Microsoft Teams not working? How to fix audio, video, camera and login issues in Microsoft Teams on Windows.

Every day, millions of people use online collaboration tools, and specifically Microsoft Teams to communicate with friends, family and colleagues. In today’s comprehensive guide we will look into basic troubleshooting of some of the most common issues you might encounter when using Microsoft Teams.

We’ll look and provide basic guidance on how to troubleshoot the most common Microsoft Teams problems in several areas:

  1. Screen Sharing issues
  2. Camera issues
  3. Audio : Speaker / Headphones issues
  4. Audio : Mic / Head set problems
  5. Connectivity issues
  6. Login issues
  7. Installation problems

Fixing Microsoft Teams screen sharing issues

Can’t share screen in Microsoft Teams

When trying to share your screen in a Teams meeting and no-one is able to view your screen content.

Step 1: Restart Microsoft Teams

As trivial as it might sound, you might want to re-start Microsoft Teams.

  • In your Taskbar Navigate to your Windows System Tray.
  • Right click the Microsoft Teams icon and hit Quit.
  • We’ll now re-start Teams. Go ahead and hit the Start button
  • Now, type Teams and hit Enter.
  • Connect to your meeting and try sharing again.

Step 2: Clean the Teams Cache

  • First off, quit Microsoft Teams (Right click the Teams icon and then select Quit).
  • Next, delete the Teams Cache folder located at: %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams.
  • Re-Start Teams and try to share.
  • Restart your computer and try again. If no improvement continue to Step 3.

Step 3: Update Microsoft Teams software version

  • If the steps above didn’t help, we’ll try to update Teams software version.
  • Firstly, we need to make sure we have the latest version of Microsoft Teams is installed.
  • Click the profile picture icon on top of your teams and select Check for updates.
  • Follow the instructions on updating to the latest version.

Step 4: For Enterprise Users only – Update Users policies in Teams

There is a very slight chance that your organization content sharing settings doesn’t allow to screen share.

The procedure below can be executed only by designated Information Technology Microsoft Teams administrators:

  • Click on Microsoft Teams Admin center and enter your credentials.
  • In the Navigation panel, click on Meeting Policies under Meetings.
  • Click on New policy and then scroll to Content Sharing.
  • Click the drop-down list of Screen sharing mode and select Entire screen.
  • This change would have done the trick. Now, users will be able to share their screens during meetings.

Can’t share on Android devices

The Android operating system requires to grant permission to installed apps so they can execute specif tasks such as screen sharing. If for some reason, you are unable to share content on Android based Microsoft Teams, you might want to try the following:

  • Click Settings on your phone and click on Apps & notifications.
  • Scroll and click on Teams to view the information on the application.
  • Click on Advanced and select Display over other apps.
  • Turn on to Allow the Teams application to display over other applications.

Meeting participant is unable to see shared screen

A far more prevalent case seems to be (at least based on our readers questions) that you join a Teams meeting and are not able to see the content (either a file, annotation, video or presentation) that is being shared by the meeting host or a designated presenter.

If that’s the case, go ahead and read our tutorial on how can Team meeting participants troubleshoot screen sharing hiccups.

Unable to join Teams meetings from Mozilla or Safari

As of today, Microsoft Teams is not supported on Safari, Firefox and even Internet Explorer. If you’ll try to join a Teams meetings from the aforementioned browsers, you’ll be either offered to download a Microsoft Teams client or you can join the meeting via a supported browser such as Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

Note: in case that you don’t have admin rights on your computer, you’ll be able to join via browser only.

Fixing Camera issues in Teams

Problem: Other participants are not able to view your camera output in a Teams video call or a meeting.

Step 1: Ensure that your camera lens is not blocked

As trivial as it might sound, check whether your camera lens is not

Step 2: Ensure that the camera is connected to your computer

First of all, let us ensure that you camera is attached to your Windows computer and recognized by your operating system and Microsoft Teams.

You can easily see you available cameras in the Teams Device Settings panel. This dialog is accessible right on from your meeting by hitting the ellipsis (…) icon and selecting Device Settings.

As you can see below, it’s easy to visualize the Speakers, Microphones and Cameras that are integrated or attached to your system.

If your video camera is not available in the list of available devices, then turn off Teams, then ensure that your camera is indeed connected. Then re-start Teams and join your meeting.

Step 3: Verify that your camera works with 3rd party applications

If your camera is identified by Teams, you might want to check whether the camera is functioning and can be used by other app.

  • Hit the Start button, then type camera followed by Enter.
  • The Camera application should open up and broadcast video from your attached camera.
  • If that’s the case, go ahead and restart your computer.
  • Then connect to your Teams meeting and try to use your camera.
  • If your video camera is not identified by your Camera app, you might need to consider updating your camera drivers.

