the overlay image :-(

[yuyoyuppe]

@Jeej can you please upload the original image somewhere as a .zip archive, so it's not recompressed?

[Jeej]

@Jeej can you please upload the original image somewhere as a .zip archive, so it's not recompressed?

Euh, unfortunately that is not possible because it is a photo of me. I can try if I can make an image that simulates the issue but isn't a photo of me 😉

[yuyoyuppe]

@Jeej oh, sure, that would be great! :) btw, you can attach the .zip to the comment

[Daksh777]

It would be amazing if we could use a GIF as the camera overlay image which can be looped over and over (suggestion)

[yuyoyuppe]

@Daksh777 it's pretty straightforward to implement from the technical POV. may I ask what use case do you have in mind? :)

[niels9001]

@yuyoyuppe That would open up so many fun moments during (boring) work days :). If it's an easy thing to add I'll be all for it :)!

[enricogior]

@niels9001 that will open the door... to get PowerToys banned from most corporations! :)

JK

[Daksh777]

@Daksh777 it's pretty straightforward to implement from the technical POV. may I ask what use case do you have in mind? :)

I often do meetings with friends and sometimes I go AFK without saying, so I could use a GIF that says "I'm AFK right now" and in the next frame, it would show "I'll be right back".

[marcelkornblum]

I often do meetings with friends and sometimes I go AFK without saying, so I could use a GIF that says "I'm AFK right now" and in the next frame, it would show "I'll be right back".

...or simply a looping gif of you at your desk looking interested :)

[Daksh777]

...or simply a looping gif of you at your desk looking interested :)

Haha, that would be funny, but yeah, an option to use a GIF would be amazing!

[meepmeme]

when application stops using camera , microphone resets to on. this happens on every app i have tried.

[yuyoyuppe]

@meepmeme that's intentional. @enricogior perhaps we should add a switch?

[Krrishdhaneja]

camera functionality not working in Video Conference Mute. Camera - HP HD Camera

I was using Camera app to test it, but nothing happened.

[Krrishdhaneja]

Any suggestions

[enricogior]

@Krrishdhaneja use the camera icon to switch between the physical webcam and the PowerToys virtual cam.

[Krrishdhaneja]

Let me check that

[Krrishdhaneja]

Yes, it works. But the light of camera was still flashing. And it means that camera is still in use.

[enricogior]

@Krrishdhaneja

But the light of camera was still flashing. And it means that camera is still in use.

That is currently expected, I'll add a reference to this problem (we should turn it off and then on again).

[ghost]

@enricogior

Please track this issue #7892 here:

ℹ Computer information

• PowerToys version: 0.24 Experimental
• PowerToy Utility: Video Conference
• Running PowerToys as Admin: Yes
• Windows build number: 19042.610

📝 Provide detailed reproduction steps (if any)

1. Setting the webcam input as "PowerToys VideoConference"
2. I joined the meeting.

✔️ Expected result

What is the expected result of the above steps? Other people can see me and I can enable and disable cam view with Win+Shit+O.

❌ Actual result

What is the actual result of the above steps? Other people can't see me (they see all black) when camera is enabled.

📷 Screenshots

Are there any useful screenshots? WinKey+Shift+S and then just paste them directly into the form

[Gadagadanagadanagana]

Dear experts, I'm totally new here, and I'm despirately looking for the mute mic feature, that is supposed to be released in the next version. Is there any chance of installing this already, as I was seeing that the 0.29 version is even available as a project?

thanks, Laeae

[htcfreek]

Small thing: one label is not greyed-out when VCM is disabled in v0.24:

This should be fixed but not released yet. cc: @niels9001

[Laefy]

Hi and thank you for developing these tools :)

I've just noticed a small typo in one of the menu of the Video Conference Mute ('i' missing in position).

[s0urc3-ray]

This will be very useful to many people, it should be part of the Windows Base Build instead of barely any Windows users being aware of it's existence 🙄☹ (Very Much like the ⌨Win + Period Shortcut to load the Emoji Selector) Perhaps somebody at @microsoftopensource could add a Web shortcut to Relivent PowerToys in the Windows Settings App, displayed along with the Help Text on the Right Pane.

I have a feature request if it is technically possible. Can you route a different Video Source upon Mute, so people like Streamers can provide a Visually Stimulating BRB Message, etc. Allowing to Switch to a Different Audio Source upon Mute would also be appreciated?

Can this Mute other Devices such as Smart Speakers or possibly send a ⏸Pause Keypress Event?

[enricogior]

@s0urc3-ray this is an issue to track other issues, don't post here, open a new issue with your suggestions/requests/bugs. Open one issue per request, thanks.

[mrchief]

I have an older Logitech camera Logitech QuickCam Communicate Deluxe but I guess it suffers from the same root cause as this. I noticed that muting the mic works through the software but the camera for me is just a black screen (using google meet)

[yiannislog]

I also have an issue with... "getting a corrupted video feed from my WebCam on MS Teams" -- my model is: Logitech Brio 4K STREAM edition

[yframed]

As of experimental v36 and in contrast to v28, VCM does not show up as an option within the Windows Camera app nor does it show in NVIDIA Broadcast as a "Camera Source."

