Enable/Disable Camera & Microphone in Edge Application Guard

This article describes enabling or disabling the camera and microphone in Microsoft Defender Application Guard for the Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 11.

Microsoft Defender Application Guard works with Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Office app, and browser to help isolate untrusted sites and prevent untrusted Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files from accessing trusted resources.

When installing and enabling the Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Edge, specific actions such as copying, pasting, and printing files are disabled. For example, the device’s camera and microphone are disabled in the Application Guard for Edge. You must turn on these settings to allow the device’s camera and microphone within the Edge Application Guard window.

Below is how to allow or disallow the device’s camera and microphone in Microsoft Defender Application Guard with Microsoft Edge browser in Windows 11.

Turn on or off the camera and microphone in the Microsoft Edge browser with Defender Application Guard

As described above, when you install and enable Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Edge, specific actions are disabled. For example, the camera and microphone are disabled in the Application Guard for Edge.

Below is how to change Application Gaurd settings to allow your device’s camera and microphone in Edge.

First, you must install and enable Microsoft Defender Application Guard for the Microsoft Edge browser. If you haven’t already, read the post below to do so.

How to install and enable Microsoft Defender Application Guarde for Edge browser

After installing, open the Windows Security app.

You can do that by clicking on the Start menu and searching for “Windows Security.” Then, under best match, select the Windows Security app to open.

When the Windows Security app opens, click the App & browser control section.

On the App & browser control settings page of the Windows Security app, under Isolated browsing, click the link “Change Application Guard settings.”

On the next window, under Camera and microphone, toggle the button to the On position to allow access to your device’s camera and microphone in Application Guard for Microsoft Edge.

To disable it, toggle the button back to the Off position.

You must restart your computer for the changes to apply.

Enable or disable the camera and microphone in Application Guard via the Windows Registry Editor

If you can’t open the Local Group Policy Editor, you can use the Windows Registry editor instead.

Open the Windows Registry, and navigate to the folder key path as listed below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Hvsi

If you don’t see the Hvsi folder key, right-click on the Microsoft key, then create the subkey (Hvsi) folders.

Right-click on the Hvsi folder key’s right pane and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value. Type a new key named EnableCameraMicrophoneRedirection.

Double-click the new value name (EnableCameraMicrophoneRedirection) and enter the Value data of 1 to enable the camera and microphone access within the Application Guard for Edge.

A Value data of 0 to disable the camera and microphone access within the Application Guard for Edge.

Restart your computer for the changes to apply.

Once installed, press the keyboard shortcut to use Microsoft Edge in isolated mode with Application Guard (CTRL + SHIFT + Q).

You can also click on the Edge browser menu (3 vertical dots) and select New Application Guard windows (CTRL + SHIFT + A).

That should do it!

Reference:

Microsoft.com

Conclusion:

• Enabling or disabling the camera and microphone in Microsoft Defender Application Guard for the Edge browser ensures a secure browsing experience.
• Configuring the Application Guard settings allows users to control access to their camera and microphone within the isolated browsing environment.
• Utilizing the Windows Registry Editor provides an alternative method to manage camera and microphone access when unable to access the Local Group Policy Editor.
• After making changes to the settings, it’s important to restart the computer for the modifications to take effect and ensure the security measures are properly applied.