How to Install a WebCam Instant in Windows 7

April 16, 2010 amida168 Windows 24

I have a Creative Lab WebCam Instant that I bought several years ago. I didn’t try it in Windows 7 until last week. When it was connected to a Windows 7 laptop, the installation failed because there was no driver available. I had some good experience with using Vista driver in Windows 7, so I searched for a Vista driver for the WebCam Instant. The only driver I could find was for XP; there was no Vista driver.

My final resort was to install the XP driver, and it worked. Here is what I did.

  1. Download the driver from this site. Both 32bit and 64bit are offered. I have only tested the 32bit driver. The name of the downloaded 32bit driver is WCIS_PCDrv_US_1_01_02_0729.EXE.
  2. Right click on the driver file and select Properties.
  3. Click on the Compatibility tab, and check Run this program in compatibility mode for: . Make sure Windows XP (Service Pack 2) is selected. Click on OK to close the dialog.
  4. Right click on the driver file and select Run as administrator.
  5. Follow the instructions to finish the installation.

I had a problem during installation, and the installation seemed hang toward the end. The WebCam Instant worked after I rebooted the machine. This was the first time I used a XP driver in Windows 7. Let us know your experience with installing a XP driver in Windows 7.

  • robert

    God damn genious 🙂 hehehe

  • The 64-bit driver works great on Windows 7 Home Premium. Thanks for the tip!

    • Lostboy

      How did you get it working on w7 home premium? I’ve tried everything but nothing works…

  • kschen

    Works great!
    Thanks.

  • Noob

    Didn’t work for me. 🙁 Which version of 7 do you use?

    • amida168

      I use Enterprise version.

      • Noob

        Could it be that I use Professional then? :-/

  • Gus

    The only way I could get it to work on Windows 7 64bit was to extract the files from the x64 driver. To extract the files from the .exe I used a Wise Unpacker program that I freely downloaded. Just Google Wise Unpacker and you’ll find one. Some are command line only tools and some have GUI interface. Then after extraction you can just go to Device Manger and add the driver through there.

    • Matt

      Thanks, Gus! I followed your suggestion and it worked like a charm on Win 7 64 bit! I used Universal Extractor for the Wise Unpacker.

  • Dejos

    Awesome, this saved me a headache. Thanks

  • I got mine creative webcam instant work in windows 7 64bit.

    I downloaded latest creative webcam driver for 64bit xp, It won’t let me install, but I extracted it using Universal Extractor, http://legroom.net/software/uniextract and in device management, manually search for driver for camera, from extracted folder, and it worked!

  • Paul

    Thanks so much for this tip. My girlfriend is in the hospital two hours away and this was the only webcam we could find for her… these steps got it working instantly on Win7 x86. Now she can skype with all of her friends and family and myself as well! She’s very happy about it 🙂

  • all day yesterday, then found this 10 min ago. about two min to set up including download, popped on my Y messenger to test, worked !
    THANKS !

  • RickR

    Great, thanks. worked right away – all of a sudden skype popped up with a camera working.

  • Nice one , you don’t need to ure the universal extractor , if you open the .exe in compatibilty mode :)!

  • avaz

    thanks it works,it’s very easy and useful
    thank u

  • ivanii

    thank you!!

  • Christian

    Thanks! I forgot my new cam at a friends, and my girlfriend wants to Skype tonight. you saved me from having to tell her no :3.

  • Stephan

    I just installed the win2k driver directly on win7 business. It works fine with no extra problems.

  • hairambg

    tnks a lot friend

  • hairambg

    a lot of thanks really you are the best…

  • Ivan

    I can not get the properties screen to show the compatibility tab ??

  • Henkka

    Thanks alot! It worked :—)

  • merkuri

    Worked right away thanks!

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