Windows 10 and earlier will not detect DV camera connected to firewire iLink ieee1394 port - a solution.

[MervynJack]

There has been hundreds of questions about Windows XP through to Windows 10 not detecting a DV video camera to the Firewire AKA iLink or iEEE1394 port on computers.

I'm offering a solution but there may be security ramifications and it may not work forever.

Most people report the port is detected.

Some people offer solutions from changing to a different card (a bit hard on a laptop), downloading win 8 legacy drivers and even not understanding because it just works.

I have had an old windows XP machine that I have used with my Sony and Canon DV cameras but at one stage the computer stopped recognising the camera. I put it down to a faulty card, but a cheap VIA chipset replacement didnt work.

Fast forward some years and on my i7-3770 Dell Vostro I was able to capture from my cameras using a cheap VIA PCI-e card.

But no longer.... it stopped working.

So I've setup another 1st gen i7 with windows 10 and was trying to get it's on board or external ieee1394 port to detect my cameras but no luck.

So out with the old core 2 duo with Ubuntu, and with a little permission change suggested from a internet forum it worked and my camera was detected. So I knew the camera(s) and cables were OK.

A bit more .. OK 3 days of reading and poking around I finally have a solution that worked.


I would also point out the worst answers to all the questions people had were from Microsoft support people or similar who just seemed to not understand the problem and posted generic replies. Don't they understand people have memories tied up in their old video camera tapes and they need to be digitized before the cameras fail of old age. ieee1394 support should be a priorty and not swept under the table like it appears to have done over the last 10 years! OK rant over...

I stumbled accross a very easy fix.
Here's the fix.

Thanks to Mitch Bartlett from Technipages.com Oct 7 2019.



I enabled the Administrator account and the camera was detected and worked flawlessly every time.

Instructions here. Windows 10: Enable/Disable Administrator Account On Login Screen

I didnt even have to use the legacy driver like a lot of others suggest.
I am so happy after 3 days of frustration trying to get it to work.

I'm not 100% sure of the security ramifications of having the administrator account enabled, but it's a home computer dedicated to capturing and I'll probably leave it disconnected from the internet most of the time.

In case that link stops working.

Method 1 – Via Command

1. Select “Start” and type “CMD“.
2. Right-click “Command Prompt” then choose “Run as administrator“.
3. If prompted, enter a username and password that grants admin rights to the computer.
4. Type: net user administrator /active:yes
5. Press “Enter“.

Replace “yes” with “no” to disable the admin account on the welcome screen.

Method 2 – From Admin Tools

1. Hold the Windows Key while pressing “R” to bring up the Windows Run dialog box.
2. Type “lusrmgr.msc“, then press “Enter“.
3. Open “Users“.
4. Select “Administrator“.
5. Uncheck or check “Account is disabled” as desired.
6. Select “OK“.

Method 3 – From Registry

1. Hold the Windows Key while pressing “R” to bring up the Windows Run dialog box.
2. Type “regedit“, then press “Enter“.
3. Navigate to the following:
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   • SOFTWARE
   • Microsoft
   • Windows NT
   • CurrentVersion
   • Winlogon
   • SpecialAccounts
   • UserList
4. On the right side, right-click on “UserList” and select “New” > “DWORD Value“.
5. Give the value a name of “Administrator“. Press the “Enter” key when you are done.
6. Close the Registry Editor and restart the computer.

Delete the “Administrator” value to turn it off and prevent it from appearing on the Welcome screen.




I hope this helps someone out there in DV land.Merv

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