Cannot share external screen in Teams

Question

My business partner and I have Microsoft 365 for our company and use primarily the desktop apps.  I have a laptop and two external monitors.  I can share the laptop screen and that seems to work fine.  I can also share a specific application window on any screen.  When I select to share one of my external screens (not just a window), other participants in the meeting only see a black screen and my mouse pointer.   He has the exact same issues when sharing with me.  This seems to have started 1-2 months ago.  We got teams in October 2020 and it worked fine up until around January.

I am using Win10 Pro for Workstations, 64-bit, v 20H2, OS build 19042.867, Experience pack 120.2212.551.0.  His machine is identical and we run the Windows recommended updates as they come out.

I have taken the following steps:

1. Verified all screen and window sharing functionality works fine in the web app.
2. Checked for updates in the Teams desktop app.  Current version is 1.4.00.6073, updated March 11, 2021
3. Cleared the files in Appdata>Roaming>Microsoft>Teams folders: Cache, Code Cache, databases, GPUCache, IndexedDB, Local Storage, and tmp, per the instructions at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_o365admin-mso_teams-mso_o365b/problems-when-sharing-desktop-in-microsoft-teams/c6ff5f97-3a70-4d6b-ab7c-bcc3a0218f62
4. Created a policy in teams admin center>meetings>meeting policies which includes all content sharing policies set to on, and assigned that policy to all (both) users.
5. Restarted my machine and tried screen sharing after each step.

I am still having the same exact issue.  Can anyone help?  Thank you.

Answer 1

Thanks all.  365 Support got it fixed.  It actually just ended up being uninstall and reinstall Teams and Microsoft 365 for Business.  Now it works fine.  Don't know why I didn't do that myself.

Answer 2

Thanks Igor.  I don't think we are talking about the same issue though.  It sounds like you are talking about using multiple monitors simultaneously for teams.  That would also be nice, but I'm just talking about sharing my external screen.

I don't think it's correct that Teams was not designed for this.  In my previous job, I used Teams that way for a years, and in my current position I shared external screens on Teams up until about January.  Everyone I've asked about this has either never experienced this problem or is currently having this problem and can't find a solution.  I see other people having the same issue online also but I'm not finding any solution.

Answer 3

Hello, Allen

I am Igor, an Independent Advisor and I will be glad to help you with this question.

Unfortunatelly, currently Microsoft Teams was designed to work with a single share monitor.

That's why using multiple monitors for conference video calls with microsoft teams you will face unexpected issues.

There is a UserVoice request which you can vote and also input your comments and feedbacks

https://microsoftteams.us:ervoice.com/forums/55...

if you are using Desktop there is a workaround

1. Screen 1 : Join your meeting from desktop application
2. Screen 2 : Open teams web application and join same meeting from there

This way in 2 screen you can see choose video in one and presentation in other. Make sure to not join with audio/video in one of the screen.

To your reference:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsof...

Hope it helps.

Best Regards

Answer 4

You´re Welcome! If you have no more questions, feel free to choose a rating and have a great day! "

Answer 5

Hello, I am Celso a member of the Microsoft community and a user like you. How can I help you today?

Sorry for what happened! In view of the attempts that you yourself mentioned, I suggest that you use PowerShell to configure the desktop.

Please check the procedures at the link below:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/mod...

Have a good day!