How to ensure microphone is muted before entering all meetings?

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, that's not helpful. The inconsistency introduced by this change is what I'd like to see changed. In my circumstance, background noise is a constant issue and jumping from one meeting to another in a hurry, it's easy to miss the mute option and I end up disturbing the meeting. The ability to "always mute" when joining a meeting was perfect. Now...not so much.

Dear @OldMan, 

Good day! Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum! 

Based on your description, I understand that you're trying to ensure your microphone is automatically muted when joining all Microsoft Teams meetings, but this option no longer seems to be available. Since background noise in your workspace makes this feature essential, you're requesting that Microsoft restore the ability to set this preference in Teams settings.

I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by this issue.

Regarding this matter, in the latest version of Microsoft Teams, the option to “always join muted” is no longer a permanent setting. Teams now relies on a combination of your meeting organizer’s settings and your own pre‑join choice.

Before entering any meeting, ensure the Microphone toggle is set to Off on the pre‑join screen. Teams will remember this choice for your future meetings whenever meeting policies allow.

This gives you consistent control and helps avoid surprises at join time.

For reference: Mute and unmute your mic in Microsoft Teams

Also, in Settings > Privacy and scroll down, you could turn on the Keyboard shortcut to temporarily unmute yourself and automatically re‑mute afterward.

You can then hold:

• Ctrl + Space (Windows)
• Option + Space (Mac)

This helps you stay muted by default without slowing down your ability to respond when needed

Besides, in Settings > Devices, you could enable Voice isolation or Background noise only.

This greatly reduces distractions, even if your mic briefly turns on.

In another situation: If you’re the meeting organizer

If you host meetings and want everyone including yourself to join silently, you could:

• Open the meeting’s Meeting options
• Turn Allow mic for attendees = Off
• Everyone will enter muted

This is especially helpful for structured or large meetings

For reference: Manage attendee audio and video permissions in Microsoft Teams meetings

However, please be noted that your organization’s IT settings or the meeting organizer’s settings may override your personal mic preference.

I hope these steps make your meeting experience smoother and more comfortable.

Kindly let me know when there are updates or if you need further assistance. Any updates you’re able to share would be really helpful. I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing how things are going! 

Thank you for your time and patience.

If my answer was somehow helpful in guiding you toward the right information, please consider clicking 'Accept Answer'. This helps highlight the solution for others who might have the same question from your experience.

Thank you for helping the community!

If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment". 

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.