When businesses set up Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTRs), they're investing in a reliable, consistent meeting experience tailored around Teams. However, what happens when you need to join a Zoom meeting from that Teams Room? Microsoft's "Guest Join" feature allows it, but there are trade-offs. Understanding these limitations is essential for companies aiming to deliver a polished and seamless collaboration experience.

In this article, we’ll break down the features lost when using Guest Join to Zoom from a Teams Room and why businesses might consider other options. If you're evaluating unified communications solutions, knowing these details could make all the difference.

AUDIO & VIDEO LIMITATIONS

NO CONTROL OVER ZOOM-SPECIFIC CAMERA LAYOUTS

When connecting via Guest Join, Microsoft Teams Rooms users cannot control Zoom’s specialized camera views like Gallery View or Speaker View. Participants are locked into the default layout, limiting the ability to tailor views for different meeting types or preferences.

LIMITED CAMERA AND MICROPHONE CONTROL

Advanced camera and microphone features available in dedicated Zoom Rooms—like presets, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera control, and noise suppression—are unavailable. Instead, the hardware defaults to basic, static views, and any specialized enhancements, such as auto-framing or voice-tracking, may not work.

DUAL-SCREEN SUPPORT RESTRICTIONS

A huge advantage of certified Zoom Rooms is the ability to use dual screens — one for content, one for video. Guest Join typically only mirrors one screen, removing that dual-screen capability and limiting the viewing experience.

MEETING CONTROLS

LIMITED HOST CAPABILITIES

When joining a Zoom meeting through Guest Join, Teams Rooms users cannot mute participants, remove attendees, or assign co-hosts. Critical meeting management tools are unavailable, forcing organizers to rely on external participants or struggle with meeting logistics.

NO BREAKOUT ROOM PARTICIPATION

Zoom's Breakout Rooms are invaluable for workshops, trainings, and brainstorming sessions. Unfortunately, MTRs using Guest Join cannot join or manage Breakout Rooms, reducing collaboration opportunities for in-room participants.

NO ZOOM CLOUD RECORDING CONTROL

Another critical missing piece: you cannot start, stop, or control Zoom cloud recordings from a Teams Room. If documentation and recording are vital to your workflow, this could be a major issue.

IN-MEETING CHAT INACCESSIBLE

In-meeting chat is a central feature of Zoom—used for side conversations, sharing links, or reinforcing key points. MTRs using Guest Join cannot access the in-meeting chat at all.

NO ACCESS TO ZOOM POLLS OR WHITEBOARDS

Interactive features like live polls and collaborative whiteboards, available on native Zoom Rooms, are inaccessible through Guest Join. This limits real-time engagement during larger meetings, workshops, or webinars.

CONTENT SHARING

BASIC SCREEN SHARING WORKS, BUT...

While basic screen sharing functionality is available, it often lacks the seamless experience Zoom users expect. There can be inconsistencies in performance, and only very simple content shares are reliably supported.

HDMI INGEST IS UNSUPPORTED

If your room system supports HDMI content ingest—where you plug a laptop directly into the room hardware—Guest Join does not fully support this feature. Instead, users must rely on wireless sharing methods, which can be less stable.

NO ANNOTATION ON SHARED CONTENT

Zoom’s in-meeting annotation feature, allowing participants to draw, highlight, or comment directly on shared content, is not supported when joining via Guest Join. This can be a major limitation for collaborative meetings.

NO WHITEBOARD COLLABORATION

Zoom’s dynamic whiteboard experience, including the latest virtual whiteboard enhancements, is not accessible. Teams Rooms users lose the ability to brainstorm visually with remote attendees.

IDENTITY & AUTHENTICATION

JOINS AS A GUEST ONLY

When using Guest Join, Teams Room devices do not join as authenticated Zoom users. They join meetings as anonymous "guests," which impacts how meetings are secured and managed.

NO PERSONALIZED MEETING SETTINGS

Guest Join users have no access to personalized meeting settings, such as preferred backgrounds, custom waiting rooms, or name tags. This can dilute your brand experience and user personalization.

NO CALENDAR INTEGRATION FOR ZOOM MEETINGS

Zoom meetings will not appear natively in the Teams Room calendar unless additional steps are taken. Even then, one-touch join functionality is inconsistent and error-prone.

DEVICE-SPECIFIC LIMITATIONS

SIMPLIFIED TOUCH PANEL CONTROLS

Touch panels — often used to manage calls, adjust volume, and control cameras — become extremely basic during a Guest Join session. Options are stripped down, confusing users and creating friction.

ONE-TOUCH JOIN RELIABILITY ISSUES

One-touch join experiences are a hallmark of well-designed conference rooms. However, if calendar invites are not formatted correctly, Guest Join functionality may fail. Manual intervention is often needed, disrupting the flow of meetings.

LIMITED HARDWARE FEATURE SUPPORT

Device-specific enhancements—such as Logitech Rally Bar's auto-framing, voice-tracking, and smart audio filtering—may not work when Guest Joining a Zoom call. Companies investing in premium hardware may not realize the full benefit.

WHY THIS MATTERS

If your organization uses Zoom and Microsoft Teams extensively, these limitations can create inconsistent meeting experiences that frustrate users and impact productivity. Particularly in larger organizations where meetings are critical to daily operations, these missing features can cause confusion, technical difficulties, and reduced collaboration quality.

Moreover, relying on Guest Join may undermine the significant investment you've made in premium room systems and collaboration hardware.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES?

For businesses seeking a consistent multi-platform experience, several alternatives exist:

• NATIVE ZOOM ROOMS: Deploying native Zoom Room licenses on your hardware (if supported) ensures full functionality for Zoom meetings.

• DUAL PLATFORM ROOM SOLUTIONS: Some hardware and services—such as Logitech Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini with appliance modes—support switching between Microsoft Teams and Zoom, allowing you to natively join both platforms.

At Vivo, we specialize in designing and deploying modern collaboration solutions that optimize your technology investment. Our experts work with your team to ensure that your meeting spaces are configured to support the platforms your organization depends on, whether that's Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or both.

FINAL THOUGHT

Guest Join into Zoom from a Microsoft Teams Room can be a useful stopgap, but it's far from a full Zoom Room experience. With limitations around meeting controls, audio/video performance, content sharing, and authentication, Guest Join can create roadblocks for organizations that need a flawless, professional meeting environment.

If seamless Zoom and Teams experiences are critical to your business, talk to the experts at Vivo. We’ll help you design the right collaboration ecosystem, maximize your hardware capabilities, and #CollaborateBetter.

Ready to optimize your meeting spaces? Contact Vivo today to learn how we can help you create a flawless, multi-platform collaboration experience.