Teams sound on Mute when joining meetings

Question

Teams sound on Mute when joining meetings

Jared Goldman 46

I recently upgraded my MacBook Pro. I have the latest version of Teams installed. I am using external speakers

When I join a meeting my microphone and speaker volume are on mute. There is a little speaker icon with an X next to it. When I press the speaker icon, I get a pop menu that says Turn audio on ?

I then enter the meeting with the mic on and audio on. It's very disrupting.

How do I disable this. I want to join a meeting, with speaker volume on and my mic muted.

thanks

JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-07-20T05:21:35.467+00:00

Hi @Jared Goldman

Do you mean you want to mute your microphone when you join Teams meeting?

Before you join Teams meeting, it will pop up the following windows, you could select this icon to mute your microphone.
Jared Goldman 46 Reputation points

2021-07-20T11:18:22.223+00:00

No, Mute of the mic is not the issue. My sound and mic are muted

If you notice the second screen shot, I have to turn my Audio on as I enter all meetings. This is what I what to change. If I am joining a large meeting I come in with my mic on and it disrupts the entire meeting
Jared Goldman 46 Reputation points

2021-07-20T11:20:26.583+00:00

This is the symbol I am referring to. What setting will change my audio to ON
Jenny Clarck 1 Reputation point

2021-07-20T11:47:30.017+00:00

When you join a meeting with 5+ attendees already in the meeting, you will join muted by default - this is done to protect meetings from having background noise when they have already started.
Jared Goldman 46 Reputation points

2021-07-20T12:01:34.247+00:00

Thanks, but that is not the issue. That is how Teams is supposed to work. My speaker volume is muted along with my microphone. When I press on the speaker icon with the X next to it I get that pop up window that confirms that I want to turn my audio on.

When I do that, I come into the meeting with my speaker on and my Mic on.

How do I join a meeting with my speaker volume ON
JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-07-23T10:09:41.597+00:00

@Jared Goldman

I will do a test in our environment and will update it if there is any new result.
JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-07-30T07:36:22.63+00:00

@Jared Goldman

Sorry for the delay response!

Are you using the mic in your device itself or the microphone from headphone?

I did a test in my environment but we did not find the speaker icon with the X next to it. As a workaround, you could click your profile and mute yourself from this place. It will not affect the speaker.
JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-08-04T05:53:37.737+00:00

@Jared Goldman

It has been a while, how is everything going?
If you have any update about this issue, please feel free to post back.
Niels 6 Reputation points

2021-09-01T08:16:54.54+00:00

I'm experiencing this very same issue since a couple of weeks. No matter which Teams meeting I'm joining and even if there is only one other participant; no audio from my speakers and my mic is muted. I see the same "cancelled speaker" icon as @Jared Goldman posted above.

Really annoying and can't seem to find a setting which disables this... feature?
Mark Williams 6 Reputation points

2021-09-29T16:07:38.33+00:00

This is exacty what mine does, too--exactly as JaredGoldman-5544 showed in the screenshots. This is very annoying and adds too many extra steps when this tool is supposed to add convenience. It does this for calls that I created on my own calendar and when only one other person was invited (and hasn't even joined yet!).
Meagher, Judith-Ann 21 Reputation points

2021-10-25T15:33:27.397+00:00

Hi, I have the same issue and it is very disruptive given I have many calls in a day and it delays me joining having to do 3 clicks.

Does anyone know how to have audio come on as a default
Eric Haubenstock 46 Reputation points

2021-11-04T15:12:12.083+00:00

I am having the same problem: the speaker is muted when I joint a Teams meeting, regardless of who created the meeting or how many people have joined. This did not used to me the case, so some setting has changed. Any solutions for how to change it back?
Anonymous

2021-11-17T19:26:24.653+00:00

I get the same thing. This is different than coming in muted. it is the entire audio and speakers are not enabled and have to be turned on each time. how do i have the audio enabled automatically? I don't mind being muted when there are multiple people there already. that makes sense. but completely disabled audio is not helpful.
Eric Haubenstock 46 Reputation points

2021-11-17T19:47:03.933+00:00

the solution offered by michelefacco-3225 worked for me! Once I selected 'Use Computer Audio' prior to joining a meeting, it remembered that preference and now joins properly every time.
of course, sometimes a meeting owner will set preferences so that attendees are muted automatically upon joining, but that is fine.
Martin Z 16 Reputation points

2021-11-22T19:41:44.247+00:00

I have this bug too. I'm using a Logitech USB headset and when I join a meeting, the speaker and mic are off. I get joining with the mic off by default, but why is the SPEAKER off by default?

