Account picker not working on Teams (Windows). List is empty after sign out.

Question

Account picker not working on Teams (Windows). List is empty after sign out.

Joshua 15

We have a shared computer (conference room), on which people sign in into Teams with "This App only". After the meeting, they sign out. Teams restarts and shows the Welcome screen with the text "Pick an account to continue". Suddenly, this list with saved accounts is now empty. Did something changed in the last update(s) of Teams? If it is an improved security/privacy update, why is the text still shown "pick an account..." if this list remains empty?

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Papadopoulos D. Georgios 0 Reputation points

2026-07-16T13:00:34.66+00:00

Hello, we are facing the same issue in a Citrix (provisioned, non-persistent machines )environment as well, after upgrading to the latest 26163.405.4842.717 version.
Anonimous 30 Reputation points

2026-07-17T09:36:45.7+00:00

I’m experiencing the exact same issue on two devices at work (my organization manages approximately 25,000 devices in a Microsoft 365 environment). I believe the problem stems from the combination of the latest version of Teams and the latest version of WebView2. I’ve reported it to our IT department. They let me know that they’re waiting to see if any similar complaints come in. Given the time of year (summer vacation), I’m afraid that not many users will notice the issue and that our IT department—which is currently operating with a reduced staff—will prioritize more urgent issues. In any case, I’ve suggested submitting a request via a Microsoft Support ticket.

Update 08/16/2026. For the past few days, I've noticed that the problem has been resolved on the two devices I have from work. My account name is showing up again on the Teams welcome screen. For the record: my Teams version is 26198.304.4946.9672.
Joshua 15 Reputation points

2026-07-17T10:36:07.4533333+00:00

I tried an older version of WebView2 (fixed version 149.0.4022.98) with the latest Teams and still ran into the same issue.

After the weekend I can try to contact MS support or ticket as @Anonymous suggested.
Anonymous

2026-07-17T11:02:08.41+00:00

Dear @Joshua and others experiencing the same issue,

I have noticed that there have been reports from multiple users encountering similar behavior.

In addition to opening a support ticket with Microsoft, I would also recommend reporting the issue through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center so that Microsoft can collect and analyze these reports more effectively.

If you are an end user, please contact your Microsoft 365 administrator and ask them to submit the report on your behalf.

Submitting reports through this channel helps Microsoft identify patterns across multiple tenants. If the issue is found to be affecting a broader group of customers, Microsoft can investigate it as a potential service issue and, where applicable, develop and deploy a fix more efficiently.

Thank you all for your contributions, patience, and understanding.

Answer recommended by moderator

Joshua 15

Hello all,

I submitted a ticket and after some mails, I got following response:

Hello Joshua, Thank you for your patience while we investigated this issue. We have received confirmation that this is a known issue affecting Microsoft Teams on Windows. Specifically, in Teams version 26163.405.4842.717, after a user signs out, the "Welcome to Teams - Pick an account" screen no longer displays previously used work or school accounts, even though the screen continues to prompt users to select an account. Our engineering team has identified this as a Windows-related issue and has raised a bug to address the behavior. A fix is currently in development and is expected to be rolled out by 20 August 2026. At this time, no additional troubleshooting is required from your side. We recommend keeping the affected devices up to date with the latest Windows and Teams updates to ensure the fix is applied once released.
...

So all we have to do is wait. And hope. 🙏🏻
If I (or one of you) get an update which works, please let us know.

Thanks anyone for helping so far.

Anonymous

2026-07-21T08:20:36.14+00:00

Hi @Joshua,

Thank you very much for taking the time to share the outcome of the support ticket you opened regarding this issue.

I have marked your reply as the answer to give it greater visibility and make it easier for others facing a similar situation to find this information more quickly.

This information is extremely helpful, not only for me, but also for other community members who may encounter the same concern in the future.

Hopefully, a permanent fix will be rolled out soon so that everyone can continue to enjoy a smooth and reliable experience when using Microsoft Teams.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Papadopoulos D. Georgios 0 Reputation points

2026-07-16T13:00:34.66+00:00

Hello, we are facing the same issue in a Citrix (provisioned, non-persistent machines )environment as well, after upgrading to the latest 26163.405.4842.717 version.
Anonimous 30 Reputation points

2026-07-17T09:36:45.7+00:00

I’m experiencing the exact same issue on two devices at work (my organization manages approximately 25,000 devices in a Microsoft 365 environment). I believe the problem stems from the combination of the latest version of Teams and the latest version of WebView2. I’ve reported it to our IT department. They let me know that they’re waiting to see if any similar complaints come in. Given the time of year (summer vacation), I’m afraid that not many users will notice the issue and that our IT department—which is currently operating with a reduced staff—will prioritize more urgent issues. In any case, I’ve suggested submitting a request via a Microsoft Support ticket.

