Using the Apple iSight camera in a Windows virtual machine

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor

Issue/Introduction

This article provides steps to configure and install an Apple iSight camera in a Windows virtual machine.

Environment

• VMware Fusion 10.x
• VMware Fusion 2.x
• VMware Fusion 4.x
• VMware Fusion Pro 10.x
• VMware Fusion 7.x
• VMware Fusion 3.x
• VMware Fusion 5.x
• VMware Fusion 6.x
• VMware Fusion 8.x
• VMware Fusion Pro 8.x

Resolution

For Fusion 7.x and above:

1. Shut down the virtual machine.
2. From Fusion menu Click on Virtual Machine.
3. Click Settings.
4. Click Add a device from the top right corner.
5. Select Camera.
6. Click Add button at the bottom of the dialogue box.
7. Restart the Virtual machine.

For Fusion 6.x and below versions:

1. Verify that VMware Tools is installed. If VMware Tools is not installed, go to Virtual Machine > Install VMware Tools.
2. Install the Apple Boot Camp drivers (either the entire package, or at least the iSight driver) from your Mac OS X Installation DVD. For more information, see Installing Apple hardware Boot Camp drivers in a Windows virtual machine (1012885).
3. After the Apple Boot Camp drivers have been installed and your virtual machine has been rebooted, be sure to download and install any available updates from Apple's Boot Camp Support site.
4. After the updates have been installed, and your virtual machine has been rebooted again, connect the camera to your virtual machine:
   
   Go to Virtual Machine > USB & Bluetooth (Fusion 4.x, 5.x and 6.x) / USB (Fusion 3.x and earlier) > Connect Apple Built-in iSight
   
   Note: After installing the Boot Camp drivers and connecting the iSight, Windows may report that it does not recognize the new hardware. If it asks to look for and install drivers, click Cancel.

The Windows Device Manager may show two entries for the iSight, one under Other devices where it reports that the device is not recognized, and the other under Imaging devices where it is recognized. This is to be expected because of the way Windows treats the Apple drivers. The iSight does not appear in the list of connected drives and devices in (My) Computer, but software that requires a camera does recognize the iSight.