Prevent Muted Attendees from Unmuting in a Teams Meeting

Instructors, meeting organizers, and presenters can control whether muted attendees can enable their mics in a Teams meeting.

Important: You must set up your meeting options to have participants join with the attendee role to prevent them from unmuting their mics.

Before the Meeting

Go to your calendar in Outlook on the Web Calendar, Microsoft Outlook calendar, or Microsoft Teams calendar. Note that the Microsoft Teams calendar has the same event items as your Outlook Calendar. (If the Calendar icon does not appear in the left vertical toolbar of Teams, click or tap the three-dots menu icon, and then select Calendar.)
Browse to the meeting event item on your calendar, making sure it's the correct meeting.
Double-click to open the specific calendar event item for your online class session or meeting. If you single-click, a pop-up preview of the event may appear, and the preview may not show you what you need.
Scroll down to view the Meetings Options link. Click or tap the Meetings Options link. If the link doesn't activate, right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) to reveal a drop-down menu. Select "Open link in a new window."
"Meeting Options" opens. Scroll to the "Who can present?" option.
For the "Who can present?" option, select Only organizers and co-organizers. This setting gives your participants the attendee role. If you have select persons who will present, you can also choose "Specific people" and identify presenters who can unmute. Everyone else will have the attendee role, allowing their mics to be disabled.
For "Allow mic for attendees," consider these two options.
1. If you want your attendees to join the meeting silently with mics disabled, set "Allow mic for attendees" to No.
2. Otherwise, keep the setting as Yes to allow attendees to speak briefly upon joining. Then you can disable mics for all attendees at any point in the meeting.
Click or tap Save to activate the meeting options.

Upon Joining the Meeting

If you had set "Allow mic for attendees" to "No" in Step 7a above, skip these steps and read the "During the meeting" section below. Your attendees join the meeting with mics disabled.
If you had set "Allow mic for attendees" to Yes in Step 7b above, announce that all attendee mics will be muted. And attendees cannot unmute their mics. The "Raise Hand" icon allows the instructor or meeting organizer to unmute an attendee.
From the meeting controls toolbar, click or tap the People icon.
The Participants panel opens. Click or tap the three-dots menu icon to reveal a menu. Then select Disable mic for attendees. This action mutes all attendees.
You see a warning: "Disable mic for attendees? Attendees won’t be able to unmute themselves. The organizer and presenters can let people unmute as needed."
Click or tap Disable Mics.
For attendees, the mic icon grays out. A notice appears for attendees: "Your mic has been disabled. You can no longer unmute."

Allow Unmuting During the Meeting

When attendees use the "Raise Hand" icon, you as the instructor or meeting organizer are notified.

From the meeting controls toolbar, click or tap the People icon.
The Participants panel opens. In the Participant list, a hand icon appears for the attendee seeking to speak. Click or tap the three-dots menu icon that appears with the attendee's name. From the menu, select Allow mic.
The attendee is notified: "Your mic has been enabled. Unmute if you'd like to speak." The attendee unmutes the mic and speaks.
When attendee is finished speaking, return to the Participant list. Click or tap the three-dots menu icon that appears with the attendee's name. Select Disable mic.