Step 2 - Create a resource account

• Applies to:

  Microsoft Teams

Each Microsoft Teams Rooms device needs its own resource account. The resource account is the account the Teams Rooms device logs into and is what users in your organization invite to book the Teams Room.

When you create the resource mailbox, you can specify whether you want to allow recurring meetings, have the room auto accept invites, how many days into the future to accept invites, and so on.

Tip

When naming your resource accounts, we recommend using a standard naming convention to the beginning of the e-mail address. This will help with creating dynamic groups to ease management in Microsoft Entra ID. For example, you could use "mtr-" for all resource accounts that will be associated with Microsoft Teams Rooms.

Tip

We recommend that you create all resource accounts using Exchange Online and Microsoft Entra ID.

You can automatically configure recommended Teams Rooms resource settings via the Surface Hub and Microsoft Teams Rooms automated setup guide.

Create a resource account using a method from one of the following tabs:

In Microsoft 365 admin center

1. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center.

2. Provide the admin credentials for your Microsoft 365 tenant.

3. Go to Resources in the left panel, and then select Rooms & equipment. If these options aren't available in the left panel, you may need to select Show all first.

4. Select Add resource to create a new resource account. Enter a display name and email address for the account and then select Save.

5. By default, resource accounts are configured with the following settings:

   • Allow repeat meetings
   • Automatically decline meetings outside of the following limits
     • Booking window (days): 180
     • Maximum duration (hours): 24
   • Auto accept meeting requests

   If you want to change them, select Edit booking options before you select Close. If you want to change them later, go to Resources > Rooms & equipment, select the resource account. Then under Booking options, select Edit.

6. Go to Users > Active users, and select the room you created to open the properties panel.

7. Next, assign a password to the resource account. In the panel, select Reset password.

8. Requiring users to change the password on a shared device will cause sign in problems. Uncheck Require this user to change their password when they first sign in, and select Reset password.

You may also need to apply bandwidth policies or meeting policies to this account. You can set mailbox policies in a later step.

With Exchange Online

1. Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell.

   Connect-ExchangeOnline
   

2. By default, room mailboxes don't have associated accounts. Add an account when you create a room mailbox so it can authenticate with Microsoft Teams.

   If you're creating a new resource mailbox:

   New-Mailbox -MicrosoftOnlineServicesID <Office365 ID> -Name <String> -Alias <string> -Room -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true  -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String '<Password>' -AsPlainText -Force)
   

   This example creates a new room mailbox with the following settings:

   • Account: ConferenceRoom01@contoso.com

   • Name: ConferenceRoom01

   • Alias: ConferenceRoom01

   • Account password: P@$$W0rd5959

   New-Mailbox -MicrosoftOnlineServicesID ConferenceRoom01@contoso.com -Name "ConferenceRoom01" -Alias ConferenceRoom01 -Room -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true  -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'P@$$W0rd5959' -AsPlainText -Force)
   

If you're in an Exchange hybrid configuration, you need to add an email address for your on-premises domain account. See Sync on-premises and Office 365 user accounts directories for more information.

With Exchange Server

1. Connect to Exchange Management Shell. Open the Exchange Management Shell or connect to your Exchange server using remote PowerShell.

2. To create a new room mailbox:

   New-Mailbox -UserPrincipalName <UPN> -Name <String> -Alias <String> -Room -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String '<Password>' -AsPlainText -Force)
   

   This example creates a new room mailbox with the following settings:

   • Account: ConferenceRoom01@contoso.com

   • Name: ConferenceRoom01

   • Alias: ConferenceRoom01

   • Account password: P@$$W0rd5959

New-Mailbox -UserPrincipalName ConferenceRoom01@contoso.com -Name "ConferenceRoom01" -Alias ConferenceRoom01 -Room -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String 'P@$$W0rd5959' -AsPlainText -Force)

Modify an existing Exchange room mailbox

To modify an existing room mailbox to become a resource account, use the following syntax:

Set-Mailbox -Identity <RoomMailboxIdentity> -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String '<Password>' -AsPlainText -Force)

This example enables the account for the existing room mailbox that has the alias value ConferenceRoom02, and sets the password to 9898P@$$W0rd.

Set-Mailbox -Identity ConferenceRoom02 -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString -String '9898P@$$W0rd' -AsPlainText -Force)

If you're in an Exchange hybrid configuration, you'll also need to add an email address for your on-premises domain account. See Sync on-premises and Office 365 user accounts directories for more information.

For detailed syntax and parameter information, see New-Mailbox and Set-Mailbox.

Note

If you're creating this account for Teams Room on Surface Hub, you should also enable ActiveSync on this account. This will allow you to send e-mail directly from the Surface Hub, which you can use for features like Whiteboard. See Applying ActiveSync policies to device accounts (Surface Hub) to learn more.

Important

If you're only using this resource account to book space and automatically accept or decline invitations, you've completed the set up. If you're using this resource account for PSTN calling, see Microsoft Teams add-on licenses to determine what license it needs.

Next step