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Skype for Business Blog
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End of support for connecting to Skype for Business server in Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows

Matt-Taylor's avatar
Matt-Taylor
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Sep 01, 2023

While the Microsoft Teams product team is rapidly releasing new features and capabilities for Microsoft Teams Rooms and continues innovating to deliver more intelligent, inclusive, and productive meeting experiences we must end support for some legacy technologies. We are announcing the end of support for Skype for Business server connections for on-premises customers.

 

Skype for Business server connections for Teams Rooms on Windows

The Skype for Business online service was retired in 2021. Effective October 1, 2023, Teams Rooms will no longer support connections to the Skype for Business server impacting a small number of customers using on-premises configurations.  With this change, the following meeting mode options will no longer be available on the Teams Rooms on Windows app (version 4.19) settings:

  • Skype for Business only
  • Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams (default)
  • Skype for Business (default) and Microsoft Teams

In addition to the modes listed above, all Skype for Business related settings will be removed from the device settings and setup experience. The legacy home screen that allowed support for Skype for Business Server in Teams Rooms on Windows will also no longer be available.  Earlier this year in Teams Rooms for Windows app (version 4.16), we introduced a refreshed home screen experience that provides a modern look and feel and consistent experience across Teams devices. With this change the setting used to ‘opt-out’ of the new experience (TeamsRoomsNewExperience) will also be removed.

 

The new Microsoft Teams online service extends the capabilities of Skype for Business, bringing you modern, more intelligent, and exciting ways to collaborate. Find guidance on migrating to Microsoft Teams at:

With the deprecation of support for Skype for Business servers, Teams Rooms support will align to Teams Desktop for Exchange server setup. Find documentation here.

Published Sep 01, 2023
Version 1.0
Skype for Business
  • mawe01's avatar
    mawe01
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 21, 2023

    Thanks for the information.

     

    Is it still possible for existing systems to participate in Skype meetings via mtrs-w? We have systems in production that receive the Skype/SIP settings via XML. We would also be interested in how we can safely stop the app update until we have completely migrated.

     

    Thanks and greetings, Marco

  • Joel_S's avatar
    Joel_S
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 27, 2023

    Hello,

     

    For companies who have an Exchange on-premise server, how can we do now to use a room account without modern authentication?

    This option disappeared in the account parameters, it was still available in the previous Teams version 4.18.

    I just did a local reset of the computer of the room but it keeps Teams 4.19.57.0 and I can't deactivate the modern authentication that I must use in all our rooms to connect correctly to the Exchange on-prem server.

    Now the account is detected but it doesn't show the meeting list on the screen. It says "Sync failed".

     

    I applied the patch to deactivate "TeamsRoomsNewExperience" and now it says "Cannot fetch calendar" and the "Meet" button on the touchscreen is blocked. So I activated again "TeamsRoomsNewExperience" so I can invite the room directly from another computer.

     

    We just ordered a Microsoft Teams Pro license to be able to deactivate the modern authentication and we can't use the room now.

  • Sohail_Tariq's avatar
    Sohail_Tariq
    Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
    Nov 27, 2023

    mawe01 To join Skype for Business Server meetings, you can use SIP dialing under calling. You must have a qualifying SIP plan from Pexip configured to use this feature and Teams Rooms Pro license. 

    Joel_S Exchange support and connection is now shared with Teams Desktop client. See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/exchange-teams-interact#requirements-to-create-and-view-meetings-for-mailboxes-hosted-on-premises for details. Please note that TeamsRoomsNewExperience is now retired and should not be used. If you need help with configuration, please open Microsoft support ticket. 

  • lives29's avatar
    lives29
    Copper Contributor
    Dec 07, 2023

    We had a custom background wallpaper setup, and even after changing the settings XML file to >true< it still doesn't work, our workaround is to reset the Logitech TAP and re-authenticate to the account, this re-enables the new enhanced GUI, and works fine - We're now trying to figure out how to re-deploy the custom background wallpaper using the enhance GUI and remove the calendar off the main monitor for privacy purposes. Has anybody been able to do this yet?

     

    Thanks!