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Permanently disable isight on mavericks

U

User5289

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hello-

I need to permanently disable my isight camera for my job. I have tried may of the methods online for older operating systems, but unfortunately, none have worked. If anyone could tell me how to do this, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
OS X does not have anything like the registry in Windows so I dont see how that would be possible. I suggest you follow the advice of the poster above and use some tape/ blu tack to cover your iSight camera.
 
not sure (you may want to google this? or even ask APPLE for help?).
but possibly: removing the "Apple_iSight.kext" file from the System?? there's an isight audio driver as well in the Audio library).

don't try this JUST based on my suggestion (or at least, copy that file to the desktop FIRST before removing it). reboot, see if it works (or in this case, no LONGER works...)

it's in System>Library>Extensions...
 
I have already removed the .kext file in the extensions folder mentioned above and the QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component file that is mentioned in numerous forums. I also removed the VDC.plugin file which was also suggested.

None of these worked. Any other ideas?

PS: I (stupidly) deleted the files listed above before I realized that deleting them would not affect the camera. Any idea if the absence of these files is going to give me problems down the road?
 
The correct driver is AppleCameraInterface, at least on my MBA 2013.

When I unload it with the following command:

$ sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleCameraInterface

then if I start for example Photo Booth, it'll complain about the absence of a camera.

It's /System/Library/Extensions/AppleCameraInterface.kext
Just create a subfolder there called "disabled" or something and then move it in there. Note that after a Mavericks update, it might be put back.

What's kinda weird is that when I unload the kernel extension, the green led (next to the cam) lights up.
 
Unfortunately, cerberusss method above did not work.
Cerberusss are you running Mavericks?
 
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23346/isight-disabler

However, the chmod used in Mavericks is the following, as indicated by another user elsewhere:

http://techslaves.org/isight-disabler/

"For my MBP (Oct 2013 model) running Mavericks, the QuickTime components are not used. I was able to disable the camera by applying the same chmod to:
/Library/CoreMediaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL/AppleCamera.plugin/Contents/MacOS/AppleCamera
This is apparently the new API used in Mavericks."
 
Unless I am mistaken, I believe iSight disabler is just a toggle which will not work for me. Furthermore, from the research I did last night, I do not believe they have released a version for Mavericks yet. Please correct me if I am wrong.
 
User5289 said:
Unfortunately, cerberusss method above did not work.
Cerberusss are you running Mavericks?
Click to expand...

Yes, running on a MacBook Air 2013. The iSight on this model is somewhat different though, because some apps took somewhat longer to update for this particular model. So it could be that this driver is also a different one.

What hardware do you run?
 
User5289 said:
Unless I am mistaken, I believe iSight disabler is just a toggle which will not work for me. Furthermore, from the research I did last night, I do not believe they have released a version for Mavericks yet. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...

As explained above, you can just edit the script to include the updated reference above; it should work then.
 
BRLawyer (or anyone),

Would you please explain exactly how to do this? I am somewhat computer savvy but have never worked with scripts before.
 
User5289 said:
BRLawyer (or anyone),

Would you please explain exactly how to do this? I am somewhat computer savvy but have never worked with scripts before.
Click to expand...

You have to open the script in AppleScript Editor and change it to include only the updated reference above. I don't feel like testing it on my iSight, but it should be something like the following (other script users may confirm if this makes sense):

Instead of:

Code: 
-- Intel Mac iSight Disabler
-- Tested on OS X 10.7.0
-- Tested on 2011 13" MBP
-- Version 4.0 Lion Support
--
-- Credit to fdoc for Snow Leopard fix in v3.5
--
-- [email]rt@techslaves.org[/email]

display dialog "Intel Mac iSight Disabler
brought to you by techslaves.org.

Version 4.0
Support for Lion

Any applications currently using the iSight will continue to have access until they are quit or restarted." buttons {"Enable iSight", "Disable iSight"} with icon stop

set userChoice to button returned of result

set allDrivers to ""

tell application "Finder"
	set driver to "/System/Library/QuickTime/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer.component/Contents/MacOS/QuickTimeUSBVDCDigitizer"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " "
	end if
	set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServicesPrivate.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " "
	end if
	set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " "
	end if
	set driver to "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/VDC"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver
	end if
end tell

if userChoice = "Enable iSight" then
	do shell script "/bin/chmod a+r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges
else if userChoice = "Disable iSight" then
	do shell script "/bin/chmod a-r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges
end if

It should be something like this:

Code: 
-- Intel Mac iSight Disabler
-- Tested on OS X 10.7.0
-- Tested on 2011 13" MBP
-- Version 4.0 Lion Support
--
-- Credit to fdoc for Snow Leopard fix in v3.5
--
-- [email]rt@techslaves.org[/email]

display dialog "Intel Mac iSight Disabler
brought to you by techslaves.org.

Version 4.0
Support for Lion

Any applications currently using the iSight will continue to have access until they are quit or restarted." buttons {"Enable iSight", "Disable iSight"} with icon stop

set userChoice to button returned of result

set allDrivers to ""

tell application "Finder"
	set driver to "~/Library/CoreMediaIO/Plug-Ins/DAL/AppleCamera.plugin/Contents/MacOS/AppleCamera"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " "
	end if
	set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServicesPrivate.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AVC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/AVC"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " "
	end if
	set driver to "/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreMediaIOServices.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AVC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/AVC"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver & " "
	end if
	set driver to "/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/AVC.plugin/Contents/MacOS/AVC"
	if exists driver as POSIX file then
		set allDrivers to allDrivers & driver
	end if
end tell

if userChoice = "Enable iSight" then
	do shell script "/bin/chmod a+r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges
else if userChoice = "Disable iSight" then
	do shell script "/bin/chmod a-r " & allDrivers with administrator privileges
end if

Of course, tinker with the above at your sole risk - I am not a script writer so can't confirm if the above is entirely correct.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
call apple, or go to a genius bar...? this can't be the first time a job has required the disabling of the camera....
 
User5289 said:
Unfortunately, that did not work.
Click to expand...

As I said, I am not a script expert either - what needs to be done is to edit the script in order to include only the updated reference to the new location of the driver...I am sure someone else can help in this thread.
 
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