LockDown Browser on Mac: Webcam not Detected or Freeze Occurs

Owned by Steven Garrett
Last updated: Feb 03, 2022 by Sarah Nguyen (Deactivated)
1 min read

Students taking an online exam in HuskyCT using LockDown Browser with the webcam requirement on a Mac may receive warnings about their webcam not being detected when performing the pre-exam webcam check.

If your webcam is not detected at some point during the pre-exam webcam check and you see the below message, it is likely caused by third-party anti-virus software that is installed on your computer. If you are not seeing the below message but are experiencing a freeze/hang on one of the steps, this may also be caused by anti-virus software.

We're unable to detect a webcam message

The most problematic of these are Avast, AVG, and McAfee. The below suggestions are methods you can use to work around the problem. If you choose to implement either of the below workarounds, be sure to re-enable your McAfee Anti-Virus Real-Time Scanning, AVG Realtime Protection, or Avast File System Shield once the exam is finished. 

McAfee

If you have McAfee installed, disable Real-Time Scan in McAfee Total Protection.

  1. Navigate to McAfee Total Protection Preferences > General > Real-Time Scan.

  2. Set it to OFF.

AVG for Mac

Temporarily disable Realtime Protection via the user interface.

Avast

Disable the “File System Shield” in Avast Preferences.

  1. Navigate to Avast > Preferences > File System Shield.

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