Removal of VCM causes dead device listed in conferencing software

[S-p-Ace]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.88.0

Installation method

WinGet

Running as admin

None

Area(s) with issue?

Installer

Steps to reproduce

• install PT < v0.88.0
• activate and use PowerToys VideConference Mute camera in a program
• update PT to v0.88.0

✔️ Expected Behavior

The installer should abort with an error stating that the VCM camera could not be removed

❌ Actual Behavior

The installer completes without error and any conferencing software or other programs that use webcams will still list the VCM camera

Other Software

No response

Workaround

Manually remove the registry keys for the PowerToys VideoConference Mute camera

paste into Registry Preview and click Write to Registry

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A764}]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A764}\InprocServer32]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{860BB310-5D01-11d0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A764}]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}\InprocServer32]

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{860BB310-5D01-11d0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A764}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A764}\InprocServer32]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{860BB310-5D01-11d0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A764}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}\InprocServer32]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{860BB310-5D01-11d0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}\InprocServer32]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{860BB310-5D01-11d0-BD3B-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{31AD75E9-8C3A-49C8-B9ED-5880D6B4A732}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses\{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses\{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses\{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}\Device Parameters]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses\{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses\{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\DeviceClasses\{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}\Device Parameters]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{40568484-56a9-4865-b6cc-7a39f7d02837}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}\Device Parameters]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}]

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses\{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\##?#SWD#VCAMDEVAPI#710D1C65B18094BE0C2AC715D84034E34765317FD75269DAB710E149D9A7F592#{588c8d20-c0e3-4fd3-b511-8f2f692156f8}\#{FCEBBA03-9D13-4C13-9940-CC84FCD132D1}\Device Parameters]

[Jay-o-Way]

Manually remove the registry keys for the PowerToys VideoConference Mute camera

@jaimecbernardo is this something that's overlooked in #36772?

PowerToys/installer/PowerToysSetupCustomActions/CustomAction.cpp

Line 332 in b6bba9c

// We've deprecated Video Conference Mute. This Custom Action cleans up any stray registry entry for the driver dll.

PowerToys/src/common/utils/clean_video_conference.h

Line 4 in ab7394f

void clean_video_conference()

[S-p-Ace]

Hm, doesn't seem like an oversight in the clean up logic per se. Though apparently searching through the registry manually revealed a couple more keys for me than listed in clean_video_conference()
I'm not familiar enough with the registry to say.

The issue is probably that the installer was run in user scope and thus couldn't remove the keys anyway.
It's debatable if it would be better to let the installer fail in that case or continue without error and just log a warning to the console. Usually I upgrade my programs in bulk with winget and any additional log messages are easily missed.