Faculty Guides and Documentation

Enabling Microphone and Camera Use in Web Browsers

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If your webcam or microphone is blocked or disabled by your web browser, you will need to enable those tools in order to use Blackboard Collaborate. This guide will detail how to enable these tools in your web browser.

If you are using a computer that you do not have administrative rights to, you may need to check with whomever manages your computer to change the web browser settings.

Enabling Microphone and Camera Use in Google Chrome
Image of collaborate page indicating that the microphone and camera have been blocked

If you have your webcam and microphone access disabled in Google Chrome, you will see a screen similar to above. See steps below for how to enable the webcam and microphone.

How to Enable the Microphone and Camera in Google Chrome

Image of the web browser showing the address bar, secure lock icon, microphone and camera options, as well as annotations for items 1-4
  1. To change your browser settings, go to the address bar and click on the lock icon to the left of the website address. This lock icon indicates that information is transferred using a secure server connection.
  2. Camera: Click on the dialog box and choose Allow or Ask
  3. Microphone: Click on the dialog box and choose Allow or Ask
  4. When finished, click the X in the upper right corner to close the dialog box.

Reload to Update Settings

Image of status banner with text reading: To apply your updated settings to this site, reload this page (with blue reload button)

After updating the settings, click the Reload button to reload the page and apply the changes. You should now be able to access your session and use your microphone and camera.

Enabling Microphone and Camera in Mozilla Firefox
Image of collaborate page indicating that the microphone and camera have been blocked

If you have your webcam and microphone access disabled in Google Chrome, you will see a screen similar to above. See steps below for how to enable the webcam and microphone.

How to Enable the Microphone and Camera in Firefox

image of dialog box asking users to select and allow use of microphones and cameras

A popup similar to the screen above will appear on screen. Select which camera and microphone you wish to use and click Allow and reload the page to access the content.

Image showing web address bar and dialog box with the following items: 1.If the camera and microphone have been blocked, click on the lock icon to the left of the address bar.2.Use the microphone: Click the X icon to unblock the microphone3.Use the camera: Click the X icon to unblock the camera
  1. If the camera and microphone have been blocked, click on the lock icon to the left of the address bar.
  2. Use the microphone: Click the X icon to unblock the microphone
  3. Use the camera: Click the X icon to unblock the camera

Once you do this, reload the page, and the web browser will ask you again if you want to allow these tools.

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