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Deploy Microsoft Teams with Microsoft 365 Apps

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Important

As of October 23rd, 2023, new installations of Microsoft 365 and Office 365 will include Teams only if a Teams service plan is in place. For more information on available plans, see Microsoft Teams service description

Note

The new Teams client is not bundled with the Microsoft 365 Apps offline package. For new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps, an active internet connection is required to download the new Teams app. In cases where an internet connection is unavailable during the installation of Microsoft 365 Apps, admins will need to deploy new Teams client separately.

In the past, Microsoft Teams was a separate installation from Microsoft 365 Apps. Now, Teams is included with both new and existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows. If Teams was already installed on a device, that installation remains unchanged. Users can explore the new Teams features by toggling the "Try the new Teams" switch in classic Teams interface, or administrators can bulk deploy the new Microsoft Teams client.

Note

To complete the installation of Teams on new or existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps, either restart the device or have the user log off and log back on. If the classic Teams app is already installed, the Microsoft 365 Apps deployment will install new Teams alongside classic Teams on the device. The classic Teams installation will not change.

If Skype for Business is already installed on the device, Skype for Business isn't removed and continues to function as before. Skype for Business continues to be installed with new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps, unless you configure your installation to exclude it.

We also have the steps you can take to exclude Teams from new or existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps if your organization isn't ready to deploy Teams.

Important

If you're in a GCC High or DoD environment, currently you need to exclude Teams from being installed with Microsoft 365 Apps. Instead, you need to install Teams by using the separate MSI-based installer. For links to the correct version of the MSI-based installer for your environment, see Install Microsoft Teams using Microsoft Configuration Manager. In the future, you'll be able to install Teams along with Microsoft 365 Apps in GCC High or DoD environments without needing to use the separate MSI-based installer.

If you're using Office for Mac, see Microsoft Teams installations on a Mac.

If you're using shared computers or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), see Shared computer and VDI environments with Microsoft Teams.

When did Microsoft Teams start being included with new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps?

The date that Teams was included with new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps depended on which update channel you were using. The following table shows the schedule.

Update channel Version Date
Current Channel Version 1902 March 4, 2019
Monthly Enterprise Channel Version 2003 May 12, 2020
Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) Version 1902 March 12, 2019
Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel Version 1902 July 9, 2019

Note

Teams is also included with the following new installations:

  • Microsoft 365 Apps for business: Microsoft 365 Apps for business is the version of Office that's included with some Microsoft 365 business plans, such as Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
  • Office for Mac: Office for Mac comes with any plan that includes Microsoft 365 Apps. For more information, see Microsoft Teams installations on a Mac.

When did installations of Microsoft 365 Apps start including the new Microsoft Teams?

Note

New installations of Microsoft 365 Apps may include the new Microsoft Teams app starting with Version 2311. Previous versions may include the Classic Teams app.

After new Teams is installed, users will automatically switch to the new Microsoft Teams. Afterward, they can switch back to classic Teams by selecting the "New Teams" toggle switch.

The new Microsoft Teams app may install for existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps, depending on which update channel you're using. The following table shows the schedule.

Plan Channel Date
Business Late September 2023
Enterprise Office Beta Channel and Current Channel (Preview) Late September 2023
Enterprise Current Channel October 2023
Enterprise Monthly Enterprise Channel and Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel (Preview) November 2023
Enterprise Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel December 2023

How to exclude Microsoft Teams from new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps

If you don't want Teams included when you install Microsoft 365 Apps on devices running Windows, the following options are available:

Group Policy

Use Group Policy to prevent Teams from installing. As an alternative, you can let Teams be added, but use Group Policy to prevent Teams from automatically starting when the user signs in to the device.

Office Deployment Tool

If you want to use the Office Deployment Tool, you need to run the ODT in /configure mode on each device before you update to the new version of Microsoft 365 Apps. Use this configuration.xml file with the ODT to exclude Teams from being added to your existing installation of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.

