Unable to launch ZED Depth Viewer tools: [ZED][ERROR] [ZED] The camera could not be initialized. Please verify your camera connection and configuration

TZECHIN6 · July 12, 2026, 8:39am

Description

Unable to successfully start the ZED tool - depth viewer. ZED Diagnoistic and Explorer can be launch without issue. All tests are passed.

System:

Ubuntu 24 Desktop
Docker

Procedures

docker pull stereolabs/zed:5.4-gl-devel-cuda12.8-ubuntu24.04
docker run -it --rm
–runtime nvidia
–gpus all
–privileged
-e DISPLAY
-v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix
-v /dev:/dev
-v /usr/local/zed/resources:/usr/local/zed/resources
$IMAGE
run ./tools/ZED_Depth_Viewer

Console Log

root@bbb72dcf7e61:/usr/local/zed# ./tools/ZED_Depth_Viewer
QStandardPaths: XDG_RUNTIME_DIR not set, defaulting to '/tmp/runtime-root'
[2026-07-12 08:27:44 UTC][ZED][INFO] Logging level INFO
[2026-07-12 08:27:47 UTC][ZED][INFO] Using USB input... Switched to default resolution HD720
[2026-07-12 08:27:48 UTC][ZED][ERROR] [ZED] The camera could not be initialized. Please verify your camera connection and configuration.
[2026-07-12 08:27:48 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Failed to open camera. Trying to re-open for 3 seconds.
[2026-07-12 08:27:48 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Random wait interval before consecutive openings: [250], [1500] msec.
[2026-07-12 08:27:50 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Waiting 293 msec before next opening attempt.
[2026-07-12 08:27:50 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Trying to force a device reboot to recover the video module.
[2026-07-12 08:27:52 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Camera opening timeout reached.
[2026-07-12 08:27:52 UTC][ZED][ERROR] CAMERA FAILED TO SETUP in sl::ERROR_CODE sl::Camera::open(sl::InitParameters)
[2026-07-12 08:27:53 UTC][ZED][INFO] Logging level INFO
[2026-07-12 08:27:57 UTC][ZED][INFO] Using USB input... Switched to default resolution HD720
[2026-07-12 08:27:58 UTC][ZED][ERROR] [ZED] The camera could not be initialized. Please verify your camera connection and configuration.
[2026-07-12 08:27:58 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Failed to open camera. Trying to re-open for 3 seconds.
[2026-07-12 08:27:58 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Random wait interval before consecutive openings: [250], [1500] msec.
[2026-07-12 08:27:59 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Waiting 883 msec before next opening attempt.
[2026-07-12 08:28:00 UTC][ZED][INFO] [Init]  Trying to force a device reboot to recover the video module.
^C
root@bbb72dcf7e61:/usr/local/zed# lsusb -d 2b03: -v | grep bcdUSB
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bcdUSB               3.00
root@bbb72dcf7e61:/usr/local/zed# lsusb -t
/:  Bus 001.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/10p, 480M
    |__ Port 001: Dev 012, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=[none], 12M
    |__ Port 006: Dev 002, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=[none], 12M
    |__ Port 006: Dev 002, If 2, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
    |__ Port 007: Dev 003, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
        |__ Port 003: Dev 005, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
    |__ Port 009: Dev 004, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 009: Dev 004, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 009: Dev 004, If 2, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
    |__ Port 009: Dev 004, If 3, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 480M
/:  Bus 002.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 10000M
    |__ Port 001: Dev 003, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 5000M
    |__ Port 001: Dev 003, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 5000M
/:  Bus 003.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 480M
    |__ Port 001: Dev 002, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
    |__ Port 001: Dev 002, If 1, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
    |__ Port 001: Dev 002, If 2, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
    |__ Port 003: Dev 003, If 0, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
    |__ Port 003: Dev 003, If 1, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M
/:  Bus 004.Port 001: Dev 001, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/4p, 10000M
root@bbb72dcf7e61:/usr/local/zed#

mattrouss · July 14, 2026, 12:10am

Hi @TZECHIN6,

Have you followed the steps described in our docs: How to Install ZED SDK with Docker on Linux | StereoLabs

Specifically:

xhost +si:localuser:root

TZECHIN6 · July 14, 2026, 12:45am

Hi,

Yes. I have followed every step shown in the document. Also tried on two different pc, but nothing changed. The Dpeth viewer tool just cannot view live stream.

Best
Thomas

Myzhar · July 14, 2026, 7:49pm

Hi Thomas,

ZED Diagnostic and Explorer can be launch without issue. All tests are passed.

Can you confirm whether ZED Diagnostic and ZED Explorer were executed inside the same Docker container or on the host? Please also confirm that ZED Explorer actually displays the live video stream, not only that it starts. ZED Explorer accesses the camera directly via UVC, while the Depth Viewer opens it through the ZED SDK, so they can behave differently.

From your lsusb -t output the camera is correctly enumerated at 5 Gbps with the uvcvideo driver bound, so the USB connection itself looks good. The failure happens when the SDK opens the camera, and there are two common causes in a Docker setup:

Missing calibration settings volume. You are mounting resources but not settings. Please add -v /usr/local/zed/settings:/usr/local/zed/settings to your docker run command, as described in our Docker documentation: How to Install ZED SDK with Docker on Linux | StereoLabs
At the first open() the SDK needs the factory calibration file; if it is not available and the container cannot download it, the initialization fails.
Camera left in a bad state or held by another process. The log shows that the forced video module reboot did not recover the device. Please fully unplug and replug the camera, make sure no other application (including a previous tool instance or the desktop media stack) is holding it, and check on the host with sudo fuser /dev/video*.

Finally, could you install the ZED SDK natively on the host and run the Depth Viewer there? This will help us isolate whether the issue is related to the Docker environment or to the camera itself. You can download the SDK here: ZED SDK 5.4 - Download | Stereolabs