What to Do When Teams Won’t Optimize

There are a lot of things to consider and keep track of when running a virtual machine. There’s always the chance that things don’t run well or at all. If you’re trying to run Teams on your virtual desktop and are getting a note that things aren’t optimized, then this article is for you. We’ll be looking at fixes to try when Teams won’t optimize.

What Happens When Teams Won’t Optimize

If Teams isn’t optimizing on your virtual machine, not only will you receive the error banner at the top of the app window, but you might also encounter other error notifications, such as “Error code 2000.”

What does this mean for the experience? Well, all features that make Teams a smooth, hassle-free communication experience are hamstrung, and you’ll be getting choppy audio and high CPU usage due to a lack of media optimization.

How to Fix Optimization Problems

Optimization helps virtual machines such as Azure Virtual Desktops or Citrix run Teams properly. If you’re wondering how to optimize Microsoft Team’s performance, we’ve got a few fixes below for you to try to get things working:

Restart Teams

The easiest fix and your first port of call should be restarting the app in your virtual machine. If you see the “Not optimized” banner, click the three dots next to it, and choose “Restart Teams to optimize” from the dropdown menu. If the banner disappears on restarting, you should be good to go.

Install Plugin for Citrix

Missing software may be the reason for Teams not working as well as it can. If you’re getting the error code 2000, then you are missing vital software, and most likely the plugin required. For Citrix, Microsoft has a plugin for you to install on your main PC and not the virtual machine that’ll help your Teams be optimized. Install this and try running Teams again.

Update Your Software

If you’re using Azure Virtual Desktop or Windows 365, make sure you’re using the latest Windows App (or the supported Remote Desktop client where applicable). You can download the latest version from the Microsoft Store easily.

In addition, ensuring that Windows 11 itself is regularly kept up to date is just as important.

Allow Teams to Access Your Hardware

Virtual machines might not automatically have access to important Teams hardware like microphones and cameras to communicate properly. If you’re getting no input, then try granting permissions for use on your actual desktop and not the virtual machine. Here’s how to do so:

Step 1. Open “Settings” (Win + I) and select “Privacy & Security” from the sidebar.

Step 2. Click on “Microphone” in the “App permissions” section.

Step 3. Toggle “Let Desktop apps access your microphone” to “On” and ensure that “Microsoft Teams VDI” is properly listed and toggled too.

Step 4. Once this is done, back out and toggle the Camera in the same way.