How to Fix Microsoft Teams External Users Stuck in the Meeting Lobby Waiting to Join

Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to Fix Microsoft Teams External Users Stuck in the Meeting Lobby Waiting to Join. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

Microsoft Teams uses a meeting lobby as a security feature to prevent unauthorised users from entering a call. When external guests are stuck in the lobby, it is usually because the meeting options are configured to only allow people from your organisation to bypass it. This guide explains how to adjust those settings and ensure external guests can join your meetings without delay.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Open Microsoft Teams and go to your Calendar.
2. Select the meeting and click Meeting options.
3. Set Who can bypass the lobby? to Everyone.
4. Click Save.

Detailed Instructions

Change Lobby Settings for a Scheduled Meeting

1. Open the Microsoft Teams desktop app or web client.
2. Click Calendar in the left-hand navigation pane.
3. Select the meeting where external users are getting stuck.
4. Click Meeting options at the top of the meeting details window.
5. Under Who can bypass the lobby?, select Everyone from the dropdown menu.
6. Click Save to apply the changes.

Change Lobby Settings for a Channel Meeting

1. Go to the relevant Team channel in Microsoft Teams.
2. Find the meeting in the channel posts and click Edit.
3. Click Meeting options.
4. Change Who can bypass the lobby? to Everyone.
5. Click Save.

Change Default Lobby Settings for All Meetings (Admin)

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Teams admin centre.
2. Go to Meetings > Meeting settings.
3. Under Who can bypass the lobby?, select Everyone.
4. Click Save.

Troubleshooting

External User Still Cannot Join

• Ensure the external user is using a Microsoft account or a guest account invited to your organisation.
• Ask the user to try joining via the web browser instead of the desktop app.
• Check if your organisation's IT administrator has restricted external access in the Teams admin centre.

Meeting Options Button is Missing

• Only the meeting organiser can change lobby settings. If you did not create the meeting, contact the organiser to update the options.
• If using the web app, try clearing your browser cache or switching to the desktop application.

If you are the meeting organiser, you can also admit people manually from the lobby by clicking Admit next to their name when they request to join.

Changing lobby settings to Everyone allows any person with the meeting link to bypass the lobby. For sensitive meetings, consider admitting guests manually instead.

If you continue to experience issues with external users joining Teams meetings, you can Open a Ticket with our support team.

For related email issues, see our guide on Email not sending or receiving.

Still Having Issues?