Sometimes your Sony VAIO webcam might not work if you recently updated to Windows 7 or did a fresh Windows 7 install. Even if you install the drivers for Windows 7 from Sony’s official website, there’s still a huge chance that your drivers won’t work.
The problem occurs because of the missing webcam drivers for Windows 7. The reason is that the drivers that Sony provide have compatibility issues with Windows 7. So the drivers either won’t install or, if they gets installed, might not work for the webcam.
So here are a few methods that can help you run the webcam drivers on your laptop.
Method 1: Update Driver Software Method
- Download the driver for Vista from here and install it. Many users reported that Vista driver works fine on Windows 7.
- Click Start then type run in Start Search box and select run
- Type devmgmt.msc in the run window and click ok
- Locate Imaging Devices or Camera and double-click it
- Right click the option with your webcam model (under Imaging Devices or Camera) and select Update Driver Software
- Click Browse my computer for driver software and select the location where you installed the webcam driver then click ok.
Method 2: Install driver with compatibility mode
- Download the driver from here
- Right click on the downloaded file and select Properties
- Select Compatibility tab and check Run this program in compatibility mode for.
- Select Windows Vista from the drop down list in Compatibility Mode section and press ok
- Install the driver now
Method 3: Recovery Media and Upgrading to Windows 7
If you already have Windows 7 then use the Recovery Media to revert back to Windows Vista. Once in Windows Vista, upgrade to Windows 7 rather than doing a fresh install.
If you did not create recovery media then get the Recovery Media Kit from Sony’s website.
