ArducamUVCSerialNumber "Unknown device!" changing B0205 serial on Windows for OctoPi

USB UVC Webcams
1

Hi, I’m trying to run ArducamUVCSerialNumber on my Windows PC to change the serial number on my camera so I can use more than one camera on my OctoPi server. The tool just throws “Unknown device!” at me and won’t do anything.

The weird part is it worked before. I had it running fine, and then at some point it just stopped working. Not sure what changed. Has anyone else hit this?

2

Hi, Dion here from the Arducam support team. Sorry you’re running into this.

So I can dig in properly, could you share a bit more about your setup?

  • Which camera model are you using?
  • What’s the OS on the Windows machine (Win 10 / 11, 32 or 64 bit)?
  • How is the camera connected to the Windows PC when you run the tool (directly to a USB port, through a hub, etc.)?
  • And could you record a short video/screen capture of the problem? A screen recording showing exactly what happens when you launch ArducamUVCSerialNumber and hit the “Unknown device!” error would help a lot — it lets me see the device state at the moment it fails.
3

Sure. Here’s what I’ve got:

  • Product series: UVC Camera (Webcams)
  • Model number: B0205
  • Main platform is a Pi 3b+ running OctoPi
  • The Windows PC is just what I use to run ArducamUVCSerialNumber

No custom code on my end, I’m just using your tool. The error is literally just “Unknown device!” when it tries to read/assign the serial. That’s all it says, no other info.

4

Things I already tried:

  • Removed the device in Device Manager
  • Unplugged the camera and plugged it back in (a few times, different ports too)

Still the same “Unknown device!” message.

Honestly I’d love it if there was an updated version of the software or some other way to assign serial numbers to these cameras. My goal is to get a bunch of cameras running across all my printers, and this serial thing is the blocker.

5

Attaching a couple of screenshots of what I’m seeing.

image.png
image001.png

6

Thanks, that helps. Before I jump to conclusions, I really want to see the failure happen.

Can you take a video of the problem you’re running into? Record the screen so we can watch the sequence — opening the tool, what the device looks like in Device Manager right before you run it, and then the “Unknown device!” error popping up. It’d be even better if you could keep the camera plugged in and show the USB device entry in Device Manager while you run the tool.

That should give me enough to try to reproduce the exact same state on my side.

7

Here’s the screen recording. You can see me open the tool, the camera is plugged straight into the PC, and as soon as it tries to read the device it spits out “Unknown device!”.

Device Manager shows it under cameras/imaging, no yellow warning triangle or anything. It just seems like the tool itself doesn’t recognize it anymore, even though Windows sees something there.

8

Ok, thanks for the recording. A few things I want to rule out since Windows is enumerating it but the tool can’t match it:

  1. In Device Manager, right-click the camera > Properties > Details > Hardware Ids. Can you paste what VID/PID it shows?
  2. Does the camera still work normally as a webcam in something like the Windows Camera app? I want to know if it’s only the serial tool that’s broken or the device itself.
  3. When you originally changed the serial successfully, was it the same Windows machine and the same version of ArducamUVCSerialNumber?

If the VID/PID isn’t what the tool expects, that alone would explain the “Unknown device!” message.

9

Hardware IDs from Device Manager:

USB\VID_0C45&PID_6366&REV_0100

And yes, the camera still works as a normal webcam — the Windows Camera app shows the feed fine. So the device isn’t dead, it’s just the serial tool that refuses to recognize it.

It was the same Windows PC, and I believe the same version of the tool. That’s what’s throwing me off, it worked before and nothing obvious changed.

10

Good, that VID/PID (0C45:6366) is useful — thanks. Since the camera streams fine but the serial tool can’t match it, this is likely a tool/driver-side recognition issue rather than the hardware itself.

Let’s try a couple of things:

  • Make sure no other app is holding the camera open when you launch ArducamUVCSerialNumber (close the Camera app, OBS, browser tabs using the webcam, etc.). The tool can’t get the handle if the device is already in use.
  • Try running ArducamUVCSerialNumber as Administrator.
  • Try a rear USB port directly on the motherboard, no hub, no extension cable.

If it still says “Unknown device!” after that, I’ll need to check something on our side. I can send you a diagnostic build of the tool through private message — please check your messages and run that one so we can see what it reports back for your device.

11

Ran it as Admin, closed everything else, tried a rear port directly. Same thing — “Unknown device!”.

Got the file you sent in private message, ran it, but it also doesn’t recognize the camera. It just fails to find the device, same as before. Nothing new printed out.

12

Thanks for testing all of that. Where we stand right now:

  • The camera itself is fine — it enumerates in Windows and streams normally, VID/PID 0C45:6366.
  • The failure is specific to ArducamUVCSerialNumber and the diagnostic build: both report the device as unknown/unrecognized, so it’s not a hardware failure.
  • We haven’t pinned down the root cause yet. It could be a mismatch between what the tool expects and how this B0205 is currently enumerating, or a driver/enumeration state issue on the Windows side.

I don’t have a working fix or workaround to give you yet, so I don’t want to guess. What would really help is a screen recording of the diagnostic build failing too, plus the Hardware Ids from that same session. With that I can compare against what the tool is expecting and narrow it down. If you can grab that, I’ll take it from there.