This is a new issue that was not happening before November 2021.
Balint Nagy 11 Reputation points

2021-12-10T15:04:15.45+00:00

I had the same issue, seeing the same speaker icon with x.
There is a dialog before that (see JimmyWang's answer below). There you need to tick "Computer audio" as it is whown in his screenshot.
Tom Evans 1 Reputation point

2022-03-28T20:58:20.503+00:00

I've started seeing this same issue this past week. Expect that I can join meetings just fine, but when I join a breakout room, my speaker audio is muted. Note, I'm a meeting admin, so can move around breakout rooms. If I join the breakout room from the meeting interface (using Join Breakout room), this is when I see my speaker audio disabled, even if my video is on and my mike is not muted. The most frustrating part of this experience is that there is no indication on the Teams interface that the speaker is muted. The video shows on and the microphone is on, but no sign that the speaker is muted except that I can hear anything. I finally discovered that if I click the microphone once and mute it, and then I unmute the microphone, then I finally see the image showing the speaker as muted.

When I join the breakout room from the breakout room chat session, I enter as normal, with no problems.

This started to occur after successfully using MS Teams breakout rooms most of last week.

Microsoft - why are you silent on this issue?
Michael Phillips 1 Reputation point

2022-03-29T17:24:01.283+00:00

I have the same condition with Tom Evans. We just setup a test meeting with our team using break out rooms. We made everyone admin and gave everyone the ability to jump back and forth between rooms. When we are in the main room every ones speakers work just fine, however when going into a break out room the microphone for everyone works but the speakers are muted/turned off. What we had to do was go into device settings in the room and next to the speaker icon unclick the muted symbol which turned on the speakers. However everyone in the room has to do this including the room admin.

So main room no problems for the entire team.
Breakout room, microphones work but speakers are muted.

I need a fix for this.
Tom Evans 1 Reputation point

2022-03-29T20:20:00.533+00:00

Hi Michael - thanks so much for all of the investigative work on this. Did you have to change the device setting each time you entered a breakout room, or were you able to change the device setting one time in the breakout room and it persisted for a breakout room throughout the session?
Jim Winkler 5 Reputation points

2023-06-21T14:12:24.74+00:00

When I join a meeting my microphone and speaker volume are on mute. This is new. It is not useful to hear NOTHING. I understand being muted but not having the speaker off. How do I change this default setting?

Thanks
Jackson, Catherine Eva 25 Reputation points

2023-06-23T12:30:23.1566667+00:00

I had the exact same issue, with the microphone/speaker with an "X" through it...

The problem was I didn't realize the options on the screen are radio buttons. They are just on the right side instead of the left, so it is a bit confusing.

You need to select the "Computer audio" the radio button option. Then you can set the micro phone and speaker values.
Shraddah.J 10 Reputation points

2023-08-10T20:50:30.78+00:00

Catherine's tip helped solve this for me!
Brunzema, Friedrich 0 Reputation points

2023-09-07T14:41:09.9+00:00

Hi - same issue, using a Mac. A few weeks ago a change was made to teams to Disable Audio (both Mike and speakers) until you click enable Audio. I need to do that for every meeting. Its not about muting when joining the meeting, which is Ok. Its having to re-enable audio every time.
Please have it work like it did before.
Friedrich
Shraddah.J 10 Reputation points

2023-09-07T15:32:14.3766667+00:00

Hi! When you first start to login make sure it's on "Computer Audio." My default had changed and was causing the no audio issue. But now that I've changed the selection it joins properly (with sound on) each time.
Greg Steer 0 Reputation points

