Lost ability to create private channels in teams

Katie W 0 Reputation points
2026-11-12T20:55:20.13+00:00

I have created teams and made private channels in them for years, most recently last week. I am trying to do this today and I am continuously getting an error message "we ran into a problem creating your channel". I can make public channels fine. I have even tried doing this in a team where I made private channels successfully last week, but can't add another one now. I have tried resetting the app, clearing caches, and doing this on the web version. I am an owner of the teams.

User's image

Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams for business | Teams and channels | Private channels
0 comments

2 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Chris-D 2,700 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-11-12T21:15:07.7433333+00:00

    Hi Katie,

    Thank you for providing the details of the issue and the troubleshooting steps you've already performed.

    I'm aware of a currently ongoing Microsoft 365 service incident (MO1550821). According to Microsoft's service health advisory, this incident may affect multiple services, including Microsoft Teams and SharePoint Online.

    User's image

    Since Private Channel creation involves both Teams and SharePoint Online services, this incident could potentially be related to the issue you're experiencing.

    In the meantime, could you confirm whether other Team Owners in your organization are experiencing the same issue?

    If so, and you are an admin, you can review Microsoft's service health advisory directly through the Microsoft 365 Admin center. If you're an end user without admin permissions, kindly reach out to your Microsoft 365 administrator and ask them to monitor this incident and keep you informed of any relevant updates.

    I hope the issue will be resolved soon.

    Note: Follow the steps in the forum documentation to enable email notifications if you want to receive email notifications related to this topic.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments

  2. AI answer

    2026-11-12T20:55:45.3866667+00:00

    The most likely cause is that permission to create private channels is now blocked by policy, even though standard/public channel creation still works.

    Since this fails in multiple teams, on desktop and web, and cache reset did not help, check these two places:

    1. Team-level setting
      • In Teams, go to the affected team.
      • Select More options next to the team name > Manage team.
      • Open Settings.
      • Under Member permissions, verify Allow members to create private channels is enabled.
    2. Organization policy
      • A Teams admin can check the policy assigned to the account in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
      • Path: Teams & groups > Policies.
      • Open the Teams policy affecting the account and confirm Create private channels is allowed.

    Relevant behavior:

    • By default, team owners or team members can create private channels, but admins can restrict this by policy.
    • Team owners can enable or disable member private-channel creation at the team level after org policies are set.
    • If permission is removed, Teams can show channel-creation errors like the one shown.

    If the team-level setting is already enabled, this needs a Teams or Microsoft 365 admin to review the assigned policy for the account.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.