Where Registry Stores Camera App Permissions

Windows manages user-specific hardware permissions through the Capability Access Manager in the Registry, maintaining records of which applications have permission to access the webcam. This article outlines the exact registry paths where Windows stores individual user camera consent settings for both modern UWP (Microsoft Store) apps and traditional desktop applications.

Primary Camera Consent Registry Path

In Windows 10 and Windows 11, per-user camera access permissions are recorded under the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\webcam

Within this location, the system creates subkeys for individual applications that have requested access to the camera hardware.

Microsoft Store (UWP) Apps

Packaged applications from the Microsoft Store appear as subkeys directly under the webcam directory named after their Package Family Name (for example, Microsoft.WindowsCamera_8wekyb3d8bbwe).

Inside each application’s subkey, permission is defined by a string value (REG_SZ) named Value: * Allow: The application has permission to access the camera. * Deny: Access to the camera is blocked for that specific application.

Classic Desktop (Non-Packaged) Applications

Permissions for traditional Win32 programs and third-party desktop software are organized in a dedicated subfolder:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\CapabilityAccessManager\ConsentStore\webcam\NonPackaged

Each desktop application that attempts to access the camera is represented as a subkey named with an encoded path to the executable file. Inside each subkey, Windows stores: * Value (REG_SZ): Set to either Allow or Deny. * LastUsedTimeStart / LastUsedTimeStop (REG_BINARY): Timestamps recording the most recent active session when the executable accessed the camera.