2024-05-31T01:08:32.75+00:00

I have exactly the same issue, no audio or mike when joining a meeting, I have to unmute and then click a 2nd dialogue box "Turn Audio On"
Rowann Tatco 0 Reputation points

2024-09-24T16:31:40.81+00:00

Feels like this happens every time Teams requires an Update, which is pretty lame. I've seen this issue for quite a while and looks like Microsoft still hasn't done anything about it. It is pretty bad when you join a meeting with the Speaker audio muted because you can't tell if the meeting hasn't started yet/nobody is talking! Apparently, you're the only one unable to hear everyone. I really hope Microsoft does something about this. Similar issue on Teams when it requires an Update, copy/paste paste feature does not work. You have no choice to type everything from scratch which is pretty lame.

6 answers

Your answer

JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-07-20T05:21:35.467+00:00

Hi @Jared Goldman

Do you mean you want to mute your microphone when you join Teams meeting?

Before you join Teams meeting, it will pop up the following windows, you could select this icon to mute your microphone.
Jared Goldman 46 Reputation points

2021-07-20T11:18:22.223+00:00

No, Mute of the mic is not the issue. My sound and mic are muted

If you notice the second screen shot, I have to turn my Audio on as I enter all meetings. This is what I what to change. If I am joining a large meeting I come in with my mic on and it disrupts the entire meeting
Jared Goldman 46 Reputation points

2021-07-20T11:20:26.583+00:00

This is the symbol I am referring to. What setting will change my audio to ON
Jenny Clarck 1 Reputation point

2021-07-20T11:47:30.017+00:00

When you join a meeting with 5+ attendees already in the meeting, you will join muted by default - this is done to protect meetings from having background noise when they have already started.
Jared Goldman 46 Reputation points

2021-07-20T12:01:34.247+00:00

Thanks, but that is not the issue. That is how Teams is supposed to work. My speaker volume is muted along with my microphone. When I press on the speaker icon with the X next to it I get that pop up window that confirms that I want to turn my audio on.

When I do that, I come into the meeting with my speaker on and my Mic on.

How do I join a meeting with my speaker volume ON
JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-07-23T10:09:41.597+00:00

@Jared Goldman

I will do a test in our environment and will update it if there is any new result.
JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-07-30T07:36:22.63+00:00

@Jared Goldman

Sorry for the delay response!

Are you using the mic in your device itself or the microphone from headphone?

I did a test in my environment but we did not find the speaker icon with the X next to it. As a workaround, you could click your profile and mute yourself from this place. It will not affect the speaker.
JimmyYang-MSFT 58,641 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2021-08-04T05:53:37.737+00:00

@Jared Goldman

It has been a while, how is everything going?
If you have any update about this issue, please feel free to post back.
Niels 6 Reputation points

2021-09-01T08:16:54.54+00:00

I'm experiencing this very same issue since a couple of weeks. No matter which Teams meeting I'm joining and even if there is only one other participant; no audio from my speakers and my mic is muted. I see the same "cancelled speaker" icon as @Jared Goldman posted above.

Really annoying and can't seem to find a setting which disables this... feature?
Mark Williams 6 Reputation points

2021-09-29T16:07:38.33+00:00

This is exacty what mine does, too--exactly as JaredGoldman-5544 showed in the screenshots. This is very annoying and adds too many extra steps when this tool is supposed to add convenience. It does this for calls that I created on my own calendar and when only one other person was invited (and hasn't even joined yet!).
Meagher, Judith-Ann 21 Reputation points

2021-10-25T15:33:27.397+00:00

Hi, I have the same issue and it is very disruptive given I have many calls in a day and it delays me joining having to do 3 clicks.

