Microsoft fixes Surface Pro X cameras that have stopped working

Microsoft has released a temporary fix for the Surface Pro X tablet after the device stopped working last week. Problems with the cameras on some Arm-based devices, including the Surface Pro X, began on May 23, 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 the most affected Windows devices,” reads Support Note from Microsoft Friday late night. “This workaround may disable some features of the camera or reduce 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 May 23, 2023 system date. Surface Pro X owners discovered last week that they could roll back the system date to May 22 and the camera immediately started working again. According to Microsoft “full camera functionality” will be restored once an updated driver is released.