I decided to push forward with a self-created solution, as I did not find any workable solutions after multiple online searches (changing just a single FriendlyName or DeviceDesc value won't work). With persistence, I finally worked out the steps that yielded the desired result. If you decide to do what I did, take great care with your edits. You will own the results. The steps are in the order as written because this is a process of elimination to fix the confusing multi-duplicate camera name Key values in the Registry; just take your time. Someone may come up with a better way, but so far this method is the only one that produced the desired results for me.
WARNING: Before making any Registry changes, export the Registry to a file in an easily-remembered directory that can be used to recover from any bad edits that break something.
NOTES:
1) Always start a new "Find/Find next" search string from the top of the Registry and continue the "Find next" until nothing else can be found for that search string. You might be surprised at how many of each of the strings you'll find.
2) For this procedure to work, you must first uninstall all of the cameras with the same key value (e.g. "c922 Pro Stream Webcam") and hope that the Registry won't hold on to many remnant entries that didn't get removed after rebooting.
3) Lots of editing rounds and reboots, but that's the process that needs to be followed to ensure a clean end result. The reboots ensure the Registry is updated for the next steps; missing a reboot will yield unwanted results.
4) If you have more than two cameras with the same model name, you're in for a longer session. After the first two cameras are resolved, then address the others one-at-a-time, going through the process and seeing the complete desired end result before doing the next camera. It will be worth it.
5) Keep the coffee hot and flowing.
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I have two "c922 Pro Stream Webcams" for my desktop. I did a "Find/Find next" multiple times for that name in the Registry to understand the scope of effort that would be necessary and came across multiple Key entries throughout (two+ cameras worth). You don't need to do this step unless you're curious.
Start with the Device Manager to uninstall all of the impacted cameras:
Using the Device Manager and with cameras plugged into their USB ports, I did a device uninstall of one camera and then unplugged it from its USB port. Rebooted. Repeated for the second camera with the additional step of selecting the checkbox to remove the driver as well before clicking the final Uninstall button. Important: If you have more than two cameras of the same model, continue with uninstalling them but wait until the last one to also remove the driver - then reboot. "Everything must go!"
In the Registry with Regedit, I found lingering entries for the camera name after many of them were removed by rebooting, and modified the values to "Uninstalled c922 Pro Stream Webcam". This included doing the same for entries like "Microphone (c922 Pro Stream Webcam)" and "Microphone (2- c922 Pro Stream Webcam)" <- Note: you must preserve "2- " in this entry until a later step. Be sure to catch them all. Rebooted again.
Then I plugged in the camera intended to be "Camera 1", and rebooted. Checked its status in Device Manager as working correctly. I checked one of my apps that uses the camera to verify the app could use it; as an unmodified installation, the camera was listed as "c922 Pro Stream Webcam" in the app (as expected).
Back in Regedit, I did a "Find/Find next" multiple times for the string "c922 Pro Stream Webcam" and modified each value to the desired name "Camera 1" where a value wasn't preceded by "Uninstalled". Be sure to catch them all. Rebooted, then opened a couple of apps that use the camera to see that the listed name was now "Camera 1". Encouraging! Back in Device Manager, it was still showing as "c922 Pro Stream Webcam", even in the listing of values in the "Details" tab. Not an immediate concern as long as my apps displayed "Camera 1".
I plugged in the second camera and rebooted. Tested the camera though one of my apps. I was able to select between "Camera 1" and "c922 Pro Stream Webcam" as expected. Then followed the same steps in Regedit to find and modify the brand new value instances of "c922 Pro Stream Webcam", modifying them to "Camera 2" (again ignoring any values preceded by "Uninstalled"). Be sure to catch them all. Rebooted, then opened a couple of apps that use the cameras and was greeted with the selections of "Camera 1" and "Camera 2", and each camera's correct video output. Happy Camper, Snoopy dance! Back in Device Manager, it still shows "c922 Pro Stream Webcam" for both cameras. It seems that the names and values are glued into Device Manager once initially set. Again, not a concern at this point.