Does anyone know how to have audio come on as a default
Eric Haubenstock 46 Reputation points

2021-11-04T15:12:12.083+00:00

I am having the same problem: the speaker is muted when I joint a Teams meeting, regardless of who created the meeting or how many people have joined. This did not used to me the case, so some setting has changed. Any solutions for how to change it back?
Anonymous

2021-11-17T19:26:24.653+00:00

I get the same thing. This is different than coming in muted. it is the entire audio and speakers are not enabled and have to be turned on each time. how do i have the audio enabled automatically? I don't mind being muted when there are multiple people there already. that makes sense. but completely disabled audio is not helpful.
Eric Haubenstock 46 Reputation points

2021-11-17T19:47:03.933+00:00

the solution offered by michelefacco-3225 worked for me! Once I selected 'Use Computer Audio' prior to joining a meeting, it remembered that preference and now joins properly every time.
of course, sometimes a meeting owner will set preferences so that attendees are muted automatically upon joining, but that is fine.
Martin Z 16 Reputation points

2021-11-22T19:41:44.247+00:00

I have this bug too. I'm using a Logitech USB headset and when I join a meeting, the speaker and mic are off. I get joining with the mic off by default, but why is the SPEAKER off by default?

This is a new issue that was not happening before November 2021.
Balint Nagy 11 Reputation points

2021-12-10T15:04:15.45+00:00

I had the same issue, seeing the same speaker icon with x.
There is a dialog before that (see JimmyWang's answer below). There you need to tick "Computer audio" as it is whown in his screenshot.
Tom Evans 1 Reputation point

2022-03-28T20:58:20.503+00:00

I've started seeing this same issue this past week. Expect that I can join meetings just fine, but when I join a breakout room, my speaker audio is muted. Note, I'm a meeting admin, so can move around breakout rooms. If I join the breakout room from the meeting interface (using Join Breakout room), this is when I see my speaker audio disabled, even if my video is on and my mike is not muted. The most frustrating part of this experience is that there is no indication on the Teams interface that the speaker is muted. The video shows on and the microphone is on, but no sign that the speaker is muted except that I can hear anything. I finally discovered that if I click the microphone once and mute it, and then I unmute the microphone, then I finally see the image showing the speaker as muted.

When I join the breakout room from the breakout room chat session, I enter as normal, with no problems.

This started to occur after successfully using MS Teams breakout rooms most of last week.

Microsoft - why are you silent on this issue?
Michael Phillips 1 Reputation point

2022-03-29T17:24:01.283+00:00

I have the same condition with Tom Evans. We just setup a test meeting with our team using break out rooms. We made everyone admin and gave everyone the ability to jump back and forth between rooms. When we are in the main room every ones speakers work just fine, however when going into a break out room the microphone for everyone works but the speakers are muted/turned off. What we had to do was go into device settings in the room and next to the speaker icon unclick the muted symbol which turned on the speakers. However everyone in the room has to do this including the room admin.

So main room no problems for the entire team.
Breakout room, microphones work but speakers are muted.

I need a fix for this.
Tom Evans 1 Reputation point

2022-03-29T20:20:00.533+00:00

Hi Michael - thanks so much for all of the investigative work on this. Did you have to change the device setting each time you entered a breakout room, or were you able to change the device setting one time in the breakout room and it persisted for a breakout room throughout the session?
Jim Winkler 5 Reputation points

2023-06-21T14:12:24.74+00:00

When I join a meeting my microphone and speaker volume are on mute. This is new. It is not useful to hear NOTHING. I understand being muted but not having the speaker off. How do I change this default setting?

Thanks
Jackson, Catherine Eva 25 Reputation points

2023-06-23T12:30:23.1566667+00:00

I had the exact same issue, with the microphone/speaker with an "X" through it...

The problem was I didn't realize the options on the screen are radio buttons. They are just on the right side instead of the left, so it is a bit confusing.