Update 08/16/2026. For the past few days, I've noticed that the problem has been resolved on the two devices I have from work. My account name is showing up again on the Teams welcome screen. For the record: my Teams version is 26198.304.4946.9672.
Joshua 15 Reputation points

2026-07-17T10:36:07.4533333+00:00

I tried an older version of WebView2 (fixed version 149.0.4022.98) with the latest Teams and still ran into the same issue.

After the weekend I can try to contact MS support or ticket as @Anonymous suggested.
Anonymous

2026-07-17T11:02:08.41+00:00

Dear @Joshua and others experiencing the same issue,

I have noticed that there have been reports from multiple users encountering similar behavior.

In addition to opening a support ticket with Microsoft, I would also recommend reporting the issue through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center so that Microsoft can collect and analyze these reports more effectively.

If you are an end user, please contact your Microsoft 365 administrator and ask them to submit the report on your behalf.

Submitting reports through this channel helps Microsoft identify patterns across multiple tenants. If the issue is found to be affecting a broader group of customers, Microsoft can investigate it as a potential service issue and, where applicable, develop and deploy a fix more efficiently.

Thank you all for your contributions, patience, and understanding.
Anonymous

2026-07-21T08:20:36.14+00:00

Hi @Joshua,

Thank you very much for taking the time to share the outcome of the support ticket you opened regarding this issue.

I have marked your reply as the answer to give it greater visibility and make it easier for others facing a similar situation to find this information more quickly.

This information is extremely helpful, not only for me, but also for other community members who may encounter the same concern in the future.

Hopefully, a permanent fix will be rolled out soon so that everyone can continue to enjoy a smooth and reliable experience when using Microsoft Teams.

Answer 1

Anonymous

Hi @Joshua,

Thank you for bringing this up.

After reviewing the available Microsoft documentation, I wasn't able to find any official announcement or article specifically describing a recent change to the Teams account picker behavior. However, based on the current Microsoft documentation, what you're seeing can be considered expected behavior when users sign in to Teams using "This app only" and subsequently sign out.

According to Microsoft, when users choose "This app only", signing out of Teams removes that account from the PC. As a result, Teams may no longer have any saved account information available to display in the "Pick an account to continue" list.

Because of that, seeing an empty account list actually seems more consistent with the intended behavior. While I haven't found any official statement confirming a recent change, it's possible that Microsoft has made improvements behind the scenes to align the experience more closely with the intended design of the feature.

You can find more information here: Sign out of Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn

User's image

As for the "Pick an account to continue" heading, my understanding is that it's simply part of the standard Teams welcome/sign-in screen template. It's static text that appears whenever no user is currently signed in, so it remains visible even when there are no cached accounts available to display.

In that scenario, users can simply select "Create or use another account" to sign in for their meeting (they'll be prompted for their credentials and MFA if required), or choose "Join a meeting" if they only need to join anonymously.

Just as a brief note, this is a user-to-user support forum, so I am not a part of product development team. You can view me as a fellow user simply trying to contribute to the community and share my insights based on available information and my experience. I greatly appreciate your understanding and your openness to considering the information I have researched and shared.

Thank you so much again for your time.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Anonymous

2026-07-14T09:44:34.1833333+00:00

Hi @Joshua,

Do you have any updates regarding this topic?

If you have any further questions or additional information you'd like to share, please feel free to let me know.

Looking forward to hearing from you!
Joshua 15 Reputation points

2026-07-14T11:00:44.1633333+00:00

Hello Rin-L,
Thank you for your answer. I still find it strange, that the saved account information is suddenly gone. We used to have a list of recent accounts, so they can quickly select them and login. But now it is empty. Yes the default title is 'pick an account...' but there are none. If MS changed it to sign-off and delete everything, than this function 'pick an account..' is obsolete, because it would never show recent users. That is what I don't understand. If they changed it (for better privacy?), why not remove the title 'pick an account...' and just only show the button 'create or join'?
Anonymous

2026-07-14T16:23:00.9333333+00:00

Hi @Joshua,

Thank you for getting back to me.

