Cannot login to MS Teams as Guest user

Question

Cannot login to MS Teams as Guest user

Vishnu Sharma 20

I have my organization account (Microsoft Professional from GoDaddy) [e.g. ******@company.com]
I have other organization accounts (Microsoft Professional from GoDaddy) [******@company.com] and these accounts have MS Teams license. ******@company.com does not have a MS Teams license
Customer added my ******@company.com account as guest in their MS teams setup. It was working for few days.
Now, when I try to login to either the Windows desktop app or browser, I see the screen to Login or join a meeting. When I click login I see another screen asking to start the trial. It happens either when I try to use browser or the app
Customer IT team checked and confirmed the settings were OK on their end

Here are the things I already did:

Reset my teams app - Problem persists
Cleared browser cache - Problem persists
Used incognito mode - Problem persists
Uninstalled Teams and login only via browser - Problem persists
Chose a fresh laptop running Ubuntu where I never used MS Teams - I can login

Therefore, it seems there is some cache/token at the Teams server side that keeps preventing me from logging into the guest account and redirects me to buy license or start trial.

Let me know how to resolve

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

EmilyS_726 30,455 Volunteer Moderator

On your main machine, Teams/browser already “knows” your account (abc@) belongs to your home tenant (GoDaddy / Microsoft 365)

That home tenant does NOT have a Teams license, so Microsoft redirects you to “start trial”

Your guest access to the customer tenant is getting ignored during sign-in

On the fresh Ubuntu device, there’s no cached identity context, so it correctly routes you into the guest tenant, and it works.

Use the customer tenant-specific Teams URL instead of the generic one:

https://teams.microsoft.com/?tenantId=<customer-tenant-id>

If you don’t know the tenant ID, ask the customer IT.

This bypasses your home tenant and forces Teams to open in the guest context.

Vishnu Sharma 20 Reputation points

2026-04-18T23:13:57.5533333+00:00

Thanks. Extracted the tenant id and tried again. This time the browser reroutes a bit more and then comes back again to the sign-in page :-(
EmilyS_726 30,455 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-18T23:30:59.2033333+00:00

Try it in browser incognito mode.
Vishnu Sharma 20 Reputation points

2026-04-19T04:28:31.9333333+00:00

Thanks again! Even in incognito mode, I can see a lot of redirects but in the end, the same result - I see a screen asking me to "Sign in"
EmilyS_726 30,455 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-19T14:31:31.7166667+00:00

Can you see if you can sign into here and see if it still does the redirects and whatnot -

https://myapps.microsoft.com/?tenant=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

replace the x with the actual tenant ID. If you can, see if you have Teams there to click on.
Vishnu Sharma 20 Reputation points

2026-04-19T18:32:07.2466667+00:00

Nice! Thank you. I logged in using the above link. It took me to myapps.microsoft.com
I could see my ID in "Groups I am in". Inside that , I clicked on the "Group name". That takes me to another page where at the bottom I see "Group links". There was one link for Teams. Clicking that link opens the Teams app (web app) with my guest account. Whew!
How do I mark the above comment as answer.
EmilyS_726 30,455 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-19T18:46:18.2633333+00:00

I am glad that finally did it :)

To accept the answer, you will have to scroll up to the initial Answer I posted (don't think you can mark the comment), and use the accept answer option there to mark it. Appreciate it though.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Vishnu Sharma 20 Reputation points

2026-04-18T23:13:57.5533333+00:00

Thanks. Extracted the tenant id and tried again. This time the browser reroutes a bit more and then comes back again to the sign-in page :-(
EmilyS_726 30,455 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-18T23:30:59.2033333+00:00

Try it in browser incognito mode.
Vishnu Sharma 20 Reputation points

2026-04-19T04:28:31.9333333+00:00

Thanks again! Even in incognito mode, I can see a lot of redirects but in the end, the same result - I see a screen asking me to "Sign in"
EmilyS_726 30,455 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-19T14:31:31.7166667+00:00

Can you see if you can sign into here and see if it still does the redirects and whatnot -

https://myapps.microsoft.com/?tenant=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

replace the x with the actual tenant ID. If you can, see if you have Teams there to click on.
Vishnu Sharma 20 Reputation points

2026-04-19T18:32:07.2466667+00:00

Nice! Thank you. I logged in using the above link. It took me to myapps.microsoft.com
I could see my ID in "Groups I am in". Inside that , I clicked on the "Group name". That takes me to another page where at the bottom I see "Group links". There was one link for Teams. Clicking that link opens the Teams app (web app) with my guest account. Whew!
How do I mark the above comment as answer.
EmilyS_726 30,455 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-04-19T18:46:18.2633333+00:00

I am glad that finally did it :)

To accept the answer, you will have to scroll up to the initial Answer I posted (don't think you can mark the comment), and use the accept answer option there to mark it. Appreciate it though.

Answer 1

The behavior is caused by how the account is being recognized and provisioned across tenants, not by a simple client-side cache. The account is being treated as a full (licensed) organizational account in its home tenant instead of as a guest in the customer’s tenant, which is why the sign-in flow is pushing to “start a trial” instead of opening the guest Teams.

Because sign-in works on a fresh Ubuntu device, the guest relationship itself is valid; the issue is with how the existing devices are directing the sign-in and which tenant/session is being picked up.

Use the following steps, focusing on tenant selection and guest provisioning on the customer side:

Ask the customer’s IT admin to re‑invite the account as a guest
- In their Azure AD (Microsoft Entra ID), the customer’s admin should:
  - Remove the existing guest user object for ******@company.com.
  - Re‑invite ******@company.com as a Guest user.
  - Ensure the invitation email is received and the invitation link is accepted.
- This ensures the guest account is fully provisioned and not in a partial/invalid state, which is a common cause of guest access failures.
Confirm guest/external access is enabled in the customer tenant
- The customer’s Teams/tenant admin should verify:
  - Guest Access is enabled in Teams Admin Center for the organization and for the specific Team/Channel.
  - External access policies are not blocking the domain of ******@company.com.
- If guest access is disabled or restricted, the account will be treated as an external organizational account and pushed toward licensing instead of guest access.
Sign in explicitly to the customer’s tenant from a clean browser session
- From a private/incognito browser window:
  - Go to https://teams.microsoft.com.
  - Sign in with ******@company.com.
  - When prompted to choose an account type (if applicable), select the work/school account associated with the customer’s tenant invitation.
- After sign-in, use the tenant switcher (top-right profile menu) to ensure the customer’s organization is selected, not the home GoDaddy tenant.
If the email is tied to both a personal and work account
- If ******@company.com is also used as a personal Microsoft account (MSA), this dual identity can cause the sign-in flow to route incorrectly and show license/trial prompts.
- In that case, follow the pattern from the documented scenario:
  - Use a private/incognito browser.
  - When prompted, choose the work/school account, not the personal account.
  - If conflicts persist, consider separating the identities (for example, changing the alias of the personal Microsoft account) so the guest access uses only the work/school identity.
If the problem persists only on specific devices
- Completely sign out of all Microsoft accounts in the browser and Teams client on the affected device.
- Remove any saved work/school accounts from the OS account manager (e.g., Windows “Access work or school”).
- Then repeat step 3 to sign in directly to the customer’s tenant as guest.

If, after re‑invitation and explicit tenant selection, the sign-in still redirects to “start trial” on those devices, the customer’s IT admin must treat this as an external/guest provisioning issue in their directory and adjust their external/guest access configuration accordingly, as end users and channel owners cannot fix this themselves.

References: