How can I make Chrome allow access to a webcam over http (not https)?

Question

I am building a kiosk application using webrtc video. It is only served on the internal network and I would like to be able to always allow the webcam for my site over http. Using ssl isn't that important and is just an extra expense for a cert.

Is there any way to do this or am I stuck?

Solution 1

Yes, an admin can override the prompts with a policy.

VideoCaptureAllowedUrls

Patterns in this list will be matched against the security origin of the requesting URL. If a match is found, access to audio capture devices will be granted without prompt. NOTE: This policy is currently only supported when running in Kiosk mode.

On Windows, you create registry entries using regedit.

Software\Policies\Chromium\VideoCaptureAllowedUrls\1 = "http://www.example.com/"
Software\Policies\Chromium\VideoCaptureAllowedUrls\2 = "http://[*.]example.edu/"

On Linux you write the policies in a file:

mkdir -p /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed
touch /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed/test_policy.json

In test_policy.json:

{
  "VideoCaptureAllowedUrls": ["http://www.example.com/", "http://[*.]example.edu/"]
}

Solution 2

Use command-line flag

use --use-fake-ui-for-media-stream command-line flag

example (OS X) : /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome http://html5-demos.appspot.com/static/getusermedia/record-user-webm.html --use-fake-ui-for-media-stream

More info here http://creativcoders.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/chrome-always-allow-access-to-webcam-and-microphone-over-http-webrtc/

Solution 3

More detailed solution.

In command line, target your browser and add after your instruction the --use-fake-ui-for-media-stream flag, like this:

//On windows

#Normal mode
start chrome "http://localhost" --use-fake-ui-for-media-stream

#Kiosk mode (full screen)
start chrome --kiosk "http://localhost" --use-fake-ui-for-media-stream

For Linux and Mac command line instructions, see this: https://creativcoders.wordpress.com/2014/08/18/chrome-always-allow-access-to-webcam-and-microphone-over-http-webrtc/

Comments

[Dave_750]

Thanks again, I am back on the project and feel stupid asking this, but don't do registry much. I tried setting it a few different ways in regedit and can't make it work. I'm sure I just did it wrong, but its not really documented well either. I am using the latest google chrome in kiosk mode. What would the actual keys and structure look like in there and what type of key should I be using?

[Vilsepi]

I am unable to try this right now, but I believe that you are supposed to create a key structure Software\Policies\Chromium\VideoCaptureAllowedUrls and inside that "folder", you create a new string value with the name "1" and value "domain.to.allow.com".

[Johan B]

Is this in HKEY_CURRENT_USER? Tried both there and in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

[Gonzalingui]

I think Chrome doesn't allow you to remember that setting in localhost and over http (not https).

[Footniko]

I'm on linux with chromium 41 and it doesn't work for me.

[LucaM]

Doesn't work in (at least) Chromium 72; "unsupported command-line flag" :-(