You need to select the "Computer audio" the radio button option. Then you can set the micro phone and speaker values.
Shraddah.J 10 Reputation points

2023-08-10T20:50:30.78+00:00

Catherine's tip helped solve this for me!
Brunzema, Friedrich 0 Reputation points

2023-09-07T14:41:09.9+00:00

Hi - same issue, using a Mac. A few weeks ago a change was made to teams to Disable Audio (both Mike and speakers) until you click enable Audio. I need to do that for every meeting. Its not about muting when joining the meeting, which is Ok. Its having to re-enable audio every time.
Please have it work like it did before.
Friedrich
Shraddah.J 10 Reputation points

2023-09-07T15:32:14.3766667+00:00

Hi! When you first start to login make sure it's on "Computer Audio." My default had changed and was causing the no audio issue. But now that I've changed the selection it joins properly (with sound on) each time.
Greg Steer 0 Reputation points

2024-05-31T01:08:32.75+00:00

I have exactly the same issue, no audio or mike when joining a meeting, I have to unmute and then click a 2nd dialogue box "Turn Audio On"
Rowann Tatco 0 Reputation points

2024-09-24T16:31:40.81+00:00

Feels like this happens every time Teams requires an Update, which is pretty lame. I've seen this issue for quite a while and looks like Microsoft still hasn't done anything about it. It is pretty bad when you join a meeting with the Speaker audio muted because you can't tell if the meeting hasn't started yet/nobody is talking! Apparently, you're the only one unable to hear everyone. I really hope Microsoft does something about this. Similar issue on Teams when it requires an Update, copy/paste paste feature does not work. You have no choice to type everything from scratch which is pretty lame.

Answer 1

Michele Facco 176

Hi,

This just happened to me this morning and I have to admit is very annoying, but I might have found a solution.

A bit of background...

It was the first time I selected the "Don't use audio option" for joining a call:

After this, every time I tried to join a meeting I was not prompted for the device selection anymore, I was just added to the meeting in mute:

I tried to look everywhere for a setting what would allow me to restore the device selection, with no luck. Finally, I went into the "Calendar" section and used the "Meet now" > "Start meeting" button:

From here I was able to see my current selection and change it, so it started to pop back up every meeting afterwards.

To be honest this sounds so weird, but I am curious to see if this works for others as well.

Meagher, Judith-Ann 21 Reputation points

2021-11-08T12:55:21.127+00:00

Hi,
I had this issue for many weeks and was able to fix it by clicking on the Computer Audio radio button. It kept the setting for following calls.
Eric Haubenstock 46 Reputation points

2021-11-17T19:48:14.067+00:00

Thank you! Super helpful.
Schultz, John 6 Reputation points

2022-04-21T13:18:06.71+00:00

This did solve my problem, but an important point here. You have to hit "join now" then close the meeting, or the annoying disabled audio setting will happen again when the next meeting is started.
Claire Barker CHR 6 Reputation points

2022-06-15T16:09:27.267+00:00

Yes!! This worked! Thank you- that was so annoying and disruptive to always have my audio turned off completely. Thx!
Daniel Davis 1 Reputation point

2022-08-03T16:26:04.377+00:00

My problem is also that when I join a meeting, my audio (that is, my speakers, not my microphone) is on mute, so I can't hear people who greet me right away before I'm able to turn my speakers on. The attached screen is what I see when I join.

When I start a new meeting my Computer Audio button is already checked. I tried changing it to Don't Use Audio and then back to Computer Audio (making sure to join the meeting) but that didn't prove to be a permanent solution.
Wai 1 Reputation point

2022-09-12T14:30:03.83+00:00

Thanks, very annoying issue and your steps worked for me
Ewa Fryst 0 Reputation points

2023-01-23T12:24:13.8933333+00:00

I lived with that for months and im glad i finally managed to sort it out. There should be more obvious way of switching it off/on. Thanks for the advice.
David Rusnak 0 Reputation points

2023-02-16T17:23:02.47+00:00

This was my exact issue, with the exact same root cause. Tried to join a meeting on my PC while I was already on the phone and chose the "don't use sound" option. I think you may be a genius. Seems to have worked for my first meeting since trying this. Hopefully the setting will stick now.
Vincent MOINARD 0 Reputation points

2023-04-07T07:36:21.2266667+00:00

it fixed my 'no audio' issue when joining any meeting. Thanks
Kies, Scott 0 Reputation points

