Trick to Use Logitech QuickCam Messenger in Windows Vista
Officially, older batch and most of the Logitech QuickCam Messenger is not supported and not compatible with Windows Vista, although you may misleading believe otherwise as QuickCam 10.5 software supports Vista is provided for free download. However, in most of the case, except Logitech QuickCam Messenger with P/N no. of 861225 and USB/PID of 08DA will fail in installation during the webcam setup, where Vista unable to detect the webcam even though you have inserted the webcam.
On the other hand, using Windows Vista Add Hardware Wizard will not detect any driver for the webcam, even though you have extracted the driver files from the executables, no matter the Wizard search automatically online and locally or been asked to browse and locate the software drivers on the unpacked location.
In addition, Problem Reports and Solutions applet may appear after the failed driver installation for Logitech QuickCam Messenger with the following message:
Windows Vista does not support Logitech QuickCam Messenger
This problem was caused by a compatibility issue between Windows Vista and Logitech QuickCam Messenger.
Logitech QuickCam Messenger was created by Logitech, Inc..
Recommendation
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To search for similar devices that are compatible with this version of Windows, visit the Windows Vista Hardware Compatibility List website online.
However, it’s not totally out of hope for owner of Logitech QuickCam Messenger who has upgraded to Windows Vista. The following hack will use Windows XP driver (a common trick to use non Vista compliant device) to install the webcam in Vista:
- Download QuickCam 8.4.8 with driver for WinXP.
- Install WinRAR if not already installed yet.
- Open the setup installer qc848enu.exe and unpack its contents to a folder. Alternatively, right click on qc848enu.exe and select “Extract to qc848enu\” option.
- Insert or plug in the Logitech QuickCam Messenger to a USB port if not already done so.
- An “Driver Software Installation” icon in systray (notification area) should appear, which will pop up detailed message if click. It should fail, and “Add Hardware Wizard” dialog window will appear. Choose to install the driver manually by instructing the Wizard to locate and look for the web cam driver inside the Drivers folder under the unpacked folder of the qc848enu.exe setup program. You can use browser button to select the folder.
- Windows Vista should grab the XP driver and install it properly.
- Download the latest version (10.5.1) of Vista compliant QuickCam software from Logitech to install the software on Vista.
- Run the setup (qc1051enu) normally. You may need to skip the detection of webcam near the end of installation process.
Update: Fix for Logitech Quickcam in Windows Vista SP1.
Voila, you can now use the Logitech webcam to capture images or use it in conjunction with video chat in IM programs such as Windows Live (MSN) Messenger, AIM Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype or run Logitech VideoCall.
This hack may work on other Logitech QuickCams that doesn’t yet or will never support Windows Vista too, such as Logitech QuickCam Zoom Silver, QuickCam Notebooks Deluxe, QuickCam Express, QuickCam Chat, Quickcam Orbit/Sphere, Quickcam Pro 4000, QuickCam Orbit MP, QuickCam Chat and etc. However it’s not tested. If you willing to try out and feedback is appreciated.
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Entries (RSS)
June 27th, 2008 07:25
Ok I tried to download the 8.4.8 and it says that i still have the new version on my laptop. I went to C:\program files\logitech and i deleated everything. i went to my control pannel and deleated everything with logitech. and it still tells me that i have the new version installed. I dont know what to do. Any help is much appreciated.
June 21st, 2008 22:48
I extract the content of qc848 to a folder. Plug in the camera, and then point to that folder. Vista x64 doesn’t find a driver in there. Any ideas?
June 15th, 2008 07:52
help…im up to step 3 and i right clicked on qc848enu.exe and it doesnt say extract anywhere..
May 27th, 2008 06:44
Just install the new driver from logitech support site. THey’ll ask you how to fix different error codes. That’d Fix Quickcam Communicator STX problem.
May 17th, 2008 05:53
I get similar problem on Windows XP Pro 32-bit. I need to install Logitech Pro 9000, and no driver work (from disk or from site, or 848 mentioned in this post too). Diferent is only view in the devcie manager — 1, 2 or 3 devices with yellow question mark.
Windows is SP2 with all updates, so I suuppose also some system driver has incorrect version (too new?) and cam drivers fail.
Error report is that “firmware inproperly reports device resources, and driver can’t start”.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Regards,
May 12th, 2008 08:04
It doesn’t work with Vista 64 bit. Vista doesn’t pick up the drivers when pointing to the folder with the extracted files from qc848enu, no matter if you point it directly to the folder with the files.
April 29th, 2008 00:33
thank you so much! this solution worked for my windows 32-bit vista desktop system.
April 24th, 2008 22:08
[...] not compliant, and thus users unable to install and use the Logitech QuickCam webcam. There is a trick to use XP driver in Vista to make unsupported Logitech QuickCam works. However, with the release of Windows Vista SP1, the trick comes out with new error. After [...]
April 15th, 2008 00:09
thanks for this it saved me alot! but i have a problem, after following instructions my webcam works BUT its the quality is super grainy no matter how i adjust the settings. Anyone else experience this?
April 14th, 2008 13:52
worked great. thank you
April 11th, 2008 04:28
it worked well with mine computer! Thanx 4 the solution!
With regards,
Walter
April 4th, 2008 09:59
Thanks Luis for the solution. I was hoping there would be an easier way, but I decided I wanted my webcam working again, and now it is. I thought I’d post a more detailed step by step though, as it is a bit nasty for non-techies…
Nick: Just follow the original instructions that worked for pre-SP1. Then you have to leave the Vista operating system so you can replace that USBAUDIO.sys file. One way of doing this as Luis did is to use a live Linux CD.
A live CD is basically an operating system that doesn’t need to be installed - it runs off the CD and your computer RAM. I used Ubuntu live CD:
Download here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download
You will then need to “mount the image” burn the .iso file to a CD or DVD:
Installation info: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation
Once you’ve got your live CD, you then restart your computer, make sure you boot using the CD (you’ll need to press F12 or whichever key combination your computer indicates when you’re booting up).
Then once you’re in Linux, just search for Computer and find “OS” - that will be your Windows Vista operating system. Look for the folders Luis mentioned:
Copy USBAUDIO.sys from this location:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\wdma_usb.inf_9ce240de
And paste it over the USBAUDIO.sys in this location:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers
Now shut down linux, and reboot into Windows. You may need to restart Windows once more (I did), but now you should have your audio working once again!
Hope this helps. Let me know if not - I’ll check this page a for a few days. Contact me through my website if you need to: http://www.realfreewebsites.com
April 4th, 2008 09:33
Mine didn`t work, maybe because i`m using windows vista 64bit?
April 1st, 2008 23:01
great job!!! it works!!! thank you so much