Breakout Room Not Working in Teams Meeting: 5 Ways to Fix it

Apply these effective solutions to resolve Breakout room not working in Teams error

by Sagar Naresh
Sagar Naresh
Sagar Naresh
Content Analyst
Sagar is a web developer and technology journalist. Currently associated with WindowsReport and SamMobile. When not writing, he is either at the gym sweating it out or playing... read more
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  • The Breakout room divides the participating members of a meeting into different groups.
  • To fix it, you can try to clear that app cache or try resigning with your account to fix the issue.
  • You can also try enabling the new Teams Meeting Experience option.
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Microsoft Teams users use the Breakout rooms to divide participants into smaller groups during meetings. This allows them to manage them better and can be helpful in multiple scenarios. For example, it is dividing students into different groups for a project.

However, multiple user reports claim that the Breakout room is not working in Teams. If you are also facing a similar issue and looking for solutions, this guide is here to help you. This post will give you five effective solutions to resolve the issue.

Why is Breakout room not working in Microsoft Teams?

We did some digging on the internet, reviewed multiple user reports regarding the Breakout room not working in Teams issue, and created a list of the most common reasons that would trigger this problem.

  • The Microsoft Teams app isn’t updated: Chances are that there is a bug in the current version of Microsoft Teams that you have installed, and there is a pending update that brings a fix to that issue.
  • Your internet connection isn’t stable: For all features in Microsoft Teams to work perfectly, you should make sure that the internet connection is working smoothly.
  • Corrupt MS Teams cache data: If the cache files become corrupted, the program associated with it will misbehave and cause multiple issues.
  • The new meeting experience option isn’t enabled: To use the Breakout rooms feature in MS Teams during meetings, you need to allow the new Teams meeting experience option.
  • Your PC isn’t up to date: As crucial as it is to keep the program on your PC up to date, you are also required to keep your PC updated.

How can I fix the Breakout room not working in Microsoft Teams?

Before we go ahead with the advanced troubleshooting solutions, we would suggest you give the below-mentioned simple solutions a try;

  • Restart your PC, which will allow it to clean the slate and load all the program-related files from scratch.
  • Make sure that you are connected to a working internet connection and that there aren’t any issues with it.
  • Exit the Microsoft Teams desktop app and relaunch it to see if it resolves the issue.

Now let us check out the solutions that have worked for users facing similar issues.

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1. Run Microsoft Teams as an admin

  1. Right-click on the Microsoft Teams app and select Properties.
  2. Switch to the Compatibility tab.
  3. Check the box for Run this program as administrator.
  4. Click Apply and OK.

Certain features of a program require admin privileges. Although the Breakout rooms feature works fine without admin issues, you can check by running the program as admin, as it might be trying to access a file that requires admin access.

2. Reinstall Microsoft Teams

  1. Press the Win key to open the Start menu.
  2. Right-click on Microsoft Teams and hit the Uninstall button.
  3. Visit the official website.
  4. Download Microsoft Teams on your PC.
  5. Launch the EXE files and let the installer load the files.

Often some installation files get missed due to interruptions which could cause multiple issues. In such a case, we suggest you uninstall the program from your PC and install it again by following the abovementioned steps.

3. Clear the app cache

  1. Quit Microsoft Teams and all its related processes.
  2. Open the File Explorer.
  3. Navigate to the below-mentioned path: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams
    (If the AppData folder isn’t visible, you need to choose the option to show hidden items.)
  4. Delete the below-mentioned folders:
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\Application Cache\Cache
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\blob_storage
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\Cache
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\databases
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\GPUCache
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\Local Storage
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\IndexedDB
    • C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Teams\tmp
  5. Restart your PC.
  6. Launch Microsoft Teams and check if this fixes the issue or not.

Cache files store all your personalized settings for the program and help load all those settings quickly when you launch the program.

If the data is corrupt, it could cause the program to misbehave, and specific features of the app won’t work. To fix this, it is essential to clear the app cache and see if the Breakout room is not working in Teams error is fixed or not.

4. Enable the new Meeting Experience

  1. Launch Microsoft Teams.
  2. Click on the three-dot icon at the top, next to your profile.
  3. Select Settings from the context menu.
  4. Click on General on the left pane.
  5. Check the box for Turn on new meeting experience (New meetings and calls will open in separate windows. Requires restarting Teams) option.

Several users have reported that the issue of the Breakout room not working in Teams was resolved by turning on the New Meeting Experience option.

To experience the full functionalities of breakout rooms, you need to enable the new feature inside the Microsoft Teams settings.

5. Try reconnecting your account

  1. Launch Microsoft Teams.
  2. Click on the Profile icon.
  3. Select Sign out.
  4. Click on Sign out.
  5. Select the account and sign in.

Sometimes, due to a corrupt user profile or issues with your account, Microsoft Teams may not work as intended. You can try resigning in with your account. Otherwise, we suggest you check if you are getting the same Breakout room not working in Teams error with another account.

Some users have encountered the Microsoft Teams Audio not working issue, which can be very annoying, especially if you spend a lot of time communicating with friends and family through this app. That being said, if you have Microsoft Teams echo problem during calls, it would be wise to have a fix.

Knowing how to download Microsoft Teams recordings from the app can be very helpful, especially if you have an extensive conversation database and want to keep it stored on your PC. We also have a guide that will help you resolve the Microsoft Teams we’re sorry – we’ve run into an issue error.

You can check out the guide where we have listed many solutions to resolve the Microsoft Teams error code CAA20002. There is a trick to keeping Team status always green.

Feel free to let us know in the comments section which of the above solutions worked and fixed the Breakout room not working in Teams error.

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