Camera and microphone problems in Teams are frustrating mid-meeting, but they're also some of the most reliably fixable issues, since the root cause is almost always one of a small handful of things: permissions, device selection, or another app holding onto the device.

Ad placeholder — in-article responsive unit

Fix 1: check Windows privacy permissions first

This is the most common cause, especially after a Windows update, which can sometimes reset app permissions:

  1. Go to Settings → Privacy & security → Camera
  2. Make sure Camera access is turned on, and specifically that Microsoft Teams is allowed under "Let apps access your camera"
  3. Go to Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and check the same thing for microphone access

Fix 2: check the correct device is selected inside Teams

If you have multiple cameras or microphones (a built-in laptop camera plus an external webcam, or built-in mic plus a headset), Teams may be pointed at the wrong one:

  1. In a meeting, click the three dots (More options) → Settings → Device settings (or before joining, check the device settings on the pre-join screen)
  2. Confirm the correct camera and microphone are selected from the dropdowns
  3. If you recently plugged in or unplugged a device, try toggling the selection away and back to force Teams to refresh its device list

Fix 3: close other apps that might be using the camera/mic

Cameras in particular can usually only be accessed by one application at a time. If Zoom, another browser tab with a video call, or any other app is also trying to use the camera, Teams may fail to access it at all.

  1. Close any other video-call apps or browser tabs that might be using your camera or mic
  2. Try the Teams call again

Fix 4: update or reinstall camera/audio drivers

If the device works fine in other apps but not Teams specifically, this is less likely to be the cause — but if it's not working anywhere, outdated drivers are worth checking:

  1. Right-click the Start button → Device Manager
  2. Expand Cameras (or "Imaging devices" on some systems) and Audio inputs and outputs
  3. Right-click your camera/microphone, select Update driver, then "Search automatically for drivers"
  4. If that doesn't help, try Uninstall device, then restart your computer — Windows will typically reinstall the driver fresh on reboot

Fix 5: clear the Teams cache

If everything checks out on the Windows side and devices work fine elsewhere, a corrupted Teams cache can still be the culprit:

  1. Fully close Teams
  2. Press Windows key + R, type %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams, press Enter
  3. Delete the contents of the folder
  4. Reopen Teams and sign back in

If only your microphone audio sounds bad (not absent)

If the mic is detected and "working" but sounds muffled, distant, or has heavy background noise, check Teams' built-in noise suppression and audio settings (Settings → Devices → Noise suppression) — sometimes the "High" suppression setting can make voice sound artificially processed or thin; switching to "Auto" or "Low" sometimes sounds more natural depending on your environment and microphone.