Microsoft Teams not connecting: how to fix it

Applies to: the new Microsoft Teams app (work or school) on Windows 11 and Windows 10. Steps for the older classic app are noted where they differ.

First, find where the problem is

Two quick tests save a lot of time:

• Open teams.microsoft.com in Edge or Chrome and sign in. If the web version works, your account and the Teams service are fine and the fault is in the desktop app or its cache, so go straight to the next two sections.
• Ask a colleague, or have your admin check Service health in the Microsoft 365 admin center. If Teams is down for everyone, there’s nothing to fix on your PC; wait for Microsoft to resolve it.
• If no websites load at all, this is a general connection problem, not a Teams one. Start with Ethernet doesn’t have a valid IP configuration or DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_BAD_CONFIG.

Quit Teams completely and sign in again

Closing the Teams window only hides it. Right-click the Teams icon in the system tray (near the clock) and choose Quit, or end Microsoft Teams in Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc). Open Teams again.

If it reconnects but keeps dropping, sign out from your profile picture and sign back in. If several work accounts are mixed up, remove the extra account from Teams first.

Reset Teams or clear its cache

A damaged cache is the most common reason Teams sits on a spinning screen or says it can’t connect while the browser version works. Resetting the app clears it; your chats, files and teams are stored online and come back after you sign in.

1. Quit Teams from the system tray as above.
2. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps (on Windows 10, Settings > Apps > Apps & features).
3. Find Microsoft Teams, click the three dots (or select it) and choose Advanced options.
4. Click Reset and confirm, then open Teams and sign in.

If Reset isn’t available, delete the cache folder by hand: press Win + R, paste %userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams and delete the contents of that folder while Teams is closed. For the classic app the folder is %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams. If you still use classic Teams, see what happened to Teams classic because it no longer gets fixes.

Fix the network side

• Turn off VPN and proxy for a test. Disconnect any VPN, then check Settings > Network & internet > Proxy and turn off a manual proxy you don’t need. On a work PC, leave company proxy settings alone and tell IT instead.
• Flush DNS. Open Command Prompt and run ipconfig /flushdns.
• Reset Winsock if other apps misbehave too. In an admin Command Prompt, run netsh winsock reset and restart the PC.
• Check the firewall or security suite. Third-party antivirus with web filtering can block Teams traffic. Temporarily disable its web protection to test, and turn it back on afterwards.
• Try another network. A phone hotspot quickly shows whether your office or home router is blocking Teams. On company networks, admins must allow the Microsoft 365 endpoints listed in the official sources below.

Check the date, time and sign-in

Teams signs you in with security tokens that depend on the correct time. If the PC clock is off by several minutes, sign-in fails and Teams can look like it’s offline. Go to Settings > Time & language > Date & time, turn on Set time automatically and click Sync now.

If Teams keeps asking for your password or shows a sign-in error instead, open Credential Manager from Start, choose Windows Credentials, and remove entries that start with MicrosoftOffice16 or mention Teams. Restart Teams and sign in again. If you’re told the sign-in method isn’t allowed, see “The sign-in method you’re trying to use isn’t allowed”.

Update or reinstall Teams

Old builds can stop connecting after Microsoft changes its service. In Teams, open Settings and more (the three dots next to your profile picture), go to Settings > About Teams and let it update. If Teams won’t open far enough for that, uninstall it from Settings > Apps > Installed apps, restart, and install the current version from Microsoft’s Teams download page.

Related guides

• Teams classic: what happened to it and how to switch
• How to remove an account from Teams
• The sign-in method you’re trying to use isn’t allowed
• DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_BAD_CONFIG: how to fix it
• Microsoft Teams tips and tricks
• A required authentication broker is missing: how to fix it
• How to record a Teams meeting

Official sources: for more detail, see Microsoft’s own pages:

• Microsoft Learn: Clear the Teams client cache
• Microsoft Learn: Microsoft 365 URLs and IP address ranges

Frequently asked questions

Will resetting Teams delete my chats?

No. Chats, channel posts and files are stored in Microsoft 365, not on your PC. A reset only clears local settings such as your theme and notification choices.

Why does Teams work on my phone but not my PC?

The phone uses a different app and often a different network. That points to the desktop app’s cache, a VPN or proxy on the PC, or the PC’s clock, which are the fixes above.

Teams says I’m offline but the internet works. Why?

Teams checks its own service, not general internet access. A blocked Microsoft 365 address, a proxy, or a stuck sign-in token can make it report offline while browsing works.