Because the cameras have a built-in microphone, you will likely need to do additional Registry edits once you know the cameras are working as "Camera 1" and "Camera 2". To find out, open the "Sound" settings panel (right click on the speaker icon in the taskbar and select "Sounds"). On the "Recording" tab, you should find a device entry for each camera's microphone. Verify by tapping on your Camera 1 that the sound bar shows activity. For me, it was the device that that showed "Microphone/Uninstalled c922 Pro Stream Webcam". Tapping on my Camera 2 showed as the "Microphone/2- Uninstalled c922 Pro Stream Webcam" device. Take this opportunity to click on the Properties for each of these Microphone devices in the "Sound" panel and update each device name "Microphone" to "Camera 1 Microphone" and "Camera 2 Microphone" as appropriate; this is going to be a great help in completing the following steps, as these updated device names will appear in the Registry. Reboot.
Back in Regedit, do a "Find/Find next" multiple times for "Camera 1 Microphone (Uninstalled c922 Pro Stream Webcam)" and modify to "Camera 1 Microphone(Camera1)"; there will be more than one. Be sure to catch them all. Next, do a "Find/Find next" multiple times for "Camera 2 Microphone (2- Uninstalled c922 Pro Stream Webcam) and modify to "Camera 2 Microphone (Camera 2)". Be sure to catch them all. Do another "Find/Find next" multiple times for just "2- Uninstalled" and modify those values to "Camera 2", ignoring the values that say just "Microphone(2- Uninstalled C922 Pro Stream Webcam)". Be sure to catch them all. Reboot, then check the "Sound" panel again to see if the updates produced the desired result; unlike the Device Manager, the Sound panel shows the latest details from the Registry. If both Microphone devices show the "Camera 1" and "Camera 2" sub-values respectively, you're done! If not, there are another couple of editing rounds in the Registry and rebooting to go (as was the case for me).
If you need to continue:
Back in Regedit, do a "Find/Find next" multiple times for "Uninstalled c922". You may find several... Modify each of these to a unique name as you find each one (i.e., modify first instance to "Uninstalled Cam A", second instance to "Uninstalled Cam B", third instance to "Uninstalled Cam C", etc.). If you locate a value like "Camera 1 Microphone(Uninstalled c922...", modify it to "Camera 1 Microphone(Camera 1)". Similarly for those like "Camera 2 Microphone(2- Uninstalled c922...", modify them to "Camera 2 Microphone(Camera 2)". Be sure to catch them all. Reboot, then check the "Sound" panel to see the results.
You may find that "Camera 1 Microphone" shows "Uninstalled Cam D" for example, and "Camera 2 Microphone shows "Uninstalled Cam E" for another example. Back in Regedit, do a "Find/Find next" multiple times for these specific "Uninstalled Cam D" or "Uninstalled Cam E" values (whatever they ended up being) and modify these values to "Camera 1" and "Camera 2" as appropriate. There will be multiple locations in the Registry for each one of these (a result of the previous reboot); be sure to catch them all. When done modifying theses specific values, Reboot, then check the "Sound" panel again. You should see that each one now has the correct descriptor values (e.g., "Camera 1 Microphone/Camera 1", "Camera 2 Microphone/Camera 2"). If so, now you're done!
Leave any remaining values of "Uninstalled Cam A", "B", etc. as-is in the Registry, as they are most likely not impacting anything you need to utilize and may be true (and benign) remnants of the previous camera uninstalls. If you have additional cameras in this group to address, these remnants may be theirs and will be modified appropriately when you get back to the steps dealing with their microphones.
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I also have a laptop that has two of these cameras connected to it, and I'll be going through this process with that setup next! I'll be eating my own dog food (again)...
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UPDATE: I completed the updates to the laptop's Registry per this process today (a couple of days after doing the desktop, and was met with success again.
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