After reading your explanation, I was curious about the behavior myself, so I borrowed a shared computer in my organization and did some testing. I saw the same behavior that you described. After signing out of Teams, my account was still listed on the "Pick an account" screen, even though I had originally selected "This app only" when signing in.

Because of that, I'm starting to think this may not be related to a Microsoft design change. Instead, it seems more likely that the locally stored Teams sign-in information was removed from the device at some point.

One possibility is that the Teams cache was cleared, since Teams stores account-related information locally and uses that data to populate the account picker. Another possibility is that Teams was uninstalled and reinstalled, which can also remove previously remembered accounts and reset the local sign-in experience.

Would either of those scenarios be possible in your environment?
Joshua 15 Reputation points

2026-07-15T05:27:35.56+00:00

Hi @Anonymous ,

Thanks again for your quick response and time/effort! I really appreciate that.
Which Teams version are you using which shows the last used account(s)? I assume the latest, as Teams updates automatic and (as far as I know) it is not possible to use older versions.
I also grabbed another laptop, to exclude hardware specific issue/settings, and installed the newest Teams on it and also logged in with my account in Teams app only. After sign-off, the list was empty. Strange that on your device it still shows the information. You are sure you only logged into Teams app only and Windows has no connected account in Windows Settings - Accounts?
Joshua 15 Reputation points

2026-07-16T05:38:20.72+00:00

I tried a fresh install of Teams in Windows Sandbox environment. Same behavior.
Also tried to 'log in on all apps'. Then I signed out of Teams, it restarts and shows the Welcome Screen with an empty account list. If I click on 'create account' I only need to enter my mail address and then it will log in automatically (because of the connected account OS wide). I was hoping it would show the recent accounts if credentials are saved, but no. Still an empty list and even more 'dangerous' if someone did it this way on a shared computer and someone else could easily could get access by only typing the mail address.
Joshua 15 Reputation points

2026-07-16T08:31:51.3766667+00:00
Hi @Anonymous

It's me (again). Sorry for spamming.
But I tested my personal account in Teams and after sign off it does show this account under "pick an account"!! But if I use my work account, it does not.
I doubled checked it and called my wife who was working and asked her to sign out in Teams. It restarts and shows an empty list.
So my conclusion so far is:

it is not a local issue or cache problem (excluded this by using sandbox and different accounts and hardware)

there is a difference between work/professional accounts en personal accounts

perhaps a silent security/privacy update of Teams and how it handles accounts?
Anonymous

2026-07-16T11:48:10.2066667+00:00

Hi @Joshua,

Thank you so much for getting back to me and for sharing the results of your testing. I’ve just returned to my workday today and really appreciate the time and effort you've put into investigating this.

For reference, my Teams version is

, and I can confirm that when I sign in using "No, this app only" and then sign out, my previously used account still appears under "Pick an account".

Based on what you've shared so far, I'm noticing several different scenarios and some inconsistent behavior across environments, which makes it difficult for us to draw a definitive conclusion from our position in the community.

Since you're using a work account, could you also confirm whether it's a end-user account or an administrator account?

If you're using an administrator account, I would recommend opening a Microsoft Support ticket. This would allow the Microsoft engineering team to investigate the behavior more thoroughly, review any relevant diagnostics, and provide an official determination as to whether this is an intended change, a security/privacy enhancement, or an issue that requires further investigation.

If you're an end user, I'd kindly suggest reaching out to your Microsoft 365 administrator and asking them to open a support ticket with Microsoft on your behalf.

Tips: You can switch off the Support Assistant as shown in the screenshot, then type a few short characters into the search box and select Get Help. After that, wait for the Contact Support button to appear and click it. At the final step, be sure to clearly describe your request in the description fields so the support engineers can quickly understand your issue and assist you more effectively.

Also, if you decide to go down that route and receive any new information or an official response from Microsoft, I'd highly appreciate it if you could come back and share it with me and other community members who may have the same concern.

I believe that would be one of the quickest ways for all of us to gain a clearer understanding of whether this behavior is expected, the result of a recent change, or something else entirely.

Your findings could be extremely valuable to others who are following this discussion and may be experiencing the same behavior in their own environments. Thank you again for taking the time to investigate and share your observations