Teams will only open with old work email prompt but won't allow me to use for personal email

Question

I'm having an issue with Teams on my Macbook Pro....When I open Teams the login screen from my old employer pops up and won't allow me to add my personal email...It works on my iphone but having major issue on Macbook Pro. Have to use for presentation in am and very stuck...Tried many suggestions but lost. Please help.

Answer 1

Try this.

Select Finder > Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access.

Right-click the account that you want to remove.

Select Delete [account name].

Instruction from:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sign-out-or-remove-an-account-from-microsoft-teams-a6d76e69-e1dd-4bc4-8e5f-04ba48384487

After that, you might have to clear cache in order to reflect the change - instruction from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/microsoftteams/teams-administration/clear-teams-cache

1. If Teams is still running, right-click the Teams icon in the dock, and then select Quit or press Command (⌘)-Q.
2. In the Finder, open the /Applications/Utilities folder, and then double-click Terminal.
3. Enter the following commands, and press Return after each command: Console

      rm -rf ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams
   

      rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2
   

4. Restart Teams.

See if that helps.

Answer 2

On a Mac, this is usually caused by cached sign-in data or Teams reusing an old work account.

Try this in order:

1. Fully quit Teams
   • Quit Teams completely, not just close the window.
2. Sign out and re-authenticate if Teams shows a sign-in banner
   • Reopen Teams.
   • If a Sign in banner or button appears, select it and complete the sign-in prompts.
   • If no sign-in window opens, quit and reopen Teams again.
3. Use a private or incognito browser window to sign in first
   • Open Teams in a private/incognito browser window.
   • Sign in with the account intended for use.
   • This is specifically recommended when an email address may be tied to both a work and a personal account.
4. Check whether the email is tied to both a personal and work account
   • If a prompt asks “Which account do you want to use?”, that means the same email address exists as both a work or school account and a personal account.
   • To stop that prompt, change the personal Microsoft account alias or primary alias in Manage how you sign in.
   • If the work account belongs to an old organization with the same domain, that organization may also need to remove the conflicting entry from their side.
5. If Teams keeps opening the old employer account on the Mac only
   • On macOS, Teams can keep prompting with previously used credentials.
   • Sign out of other Microsoft apps on the Mac as well, then try Teams again.
6. If the old account is still being forced
   • Contact the old organization’s IT admin if the old work account is still controlling sign-in behavior.
   • If the issue is with Teams access or domain/account configuration, the IT admin or sysadmin is the path for resolution.

If the immediate goal is a presentation in the morning, the fastest supported workaround is to use Teams in a private/incognito browser window and sign in there with the correct account.

---

• Which account do you want to use?
• "Someone has already set up Teams for your organization" error in Microsoft Teams
• How different technologies affect Microsoft Teams sign-in
• Restore your access to Microsoft Teams
• Why am I having trouble signing in to Microsoft Teams?