Step 4: Update your camera driver

  • Click on Start, search for Control Panel.
  • Select Hardware and Sound.
  • Under Device and Printers, select Device Manager.
  • Expand the Cameras option and Right-click on your driver.
  • Select Update Driver.
  • In the new window for Update Drivers, Search automatically for drivers. This will update the necessary driver for the camera. 
  • Reboot the machine and try opening Teams camera.

Microsoft Teams audio issues

Problem: You are not able to hear other participants in a Teams meeting, video or Audio call. This happens either when using external speakers or headphones /headsets.

Step 1: Ensure that your speakers are connected

In the right hand side of your taskbar, hit the speakers icon and ensure that your speakers are connected to your Windows computer.

Step 2: Check your Microsoft Teams audio settings

  • Hit your profile icon on top of the Teams and hit Settings.
  • In the new settings window, click on Devices.
  • Choose the correct speaker under the Speaker drop-down box.

If you are already in a meeting or call, you are able to access your Device Settings, by hitting the ellipsis (…) and picking Device Settings from the menu.

You can then adjust the Audio devices and Speaker settings as needed.

Once you select your preferred speaker or headphones, most chances that your problem will be fixed. If that’s not the case move on to step 3.

Step 3: Run the Windows 10 audio troubleshooter

Windows 10 ships a very powerful troubleshooter that can fix most of the common audio related software and hardware problems you might encounter.

  • Click on Start and select Settings.
  • Click on Update & Security and select Troubleshoot in the left pane.
  • Select Additional troubleshooters.
  • In the new Additional Troubleshooters window, click on Playing Audio and hit Run the Troubleshooter.
  • Follow the on-screen instructions to fix the Audio issues.

Microsoft Teams Microphone issues

Problem: People can’t hear you when you talk in a Microsoft Teams meeting, video or audio call.

Step 1: Check the Audio settings in Teams

The first thing we’ll do is to make sure that your microphone is recognized by Teams and selected for usage in your meeting or call.

  • Click on your profile icon on top of the Teams and select Settings.
  • In the new settings window, click on Devices.
  • Choose the correct microphone under the Microphone drop-down box.

Note that if you are troubleshooting your microphone while on a call you can access the device settings right from your meeting panel.

Step 2: Ensure that apps can access your microphone

  • Click on Start and select Settings.
  • Click on Privacy and select Microphone in the left pane under App permissions.
  • Turn on the toggle button to Allow apps to access your microphone.

Step 3: Run the recording audio troubleshooter

  • Click on Start and select Settings.
  • Click on Update & Security and select Troubleshoot in the left pane.
  • Select Additional troubleshooters.
  • Scroll to find the Recording Audio and select Run the troubleshooter.
  • Follow the on-screen instructions to fix the Microphone problem.

Connectivity: fix Teams meetings connection issues

Problem: You are not able to login to Microsoft Teams due to network (Internet / VPN / LAN etc’) or Anti-Virus related problems.

Step 1: Ensure that you are connected to the Internet

As trivial as this might sound, ensure that your computer is connected to the internet by opening a new browser window and navigating to a website.

Step 2: Run Internet Connection Troubleshooter

If you are not able to access the Internet, go ahead and run the built in Windows connectivity troubleshooting program.

  • Click on Start and select Settings.
  • Click on Update & Security and select Troubleshoot in the left pane.
  • Select Additional troubleshooters.
  • Click on Internet Connections from the panel and select Run the troubleshooter.
  • You can follow-up on the screen instructions to fix the Network issues.

Step 3: Allow Teams application in Windows Defender Firewall:

  • Hit the Start button, and then search for Control Panel.
  • Then, go ahead and click System and Security in the panel.
  • Hit the Allow an app through Windows Firewall link.
  • Here search or scroll to find Teams.exe and check/enable both Public and Private check-boxes. 
  • Next, go ahead and restart your computer to verify whether your new settings have fixed the issues

Login issues: Can’t access Teams with your Windows login

Step 1: Remove existing Windows Credentials from your system

  • Before we start, just make sure that you have Quit Microsoft Teams.
  • Click on Start, search for Control Panel.
  • Click User accounts.
  • Click on Manage Windows Credentials under the Credential manager.
  • Look for MS teams or Outlook 365 related credentials and remove them. 
  • Close the control panel and try opening the Teams again. Hopefully, the issue is resolved.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading through our comprehensive troubleshooting guide. If the guide was helpful, feel free to share with friends and colleagues. Thanks 🙂