Identify process using camera

My camera led is flashing (it’s a sign that it’s in use), but there is no app that I know of currently using the camera. If I try to launch an app that has camera support, it says the camera is not available (another sign that the camera is in use).
The first row of lsmod shows there’s zero processes using the camera.

$ lsmod | grep uvcvideo
uvcvideo              114688  0
videobuf2_vmalloc      20480  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_v4l2         36864  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_common       65536  2 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo
videodev              294912  3 videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common
mc                     61440  4 videodev,videobuf2_v4l2,uvcvideo,videobuf2_common

also lsof and fuser show no output at all.

$ lsof /dev/video0     

$ fuser /dev/video0

So what now? How can I find and kill that bastard process?

Worth trying that with sudo . If still nothing shows (and that’s the correct video device) then it’s time to wipe everything to be on the safe side.

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Yeah, sudo didn’t show anything more. But then I decided to remove a video utility I had installed a few months ago and when the led was still flashing I said I’d give it a reboot for good measure. The led kept flashing during POST. So i did a full power down. On cold boot the led finally stopped blinking and the camera is accessible again. Seems like it was stuck somehow.

If the camera LED on my laptop kept blinking during POST then I’d bin the laptop. :sweat_smile:

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Right. I’ll torch it too, for good measure. Come on man it was just stuck. Needed a pat on the back to come around.

nuke_it_from_orbit

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there is only one solution:
pflaster

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