Pi Camera Webcam Thing Something Something Fix

Recent Raspberry Pi OS releases rely on systemd to manage startup services.

The old method—adding commands to /etc/rc.local—is no longer fully supported, so we are going to create a dedicated systemd service instead.

Create the Gadget Script

nano ~/rpi-uvc-gadget.sh

Paste the long “UVC gadget” script from the original tutorial or blog post in it and then save the file, Then, make it executable and move it:

sudo chmod +x ~/rpi-uvc-gadget.sh
sudo mv ~/rpi-uvc-gadget.sh /usr/local/bin/rpi-uvc-gadget.sh

Create a Systemd Service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/uvc-gadget.service

Paste this inside:

Description=UVC Gadget Setup Service
After=sys-kernel-config.mount
Requires=sys-kernel-config.mount

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/rpi-uvc-gadget.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Enable & start:sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable uvc-gadget.service
sudo systemctl start uvc-gadget.service

(Check if it works using systemctl status uvc-gadget.service.)

Reboot aaand test

sudo reboot

1. Plug the Pi (via its data USB port) into your computer.
2. Open a camera app and select “UVC Gadget” or whatever you named your webcam as in the script following the steps in the official guide as your webcam.

That’s it! You have a webcam now. Hopefully. I am not responsible from any fires anyway.

From great power come great Omegle responsibilities.

Have fun!