Surface Pro X owners have been reporting that their devices’ cameras are no longer working this week. Multiple posts on Reddit and Microsoft’s support forums suggest their cameras were rendered unusable yesterday, despite attempts to reinstall drivers. The Verge has also independently confirmed the issue on their unit with Windows throwing up a “0xA00F4271 (0x80004005)” error when trying to access the camera app.
The Surface Pro X is Microsoft’s flagship tablet, optimized for Windows battery life and app support. The exact cause of the camera issues still remains a mystery, however a workaround has been discovered which suggests an expired Windows security certificate may have played a role. Users have found that reverting their system date back to May 22nd brings their camera apps back life. Even though this may temporarily solve the problem for some, resetting the date can compromise security and cause authentication issues.
Microsoft has been increasingly focusing on advancing Windows AI and Arm-powered devices with their announcement of Windows 11 and an intelligent assistant called Copilot at their Build developer conference. The software giant is also set to launch a Windows 11 upgrade today which includes several improvements for the Surface Pro X, making this camera issue an unfortunate and unexpected stumble. The company has yet to comment on the situation, but hopefully a more permanent solution is in the works.
