topic Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously in Webex Meetings and Webex App

Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

yeetboy — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 13:27:07 GMT

My school uses Webex for online students and we are allowed to have virtual backgrounds for our cameras, but I woke up today to find out that my computer no longer meets the system requirements and I cannot use virtual backgrounds anymore. I have made no changes or installments to my computer in the last couple of months and virtual backgrounds has worked completely fine for those months aside from today and I cannot understand why

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

Fritz_H — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 10:04:40 GMT

@yeetboy
A Webex-Site is centrally managed by a thing called "Webex Control Hub".
It allows admins to manage licenses, set default-parameters for Webex-Clients and enable/disable options.

I have seen recently, that this management interface also offers options to disallow the use of virtual backgrounds.
Perhaps you may want to check with your IT-Team if this option is properly configured.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

yeetboy — Wed, 11 Nov 2020 12:52:04 GMT

That doesn't seem to be the problem because the error that I am getting is "You cannot use your virtual background because your computer's CPU or GPU configuration or performance is too low," plus I'd be the only one with this problem as everyone I've talked to doesn't seem to have a problem with it

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

kndskelton — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 19:28:16 GMT

There is a known bug.. Virtual Background Crashes Webex ClientCSCvv88245 Webex support stated no fix at this time.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

panderson25 — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:39:04 GMT

I have also seen this recently with systems that just meet the minimum spec, such as i5 series 4000 and 4GB RAM, Windows 10. Case open, waiting to get a unit in hand to generate logs.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

kndskelton — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:44:08 GMT

Will be following this as I opened a case and learned the bug doesn't have a fix at this time. My own system used to have virtual background but now I do not stating I do not meet the minimum requirements!!! Others.. the desktop app locks up when ever they select virtual background.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

irisPereira86163 — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 15:47:31 GMT

I have the same problem, did you find a solution ? If you did can you shared? I don't know what to do, this is crazy!!! THANK YOU

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

kndskelton — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 16:00:10 GMT

I've made a suggestion that they make this feature backwards compatible since it did previously work. Learned there are a lot of members experiencing the same issue.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

panderson25 — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 16:14:15 GMT

This is not the problem most of us are describing, but good to know.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

William de Haan — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 19:47:01 GMT

The same thing happened to me.

After using backgrounds in both WebEx Meet and WebEx Teams since March, last week, WebEx Meet now complains that my machine (Windows 10, i7, 16GB) does not meet minimum requirements.

WebEx Teams, however, continues to meet expectations and works.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

William de Haan — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 21:04:42 GMT

Aaaand, my WebEx Teams just updated, and now it won't do backgrounds either, for the same reason.

This morning, my PC met minimum requirements. Now, it doesn't.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

lpiedimonte — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 16:23:25 GMT

Webex Teams on brand new Lenovo X1 Fold. Same issue. No virtual background available in teams and Webex meetings. Also if I go to use the video camera, it will hang and crash webex.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

AscotTacos — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 19:10:51 GMT

I am having the same issue where my desktop used to run Virtual Background fine, but now I get the message that it does not meet the minimum specs.

When I look at the webex page, I see the following requirements:

Processor:

Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 4000 series or higher

I have an i7-2600K on my desktop, which according to that, would not meet the minimum specs.

On my much inferior laptop, I have an i5-7300U. I can use virtual background on that machine.

Just because 7300 is a bigger number than 2600 does not mean it is more powerful, in fact, it is not. Not for nothing, on my laptop, virtual backgrounds work atrociously, super laggy. A handful of versions ago, when I was able to use virtual background on my desktop, it worked great, as my desktop is insanely more powerful across the board (CPU, GPU, RAM). Perhaps they need to better think out the minimum requirements?

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

lpiedimonte — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 19:19:02 GMT

I completely agree that this functionality is not actually considering the specs correctly.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

kndskelton — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 19:23:14 GMT

what you could try is to clear Webex cache.. It has worked for a few people..

Windows

Sign out of the Cisco Webex client.
Press Ctrl + Alt + Del on your keyboard, then select Task Manager.
Under the Apps tab, right-click on Cisco Webex, then select End Task.
Right-click on the Windows (Start) button, and select Run. In the Open text box, enter %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\WebEx
Delete all data in the Wbxcache folder. (Not the folder itself).

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

AscotTacos — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 19:36:09 GMT

Thanks for the idea.

Just tested it out, and unfortunately did not help with the issue for me.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

AscotTacos — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 14:13:06 GMT

Has anyone figured out any solution to this issue? It does seem like it is simply an issue with Cisco hard coding checks for CPUs that are nonsensical when compared with actual CPU performance (like I said above, higher processor numbers do not mean more powerful processors).

I did see the following post:

https://community.cisco.com/t5/webex-meetings-and-webex/vitual-background-stopped-working/m-p/4265401/highlight/true#M2753

which I assume would work, but I'd be concerned about any other impacts it would have on system performance. Is there any hope on a Cisco fix on this? Thank you.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

csadferwgfdhget87334 — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 06:00:50 GMT

Not for nothing, on my pc, digital backgrounds work atrociously, extremely good lagy. A handful of variations in the past, once I was capable of use digital historical past on my computer in dubai, it worked wonderful, as my computing device is insanely greater powerful across the board

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

S Toronto — Sat, 23 Jan 2021 20:10:58 GMT

Apparently you need an i7 microprocessor, series 4000 or higher. Even though all summer, the 3770 was working just fine. Latest update. All my other meeting apps allow virtual backgrounds, which work very well. So, rather than us contributing masses of perfectly functioning computers to landfill, maybe Cisco Webex folks can figure out a solution that works with all microprocessors (can't see how it won't work with i7 anything, when it works with less powerful i5 and i3 processors). Very odd. This, is a Cisco Webex issue, NOT an inferior desktop issue.

Re: Cannot use virtual background despite it working previously

kndskelton — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 18:46:35 GMT

There was a registry hack I saw that supposedly worked but, haven't tried it myself. i7 is newer than the i5 (at least how I read it!)

The hack was... (My apologies to the user who suggested this. I didn't screen cap your name)

" REGISTRY FIX FOR NOT MEETING MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

I found a dirty workarround

I changed the CPU name in the registry

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System\CentralProcessor\0

change the key: ProcessorNameString
to the value: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz

now virtual background works in the latest version of Webex

I still hope you will change webex "