Teams: Turning off "Allow mic for attendees" does not work.

Question

We have a recurring meeting and have toggled "Allow mic for attendees" to off. When the meeting begins, many of the participants are not muted and we have to manually mute them. What am I missing?

Answer 1

Hi @Cindy Dalglish

In Microsoft Teams, after you turn off the "Allow attendees to use microphone" option, all attendees' microphones should be disabled by default. If this feature doesn't work as expected, there are several possible reasons and solutions:

• Meeting setup issue: Make sure you have set the "Allow attendees to use microphone" option correctly before the meeting starts. You can double-click the meeting in the Teams calendar, select "More options" > "Meeting options", and then confirm that "Allow attendees to use microphone" is turned off.
• Check the roles of attendees. Only attendees (not presenters) are affected by this setting. If some attendees are set as presenters, their microphones may not be automatically disabled.
• Device issue: Some devices or attendees who dial in to the meeting may not be affected by this setting. Make sure all attendees join the meeting through the Teams client.
• Manual mute: During the meeting, you can manually mute all attendees. Select the "Mute All" option in the "Participants" pane.

Before the meeting

After scheduling the meeting and sending out the invite, the meeting organizer can disable the mics and cameras so that attendees can't use them during the meeting. All attendees (but not presenters) will join the meeting with mic and camera off. 

1. Go to Calendar and double-click the meeting.
2. Select More options> Meeting options near the top of the screen.
3. Select Audio & video .
4. Turn off the Allow mic for attendees or Allow camera for attendees toggles.
5. Select Save.

During the meeting

The organizer and presenters can disable the mic or camera of all the attendees, or of individuals, at any time during the meeting.

Note: Currently this option isn't available to organizers and presenters who join the meeting from Teams room devices.

To disable all attendee mics or cameras

1. In the meeting controls, select More actions> Settings> Meeting options.
2. Select Audio & video.
3. Turn off the Allow mic for attendees or Allow camera for attendees toggles.
4. Select Save.

Attendee mics and cameras will appear dimmed.

Mute an attendee

To mute all participants without disabling their mics, select Mute all. 

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