Symptoms
You may experience a detection issue with the onboard webcam on your XPS 13 Plus 9320 laptop.
This is only seen when running the Ubuntu 22.04 Linux operating system.
Cause
We have identified that this typically happens when you or your IT department installed the laptop with Ubuntu 22.04. The installation is not carried out using the Dell Ubuntu Recovery Image.
Ubuntu stock install images from non-Dell sources do not contain all the Dell-required packages. These packages allow the webcam to function and be detected.
Resolution
Ubuntu tracks and provides instructions for fixing issues from installing the Generic image on the Ubuntu Wiki site https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Dell
The following instructions take you through restoring the camera's full functionality.
Note: You require Administrator privileges to update or change the operating system. The sudo command requires you to run the following commands with administrator rights.
If stock Ubuntu 22.04 was installed, the Intel kernel driver is out-of-tree. You must install the stack manually:
Open a terminal window:
The easiest way to open a terminal window is to use the keyboard shortcut: CTRL + ALT + T
You can also open a terminal window from the search bar on the user interfaces (UI) desktop. Type Terminal into the bar and click the results that appear.
Type each of the following terminal commands into the terminal window and press Enter:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oem-solutions-engineers/oem-projects-meta
$ sudo apt install oem-somerville-tentacool-meta
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt full-upgrade
$ sudo systemctl poweroff
You must reinstall the Dell Ubuntu Operating System Image using the instructions in the following link if step.1 does not work:
Dell Knowledge Base Article: Reinstall Windows or Linux using the Dell OS Recovery Image
Note: You may see a secondary issue in Ubuntu 22.04 when opening the Cheese application. An error stating 'There was an error playing video from the webcam' appears. The same issue is not seen when opening Cheese using the following terminal command $ sudo cheese -d "Intel MIPI Camera"
For general information about webcams and Ubuntu, and general troubleshooting steps for the XPS 13 Plus 9320, see these Dell Knowledge Base articles:
Dell XPS 13 Plus 9320 Usage and Troubleshooting GuideA Guide to Webcams on Dell Laptops and Desktops with Ubuntu Operating Systems