2023-06-21T16:22:48.82+00:00

Yes this worked. Thanks for posting your method of resolving this issue.
Elmar 0 Reputation points

2023-06-23T14:23:01.5866667+00:00

Fantastic! Thank you so much - solved!
Elahi Heydar 0 Reputation points

2023-07-18T07:15:17.22+00:00

Thanks! it was helpfull
Cameron Peek 0 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2023-07-19T17:43:14.8366667+00:00

Thank you!
Anonymous

2023-09-13T17:41:19.99+00:00

This worked for me! I too could not find anywhere in the normal settings to fix this issue.
Boyle, Owen 0 Reputation points

2023-10-02T12:08:42.39+00:00

Excellent post!

I too had the same problem, after I joined a hybrid meeting (half online, half in a physical room) where I had to select Don't Use Audio to avoid feedback. From then on, whenever I joined any meeting I had no audio and had to manually activate it.

It is weird that there is no way to access this setting without creating a meeting...
Benjamin Gregg 0 Reputation points

2023-10-16T14:15:54.21+00:00

This did the trick! The solution I was looking for!
Ryan H 0 Reputation points

2023-10-27T14:04:21.0566667+00:00

that cured my colleague's issue, thanks!
Brenda W 0 Reputation points

2023-11-22T01:21:05.0933333+00:00

This solved the issue for me. Thank you for posting.
Andy Luce 0 Reputation points

2024-03-11T13:39:33.53+00:00

Thank you. Why changing the setting in Meet Now sets the default, but in other meetings it does not is very odd. It's been about a week of this mild annoyance. I will have to add your fix to my notes.
Stephen Baines 0 Reputation points

2025-05-12T09:39:50.4033333+00:00

that's it - so you were joining meetings with audio OFF (not on and muted) - I had the same - I hadn't realised that the "Don't use audio" had been selected.

Sorted! Thanks!

Answer 2

York 26

That helped!

I start via "Meet Now" a meeting with myself only and changed the the settings from "Don't use audio" to "Computer audio" when joining. From then on all new meetings had my speaker on again.

You have to start the meeting before the change gets permanent.

Great tip!

boardtc 0 Reputation points

2024-10-01T14:29:33.5666667+00:00

Life saver, it was a real pain, thanks!

Answer 3

It appears that the settings would stick for that room, however if you moved to another room you had the same initial conditions. Now I can only speak for my own experience and I set up the meeting. I would have to confer with my team as to if they had the same experience. I will be running a large team meeting with 4 rooms this week so I will double check with the team. I did notice there are some additional settings if you go into the specific rooms and click the three dots. You can set different conditions but the participants speaker being muted on opening the room
was not one of them

We have a work around identified with screen capture so that team members can quickly correct the conditions but if someone is not paying attention they will not even realize a meeting is taking place. This is especially evident if no cameras are on and only screen share.

Tom Evans 1 Reputation point

2022-03-29T23:33:37.933+00:00

Excellent - I'll check this out tomorrow also and see what behavior I find.

Answer 4

After holding several break out room meetings now and digging into this sound issue it appears that the speakers are muted for Meeting organizers or people assigned as admins. Every time you join a room you have this condition where the speakers are muted. I organized a meeting and added three other admins to help run rooms. They had the freedom to move from room to room so they also had the opportunity to experience the speakers being on mute. However any person assigned to a room did not have the issue with the speakers being muted.

Seems like this only affects those who organize the meeting or added as admins.

Answer 5

Eug8950 1

I had the same problem ... one day I chose "don't use audio" to join a meeting.
The use case was my wifi was having issues and I needed to dial in from my mobile phone for audio, however I wanted to remain joined on my desktop so I could view the screen share.
From that moment on, all meetings I joined had the sound turned off.

The fix above worked for me to change my default join experience (used the "Meet now" > "Start meeting" button:)

Mhmd 0 Reputation points

2024-04-01T04:27:46.15+00:00

I chose Computer audio instead of "don't use audio" and this have solved my problem of turning the speaker back on every time because it became a default.

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Teams sound on Mute when joining meetings

6 answers

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