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Jan_Steberl's avatar
Jan_Steberl
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Jun 22, 2023

Now in Public preview & Targeted release: Animated backgrounds in Teams meetings

The animated backgrounds feature in Teams meetings allows you to replace an existing background with a dynamic animation for a more immersive virtual environment. It offers various options to enhance...
preview
W1lko's avatar
W1lko
Iron Contributor
Microsoft told us again last week through the UK escalation path that this method isn't possible and will not work - and reiterated that the only way this can be done is 'via the Teams Premium features'.  Still ongoing.
MatthiasRodler's avatar
MatthiasRodler
Iron Contributor
Oct 19, 2023

See https://www.workplaceascode.com/2020/04/17/distribute-custom-backgrounds-for-teams-via-intune/
or
https://janbakker.tech/manage-teams-custom-backgrounds-using-intune/

 

Answer from bingchat:

To distribute custom backgrounds for Teams via Intune, you can follow the steps below:

  1. Open the Intune blade Device Configuration | scripts.
  2. Add a new script by using the add button followed by Windows 10.
  3. Give the name a logical name like Add-CustomBackgroundsForTeams.
  4. Add the script from your local computer.
  5. Select the option run script in 64 bits PowerShell Host (the script includes components who are not present in the 32-bits PowerShell host!).

The script is reusable in case the background(s) needs to be updated, and it is usable in a multi-user scenario1.

I hope that helps!

 
  • W1lko's avatar
    W1lko
    Iron Contributor
    Oct 20, 2023

    MatthiasRodler Hi, thank you for this, but this method is what we gave been doing, and no longer works for us in Teams 2.0. Are you able to do this via New Teams? We can add the backgrounds in the same way as ‘Classic’, but only users with a Premium license can see and select them.

    • SteveMacNZ's avatar
      SteveMacNZ
      Iron Contributor
      Nov 21, 2023

      W1lko 

      You can copy the background to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams\Backgrounds\Uploads - Note: images need to be named as a GUID, so rather than the original filename (e.g., CompanyBackground.jpg and CompanyBackground_thumb.jpg they will be named like 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.jpg and 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000_thumb.jpg)

      Best way to generate the GUID for the image name is to open PowerShell and type "New-Guid" and press enter - this will generate a new guid to use for each image. Copy all of the images over and exit the new teams client and then reopen - your custom background will now be available again without adding 1 at a time.

       

      Have also been able to confirm adding of custom animated gifs also work in new teams as well by copying the gif into the directory, then copying the gif, rename the - copy.gif to _thumb.gif, then rename both with the GUID and change the file extension from .gif to .jpg then exit and reopen teams. I found that if i copied the animated image from the classic teams directory and renamed as a GUID the background was static, so the file needs to be copied as a .gif first.

       

      Confirmed working with the following new Teams client without a Team premium license

       

      • W1lko's avatar
        W1lko
        Iron Contributor
        Nov 27, 2023

        Thanks SteveMacNZ - this is useful to know, but is this on a per user basis? We used to be able to do it via GPO meaning we could push it out to all users at the same time, that's what we're looking to achieve.

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