Microsoft Teams Rooms Licensing Policy Enforcement
After July 1st, 2023, Microsoft will be enforcing that all users must be assigned a valid Teams Rooms license in order to use Teams Rooms. This is to prevent potential disruption to your Teams Rooms service and devices. There will be two valid Teams Rooms licenses, including: Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro and Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic.
For more information, read on…
What is the Teams Rooms licensing enforcement?
On September 6, 2022, Microsoft introduced Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro and Basic licenses. As part of this announcement, they also shared an important update that beginning July 1, 2023, customers will no longer be able to apply user subscription licenses (M365/O365 (i.e., A, E, G) ) to log into their Microsoft Teams Rooms devices.
The Teams Rooms licensing enforcement refers to the requirement for all Teams Rooms devices, including Surface Hub devices to be assigned to Teams Rooms licensing starting on July 1, 2023.
This announcement also affects devices enrolled in the Pro Management Portal and Teams Panels. For Teams Panels, customers need to provision a Teams Shared Device license for those accounts where a Teams Panel is deployed to a space where there is no Teams Room or Surface Hub in the room.
Why is Microsoft enforcing the Teams Rooms licensing?
Both Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard and Premium licenses have been available since 2019 and 2020 respectively and have evolved to the current Teams Rooms Pro and Basic licenses. This enforcement is not a new policy but a reminder that user licenses are non-compliant and any customer using these licenses should prepare to transition to a Teams Rooms license as soon as possible.
Will there be Grace periods for migrating to the new license?
Given the challenges that some of Microsoft’s customers are facing in migrating to the new licensing, they have elected to provide a 90-day grace period enforcement period that will begin on the July 1, 2023 enforcement date and end on September 30, 2023. They have made this decision with their commitment to customer satisfaction and seamless transition.
Customers improperly using User licenses for Teams Rooms or Teams Panels would need to move to compliant licenses by July 1, 2023, but Microsoft will be delaying technical enforcement until 9/30 to accommodate unexpected challenges for customers taking the proper steps to move to compliant licenses by July 1, 2023.
What happens if I don’t switch to a Teams Rooms Pro or Basic license by July 1, 2023?
Any Teams Rooms device using a user license will be blocked from logging into their account until a valid Teams Rooms license is applied once the grace period expires. This could result in disruption to your Teams Rooms experience, including the ability to join meetings or make calls, depending on the device type. This will also affect devices enrolled into the Pro Management portal and Teams Panels
What happens if I am currently using user licenses to enable my Teams Rooms devices?
Meeting devices that are leveraging a non-Teams Rooms license (O365/M365 A, E, G) will need to apply a valid Microsoft Teams Rooms license or will be blocked from signing in until a Teams Rooms device license is assigned, as well as Surface Hubs, and Teams Panels.
The new licensing requirement will not affect users signing into Surface Hub to access Microsoft 365 accounts or personal files.
What are the differences between Teams Rooms Pro and Teams Rooms Basic licenses?
Teams Rooms Pro ($40) provides enhanced in-room meeting experiences like intelligent audio and video, front row and large galleries, and dual screen support, as well as advanced management features like remote device management, conditional access policies, and detailed device analytics.
Teams Rooms Basic provides core meeting experiences at no additional cost, including scheduling, joining meetings, content sharing, and collaborative whiteboarding, as well as basic security and management capabilities out-of-the-box for up to 25 licenses.
Can I use a Microsoft 365/O365 user license to enable my Teams Rooms devices?
No, starting July 1, 2023, you must acquire and assign a valid Teams Rooms license to all accounts used on Microsoft Teams Rooms.
Valid Teams Rooms licenses include:
*Please note Teams Rooms Premium and Teams Rooms Standard are legacy room licenses and are no longer sold. However, these are valid Rooms licenses and will continue to work until their expiry.
For Teams Panels, customers need to provision a Teams Shared Device license to those accounts when a Teams Panel is deployed to a space where there is no Teams Room or Surface Hub in the room.