[joelnedev]

For the new experimental version, Zoom does not appear to be receiving any video at all, although PowerToys VideoConference Mute is selected as the camera. When I switch it to my actual camera, there is a button to rotate my video by 90 degrees. Virtual background is not enabled in Zoom.

[andre-mr]

Hi! Any Chance of using VCM without being administrator? That's because my entire family uses videoconference here, but they are not admin, specially children accounts.

I was using a third-part software and created for them a cmd link with default Windows admin account with saved credentials, but since PowerToys is Microsoft's I wonder if there is a way to access such feature without admin credentials.

By the way, why one should be admin to just mute/unmute a mic or camera?

Thanks!

[enricogior]

@yframed @JuhJuhButts @Andre-MR please open individual issues.

[haagar]

Update - after restarting PowerToys and Teams several times, the proper image is appearing.

Update 2 - it appeared correctly when previewing the device in Teams. but is not appearing correctly when in a call

I am not seeing the overlay image with a Logitech C920:

[ObsidianSnake]

I have more than one of the same camera (FULL HD 1080P Webcam) Even if I select the other camera, it only displays video from one of them. Tested the following scenario... Disconnected camera 2 > restarted VCM > camera 1 now selected in VCM (confirmed in teams) > closed video preview in teams > reconnected camera 2 > without changing anything in VCM video output is now from camera 2 in teams.

[nevalsar]

I noticed an issue where my microphone unmutes if I change the position of the toolbar while muted (I can see my mic get unmuted in Teams call). I'm using v0.36.0 on Microsoft Windows 10.0.19042.

• I was able to replicate the issue with both a bluetooth headset mic (in HFP profile) and a dedicated mic.
• The mic only goes from mute -> unmute when the toolbar position is changed, not reverse.
• Behavior does not depend on the target position being selected.

Should I be creating a separate issue for this?

Update: Created new issue #10860

[enricogior]

@nevinvalsaraj

Should I be creating a separate issue for this?

Yes please.

[enricogior]

@ObsidianSnake open a separate issue.

[bobvandevijver]

I noticed that when you have the "[All]" option selected for microphones, it doesn't mute any new microphones that are attached after PowerToys has started. The new device does show in the selection dropdown though. As workaround, you can which to any other option in the microphone selection list and then revert to the [All] option: the mute now does work for the expected devices.

This happens for example when you use an external docking solutions where your headset has been attached to.

[enricogior]

@bobvandevijver thank you for reporting the issue, please open a separate issue. Thanks.

[bobvandevijver]

@enricogior Should the Github new issue template be adjusted to reflect that? As that directly me to this particular issue...

[enricogior]

@bobvandevijver we will updated it, thanks.

[oguh43]

Allow ui scaling, on a 4k monitor it is really small making it hard to read.

[kaseykrehbiel]

I was successfully using Video Conference Mute until I noticed a few days ago it had stopped working. There's no indication at all that it's doing anything. If I hit WIN+SHIFT+O, it says "Camera off" but nothing changes (I tried on Teams and the Camera app). I also noticed the last modified date of my PowerToysVideoConference.log file is 3/24/2021. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling the 0.36 Experimental, but it had no effect. If it helps, it's an integrated webcam on a Dell Precision 5540.

[Jay-o-Way]

• In order to enable/disable the VCM, PowerToys should run as administrator

Does this also cover the fact that the main Toggle Switch is disabled and there is no explaining text here?

[raffertyuy]

Hi, I don't see Video Conference Mute. What am I missing? I'm on version v0.37.2 and running as an administrator. I'm running this on Windows version 20H2 (Build 19042.985). I also tried restarting everything including my machine.

[bobvandevijver]

@raffertyuy You will need to use the experimental 0.36 version, it is not in available in the 0.37 version.

[raffertyuy]

@raffertyuy You will need to use the experimental 0.36 version, it is not in available in the 0.37 version.

I see! Will try now. That isn't mentioned in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/video-conference-mute

[bobvandevijver]

But it is, in the big purple block 😀 The latest releases on Github are not marked as pre-release/experimental, they are from a different release train.

[raffertyuy]

But it is, in the big purple block 😀 The latest releases on Github are not marked as pre-release/experimental, they are from a different release train.

Thanks! Not sure why I missed that... 😅

[boardtc]

Ok, the documentation is very confusing, finally got the answer here, thanks to @raffertyuy You have to downgrade to get the video conference mute Download here: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/tag/v0.36.0

[boardtc]

I'm running v3.6 as administrator on Windows 10 1909. Winkey+N has no impact for me for camera/mic on an active meeting in Microsoft Teams. Similarly, Win+Shift+A to toggle microphone & Win+Shift+O to toggle video do not have an impact.