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<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE topic PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DITA Topic//EN" "topic.dtd">
<topic xml:lang="en-us" id="webcam-using-guest">
<title>Using a Host Webcam in the Guest</title>
<body>
<p><ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> includes a feature called <i>webcam passthrough</i>, which
enables a guest to use a host webcam. This complements the general USB passthrough support which was the typical
way of using host webcams in legacy releases. The webcam passthrough support can handle non-USB video sources in
theory, but this is completely untested. </p>
<note>
<p>The webcam passthrough module is shipped as part of the <ph conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/vbox-ext"/>,
which must be installed separately. See <xref href="intro-installing.dita">Installing <ph
conkeyref="vbox-conkeyref-phrases/product-name"/> and Extension Packs</xref>. </p>
</note>
<p>The host webcam can be attached to the VM using the <b outputclass="bold">Devices</b> menu in the VM menu bar.
The <b outputclass="bold">Webcams</b> menu contains a list of available video input devices on the host. Clicking
on a webcam name attaches or detaches the corresponding host device. </p>
<p>The <userinput>VBoxManage</userinput> command line tool can be used to enable webcam passthrough. Please see the
host-specific sections below for additional details. The following commands are available: </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Get a list of host webcams, or other video input devices: </p>
<pre xml:space="preserve">$ VBoxManage list webcams</pre>
<p>
The output format is as follows:
</p>
<pre xml:space="preserve">alias "user friendly name"
host path or identifier</pre>
<p>The alias can be used as a shortcut in other commands. Alias '.0' means the default video input device on the
host. Alias '.1', '.2'means first, second video input device, and so on. The device order is host-specific. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Attach a webcam to a running VM, as follows: </p>
<pre xml:space="preserve">VBoxManage controlvm <varname>VM name</varname> webcam attach [<varname>host_path</varname>|<varname>alias</varname> [<varname>settings</varname>]]</pre>
<p>This attaches a USB webcam device to the guest. </p>
<p>The <codeph>settings</codeph> parameter is a string <codeph>Setting1=Value1;Setting2=Value2</codeph>, which
enables you to configure the emulated webcam device. The following settings are supported: </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><codeph>MaxFramerate</codeph>: The highest rate at
which video frames are sent to the guest. A higher frame
rate requires more CPU power. Therefore sometimes it is
useful to set a lower limit. Default is no limit and
allow the guest to use all frame rates supported by the
host webcam.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><codeph>MaxPayloadTransferSize</codeph>: How many
bytes the emulated webcam can send to the guest at a
time. Default value is 3060 bytes, which is used by some
webcams. Higher values can slightly reduce CPU load, if
the guest is able to use larger buffers. However, a high
<codeph>MaxPayloadTransferSize</codeph> might be not
supported by some guests.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>Detach a webcam from a running VM, as follows: </p>
<pre xml:space="preserve">VBoxManage controlvm <varname>VM-name</varname> webcam detach [<varname>host_path</varname>|<varname>alias</varname>]</pre>
</li>
<li>
<p>List the webcams attached to a running VM, as follows: </p>
<pre xml:space="preserve">VBoxManage controlvm <varname>VM-name</varname> webcam list</pre>
<p>The output contains the path or alias which was used in the <userinput>webcam attach</userinput> command for
each attached webcam. </p>
</li>
</ul>
</body>
</topic>
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