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Webex Virtual Background not working

Jon.Rogers
Level 1
Level 1

I have been using webex for some time now and recently the virtual backgrounds with no issues. Since last week the virtual backgrounds no longer work an instead just put the background up and i am not visible at all. I have restarted my computer and have had no success. See pic attached

 Webex issue.JPG

43 Replies 43

pschaadt
Level 1
Level 1

Backgrounds worked fine until last Wednesday. Still works on Zoom and on Teams. All software is updated. Uninstalled and reinstalled client and it still doesn't work. Still works on Zoom and on Teams. My company has used WebEx for a decade but if this isn't fixed it will be bye-by Webex.

@pschaadtIf it weren't for Meetings as a fallback app and OBS for physical green screen support I'd have already migrated to a Zoom pro account. Teams is a sad joke; Cisco can't be serious with its current state.

Teams was bad joke. It has improved quite a bit to a “meets minimum”. Several of my clients are using it and I had two meetings on it today. Virtual background work fine. If you haven’t used it since 3Q 2020 you should take a look.

My employer pays for full featured Cadillac enterprise Webex, so I wish I could agree. I'm speaking from my experience using Teams for a meeting on Friday, January 29, 2021 and being professionally embarrassed because neither the built-in virtual background feature nor OBS Virtual Cam input worked. Zoom supports both just fine.

 

From what I gather, Teams has been around for a few years now, so the current state of things is absolutely unacceptable for a paid enterprise product. It seems to me that Teams is a box-checking app meant to help Webex fight off Microsoft Teams (whose chat features it seems to be trying to duplicate) and other competitors in sales pitches ("Oh yeah, we can do that too") to hapless IT departments who in turn are just box-checking security compliance requirements (e.g. FedRAMP) as opposed to something that actually works.

 

The fact that it still lacks features Meetings has is proof that Cisco aren't remotely serious about it as a supported product any more than Google are serious about the 3 or so apps they launch/kill each year.

 

If I'm wrong, the proof would be these very basic, fundamental issues not existing at all. But they do.

 

Of course, Cisco are far from alone with this. Anyone who's used the absolute disaster that is any McAfee enterprise product (spoiler: they either don't work or cause nothing but problems, but they're easily packaged up by channel partners so they keep being deployed) can relate.

I used Teams this AM on the Office 365 platform using Windows 10 as the desktop.
My custom background picture worked and the Logi Capture application worked so YMMV. Most of the Teams meetings have been with very large, global firms.

My recommendation for Virtual Background in Webex is to use an actual graphic card driver especially when you have an Intel UHD620 graphic card inside your laptop.
After upgrade the drivers to version 27.20.100.8189 it's much better working than before.

LK45206025
Level 1
Level 1

good point, I know e.g. OBS Studio, and are able to work around ...

But change the view: How to roll out in our university organisation with 500 teachers and >6.000 students ... not a realistic workaround.

@LK45206025 

someone in this forum recently posted that OBS and VirtualCam is not recognized by Webex(-Teams) but only by Webex-Meetings.
During my tests both failed - perhaps because I used the portable version of OBS?
I was successful with "Logitech Capture" - but I have no idea if this software does work with any Webcam or just Logitech.

 

You are right about university etc. but @Jon.Rogers  did not mention such an environment...

@Fritz_HThat person was me. Per a thread in the ideas group, apparently the Webex client was hardened so that virtual cameras have to be whitelisted. You may have to actually install OBS so the executable is where Webex expects it to be, among possibly other things.

Fritz_H
VIP Alumni
VIP Alumni

@Jon.Rogers 

perhaps you may want to try using some virtual WebCam-Software as a workaround to get the blurred background - effect - until Cisco fixes the issue; in case it actually is a software issue.

I have never used any of these but perhaps you want to try?
ChromaCam
ManyCam
Snap-Camera
XSplit VCam

LK45206025
Level 1
Level 1

Yes, that's it!

The irony s it still works in the new Webex (Team) Client.

And by the way. This are the user experiences which leads to the call to establish an Zoom subscription in parallel to the Webex one. I think, you all know, what this results in ...

Zoom is way better than this Webex:):)! MS Team, Webex all made to get a headache of it. I also can not use the simple and important option of using a virtual background. Have the latest mac book air and not working. Zoom works fine.

Owner of TVworkshop Asia Singapore!

LK45206025
Level 1
Level 1

No, not AMD related: My Fujitsu core i5 8250U worked before the ast update perfectly.

there was a "hack" to make this work although, would like to give credit to the person that posted.. I'm not sure who it was. (And my disclaimer.. use at your own risk!)

 

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

i dont know but it for sometime opens up the virtual backgroup dialogue and then suddenly (your system doesn't meet requirements)pops up.

That can cause a lot of serious problems if other apps also misread the CPU properties.

 

That said, Cisco needs to either remove the system requirement cutoff or make Webex more efficient. My main PC supposedly doesn't meet the requirements, but Zoom does background replacement (both AI and green screen) on the same machine just fine.

 

Users shouldn't have to resort to registry hacks to get stuff that functions just fine on competing products to work.

mickfigge
Level 1
Level 1

I have a Panasonic laptop that apparently meets the minimum requirements but am unable to use the virtual background. This is an issue as i host several webinars and have to use a white sheet as a background.

I am running W10 64 bit, with i5 CPU M520 2.4GHz, with 8 Gb and the latest version of Webex (40.12.2.26).

Is this setup wrong?

Why do i not meet the minimum requirements

You may try to uninstall from the control panel.. then download and run the Webex removal tool. Restart your system and re-install Webex you download from your admin panel. Another idea.. check and make sure all your camera and video card drivers are up-to-date as well as check and make sure Win 10 has all it's updates too.

I think its my AMD Rizen processor it does not like

Shelleighm
Level 1
Level 1

i canon load virtual backgrounds using win 10 and amd chip 

 

As shared on previous posts.. there is a known bug that hopefully will be addressed soon (been reported for a month and half so far). THta said.. I've not seen or heard of the issue where the camera is continuously blurred. Question.. is this happening with other Apps? Have you tried a different camera of check it's settings? (Some cameras have an App of their own that can be set to auto or manual focus).