<Configuration>
   <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="Current">
      <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
       <Language ID="en-us" />
       <ExcludeApp ID="Teams" />
      </Product>
      <Product ID="VisioProRetail">
       <Language ID="en-us" />
      </Product>
      <Product ID="ProjectProRetail">
       <Language ID="en-us" />
      </Product>
      <Product ID="LanguagePack">
       <Language ID="de-de" />
      </Product>
    </Add>
</Configuration>

Tip

Instead of using a text editor to create your configuration.xml, we recommend that you use the Office Customization Tool (OCT). The OCT provides a web-based interface for making your selections and creating your configuration.xml file to be used with the ODT. For more information, see Overview of the Office Customization Tool.

If you're deploying Microsoft 365 Apps by using the Office 365 Client Installation wizard in Microsoft Configuration Manager (current branch), you can set Teams to the Off position in the configuration UI.

If you're deploying Microsoft 365 Apps by using Microsoft Intune, there's a checkbox to exclude Teams on the Configure App Suite pane.

If you're letting your users install Microsoft 365 Apps for themselves from the Office 365 portal, you can't exclude Teams from being included as part of the installation, unless you use Group Policy.

To remove Teams after installing, go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and uninstall Microsoft Teams and any instances of Teams Machine-Wide Installer. If you previously installed Teams separately from installing Microsoft 365 Apps, you might see multiple instances of Teams Machine-Wide Installer. You can also use PowerShell to remove Teams as shown in this script sample.

What about existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps?

Teams is part of the normal update process for existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps on devices running Windows. There's no change to existing installations of Mac.

If you don't want Teams to be added to existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps when you update to a newer version, the following options are available:

Microsoft 365 Apps admin center

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 Apps admin center with an admin account.
  2. Go to customize > Device Configuration > Modern Apps Settings.
  3. Select Microsoft Teams (work or school), then clear the Enable automatic installation of new Microsoft Teams check box.

Group Policy

Use Group Policy to prevent Teams from installing. As an alternative, you can let Teams be added, but use Group Policy to prevent Teams from automatically starting when the user signs in to the device.

Office Deployment Tool

If you want to use the Office Deployment Tool, you need to run the ODT in /configure mode on each device before you update to the new version of Microsoft 365 Apps. Use this configuration.xml file with the ODT to exclude Teams from being added to your existing installation of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.

<Configuration>
   <Add Version="MatchInstalled">
      <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
       <Language ID="MatchInstalled" TargetProduct="All" />
       <ExcludeApp ID="Teams" />
      </Product>
   </Add>
   <Display Level="None" />
</Configuration>

Note

  • Be sure you're using the most current version of the ODT available on the Microsoft Download Center.
  • If your existing installation of Microsoft 365 Apps has excluded other apps, such as Access, you need to include a line in your configuration.xml file for each of those excluded apps. Otherwise, those apps will be installed on the device.
  • If you have Microsoft 365 Apps for business installed, use O365BusinessRetail for the Product ID in your configuration.xml file.

Also, in some situations, doing an Online Repair results in Teams being installed. For example, if Microsoft 365 Apps is configured to get updates from the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN) and the update channel or version you're using includes Teams as part of the installation.

Use Group Policy to control the installation of Microsoft Teams

If your organization isn't ready to deploy Teams and you use Group Policy, you can enable the Don't install Microsoft Teams with new installations or updates of Office policy setting. You can find this policy setting under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2016 (Machine)\Updates.

Note

To use this policy setting, download the latest version of the Administrative Template files (ADMX/ADML).

If you enable this policy setting, Teams isn't installed in the following scenarios for Version 1905 or later:

  • New installations of Microsoft 365 Apps
  • Updates to existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps
  • Users installing Microsoft 365 Apps for themselves from the Office 365 portal
  • An Online Repair of an existing installation of Microsoft 365 Apps

If you have Microsoft 365 Apps for business or can't use Group Policy for some other reason, you can add the preventteamsinstall value to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\common\officeupdate key in the registry. The type for preventteamsinstall is REG_DWORD and the value should be set to 1 if you don't want Teams installed.