Can I reserve a license under Teams Rooms Standard and Teams Rooms Premium to ensure I’m properly licensed?
Teams Rooms Standard and Teams Rooms Premium are considered legacy licenses and you can no longer purchase them on new licensing agreements. Customers with existing Microsoft Teams Rooms Standard or Teams Rooms Premium subscription licenses can reserve seats under their existing agreement to remain compliant until their renewal date.
How many Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic licenses can I assign to Teams Rooms systems in my organization?
You can assign up to 25 Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic licenses to Teams Rooms systems in your organization. If you need to license more than 25 Teams Rooms systems, those additional licenses need to be Teams Rooms Pro licenses.
How do I know if my organization is currently using a user license to enable Teams Rooms devices?
You can check if you are currently using a user license for your Teams Rooms device by using the Teams Admin Center or the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Alternatively, you can use a script provided by Microsoft to check your licenses in bulk. To learn more about both options please visit aka.ms/MTRLicenseNoticeLearn
Surface Hubs Application
The Hub will still function as normal without the Teams meetings functionality. The new licensing requirement does not affect users signing into Surface Hub to access Microsoft 365 accounts or personal files.
Will this licensing enforcement affect Teams Panels or other Microsoft Teams devices?
Each Teams panel will require a Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro license or a Teams Shared Device license. What license you get depends on how you’re going to use your Teams panel:
Pro Management portal
Effective May 15, 2023, all new device enrollments in the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal must have a Teams Rooms Pro or Premium license. All noncompliant licenses (user license, Teams Rooms Basic, and Teams Rooms Standard) will receive the following error message:
This meeting room device does not have a valid Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro or Premium license. Please assign a new license to take advantage of the Teams Rooms Pro device management capabilities. Learn more about licensing here, find devices with unsupported licenses here, and manage your Teams licenses at M365 Admin Center.
Existing devices already logged into the Pro Management portal enforcement begins on July 1, 2023. Customers who require additional time to become compliant will have a 90-day grace period through September 30th.
Non-compliant devices will remain in the inventory and planning tabs in the portal, but won’t be able to use the following device management features:
If an executive is using a Microsoft Teams Rooms with a user license, is it possible toapply a Teams Rooms Pro license to their Azure AD identity and keep using the Microsoft Teams Rooms as their personal device? (a.k.a. stacking licenses)
Teams Rooms are shared devices; however, customers can apply a Teams Rooms license (Pro, Standard, Premium) on top of a user license (i.e., M365/O365 E5, E3), also referred to as stacking, to continue using Microsoft Teams Rooms using their personal user account. For example, this approach works on a Poly X30 device.
Please note license stacking limitations below.
Using Microsoft Teams Rooms on Android as a shared device will:
The device will continue to be managed as Teams Room device in the Teams Admin Center and Teams Rooms Pro Management Portal by IT admins.
If the executive has additional Android devices, for example, a Teams phone or Teams display, those extra device experiences will not be compatible with this stacking approach. This will be corrected with a late June product release, prior to the July 1, 2023 enforcement date.
Will I need to purchase additional hardware to comply with this licensing enforcement?
No, you will not need to purchase any additional hardware to comply with this licensing enforcement. You will need to acquire and assign a Teams Rooms Pro or Teams Rooms Basic license for each of your Teams Rooms devices.
More Information
Microsoft will continue to inform you via Message Center Posts, Service Health Issues posts, Teams Admin Center posts. They’ve recently created new Lifecycle pages, posted a new Learn articles, YouTube videos, and two blog posts: TechCommunity Blog and Surface blog for any further assitance.
Microsoft has also produced a YouTube video that will walk you through the process of license auditing to check in bulk which Teams Rooms devices are assigned user licenses.
You can view the view here on Microsoft Helps YouTube channel.
To reach out to your Microsoft account team, partner, or refer to our documentation –Find user licenses assigned to Teams Rooms devices – Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn
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