Enabling FaceTime Camera in Parallels Desktop

For work, I run a Windows 10 virtual machine using Parallels Desktop on a 15-inch 2016 MacBook Pro. Although I’ve shared my desktop using applications like Webex, GoToMeeting, Teams, and other web conferencing applications via the Windows 10 virtual machine, I never needed to use my FaceTime camera until our company recently transitioned to remote working due to the pandemic. The problem I encountered is that none of the web conferencing applications on my Windows 10 virtual machine were able to share video from my built in FaceTime camera.

As a quick workaround to enable video sharing through the FaceTime camera, I simply installed Webex, GoToMeeting, Teams, and other web conferencing applications on my Mac, and that worked fine. Today I finally configured all the settings on my Windows virtual machine to enable my Windows 10 applications to use the FaceTime camera. Here’s what to do:

1. In Parallels Desktop > Configuration > Hardware > Sound & Camera, check the “Share the Mac camera with Windows” checkbox
2. In macOS System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy, enable Parallels Desktop to use the Camera
3. In the Windows virtual machine > Device Manager, check to see if there are any errors with the camera configuration (e.g., driver issues)
4. In the Windows virtual machine > Settings > Privacy, make sure the “Allow apps to access your camera” setting is toggled to On

With all of these settings needing to be configured in different places, it’s no wonder that I needed to consult a Parallels Desktop Knowledge Base article to complete the configuration. I hope this helps you access your FaceTime camera in Parallels Desktop virtual machines if you’ve had similar issues.