Use Group Policy to prevent Microsoft Teams from starting automatically after installation

If you need to install Teams without having it start automatically for the user post-installation, enable the Prevent Microsoft Teams from starting automatically after installation policy setting in Group Policy. You can find this policy setting under User Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Teams.

Enabling this policy setting before installing Teams prevents Teams from starting automatically when the user logs into the device. Once a user signs in to Teams for the first time, Teams is configured to start automatically the next time the user logs into the device. The user can configure Teams to not start automatically by configuring user settings within Teams or by clearing the Open Teams on startup check box on the sign in screen for Teams.

If you've already installed Teams but you want to use this policy setting to prevent Teams from starting automatically, enable this policy setting and then run this script on a per-user basis to reset the autostart setting for Teams.

Despite enabling this policy setting so that Teams doesn't start automatically, an icon for Microsoft Teams still appears on the user's desktop.

Note

To use this policy setting, download the latest version of the Administrative Template files (ADMX/ADML).

If you have Microsoft 365 Apps for business or can't use Group Policy for some other reason, you can add the PreventFirstLaunchAfterInstall value to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Teams key in the registry. The type for PreventFirstLaunchAfterInstall is REG_DWORD and the value should be set to 1 if you don't want Teams to automatically start after installation.

Shared computer and VDI environments with Microsoft Teams

If devices in your organization are shared by multiple users, Teams is installed separately for each user that signs into that device. Installations of Teams average about 500 mb, so hard disk space, as well network bandwidth for updates, might become an issue for these shared devices installed with Teams. In cases where shared devices are used by a significant number of users, you might want to consider not installing Teams on those shared devices.

If you plan to use Teams in a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment, see Teams for Virtualized Desktop Infrastructure. Teams installed with Microsoft 365 Apps as described in this article is NOT currently supported in VDI environments.

Feature and quality updates for Microsoft Teams

After Teams is installed, it's automatically updated approximately every two weeks with new features and quality updates. This update process for Teams is different than the update process for the other Office apps, such as Word and Excel. For more information, see Teams update process.

Microsoft Teams installations on a Mac

If you're using Version 16.21, or later, of the Office suite install package to deploy on a Mac, Teams is included as part of the installation.

If you don't want Teams included as part of the installation, there's an Office suite install package available that doesn't include Teams. You can also use the install packages for individual applications, such as Word or Excel. For links to the most current install packages, see Update history for Office for Mac.

If you're letting your users install Office for themselves on a Mac, such as from https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads, you can't exclude Teams from being included as part of the installation.

To uninstall Teams on a Mac, quit Teams by right-clicking the Teams app in the dock, then hold down Option and choose Force Quit. Open the Application Folder, select Microsoft Teams, and move it to the Trash.

What about Office 365 plans that don't include Microsoft Teams?

Some Office 365 plans include Microsoft 365 Apps, but don't include the Teams service. Teams is installed with Microsoft 365 Apps even if a plan doesn't have the Teams service.

For Office 365 plans that don't include the Teams service, a free trial version of Teams that's valid for one year is available. Your users can start using it when they sign in to Teams. For more information about this free trial version and providing your users access to it, see Manage the Microsoft Teams Exploratory license.

Additional information about installing Microsoft Teams

  • Teams is installed with Microsoft 365 Apps in the same way that Teams is installed if you use the MSI-based installer for Teams. For each new user that signs into the device, the Teams installer runs and the Teams application is installed in the user's AppData folder.
  • The architecture of Teams and Microsoft 365 Apps installed on the device don't have to match. For example, you can install the 32-bit version of Teams on a device running the 64-bit versions of Microsoft 365 Apps. To change the architecture of Teams, for example from 32-bit to 64-bit, you need to uninstall the 32-bit version of Teams and then install the 64-bit version of Teams.
  • If you previously excluded Teams and want to add it back, make sure the settings in your configuration.xml file match the architecture, channel, and excluded apps of your existing installation of Microsoft 365 Apps.
  • For more information for IT Pros about Microsoft Teams, see Microsoft Teams documentation.