3 Ways to Enable Users in Microsoft Teams

Turning people on in Microsoft Teams can feel confusing, licenses, groups, and policies all touch access. Whether you’re onboarding hires or giving contractors temporary access, the goal is simple: get users in, fast, and stay compliant.

We’ll outline three practical paths: enabling in the Microsoft 365 admin center, group-based licensing in Entra ID (Azure AD), and scripted provisioning with PowerShell/Graph. You’ll learn when each fits, how licensing activates Teams, and where guest access and policies apply.

Table of Contents

• Use Microsoft Teams's UI
• Use Torii
• Use Microsoft Teams's API

Use Microsoft Teams’s UI

Here, you’ll use the Microsoft Teams admin center to turn sign-in back on for a user and confirm they’re enabled in Teams. Microsoft’s docs refer to this flow as managing users in the Teams admin center.

Open the Teams admin center

• Go to admin.teams.microsoft.com.
• Sign in with an account that has a Teams admin role.

Find the user

• In the left menu, select Users, then Manage users.
• Search for the person by name or email.
• Select the user to open their details. Microsoft’s “Manage users in Teams admin center” article describes this page and the fields you’ll see.

Check and allow Teams sign-in

• In the user’s details, look under Account or General information for Sign-in status:
  • If it shows Blocked, change it to Allowed.
  • If there’s a toggle labeled Allow this user to sign in, turn it On.
• Select Save if prompted.
• Microsoft’s documentation notes this is the place to block or unblock a user’s Teams sign-in.

Confirm the user is Teams-enabled

• Still on the user’s page, look for Teams status or a similar field that indicates if the user is enabled for Teams.
• If it shows Enabled, you’re set.
• If it shows Not enabled or No license, Teams is telling you the user doesn’t have a license that includes Teams. Microsoft’s docs call out that licenses are handled outside the Teams admin center, so you won’t be able to fix licensing from here.

Check assigned policies at a glance

In the same user view, scroll to Policies to make sure nothing obvious is blocking access (for example, a restrictive setup policy you didn’t intend to assign). Microsoft’s “Assign policies to users in Teams” doc explains how these apply.

Have the user sign back in

• Ask the user to fully quit the Teams app and sign in again.
• Changes can take a little time to apply. Microsoft’s docs note that updates may take up to 24 hours, though it’s often faster.

Use Torii

Rather than working inside Microsoft Teams itself, you can use Torii, a SaaS Management Platform, to enable user in Microsoft Teams. SMPs centralize SaaS subscriptions and integrations so you can programmatically onboard/offboard users, review licensing and subscription data, and handle related tasks from a single place.

Instead of manual clicks in Microsoft Teams, Torii lets you automate the action so it runs whenever a defined trigger occurs-such as a new hire, a departing employee, or a contract renewal. This reduces repetitive work and saves time when you need to repeat the action often.

To enable user in Microsoft Teams straight from Torii, follow these steps:

1. Sign up for Torii

Contact Torii to request a free two-week proof of concept.

2. Connect your Microsoft Teams account to Torii

Once your account is active, connect Microsoft Teams to Torii (assuming you already have an account). Here are the instructions for the Microsoft Teams integration.

3. Create a Torii workflow for Microsoft Teams

Within Torii, set up an automated workflow to enable user in Microsoft Teams. Go to the Workflows tab, choose a trigger, and add an action that enables the user in Microsoft Teams. After that, whenever the trigger condition is met, Microsoft Teams will be updated automatically.

Use Microsoft Teams’s API

Here, you’ll use Microsoft Graph to give a user a license that includes Teams and make sure the account is active. No UI clicks. Just API calls.

Get an app-only access token for Microsoft Graph

Use client credentials to get a token your service can use. Replace the placeholders with your IDs and secret.

Example curl is:

curl -X POST "https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant_id}/oauth2/v2.0/token" \
-H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
-D "client_id={client_id}&client_secret={client_secret}&grant_type=client_credentials&scope=https%3A%2F%2Fgraph.microsoft.com%2F.default"

Save the access_token from the response. You’ll pass it in the Authorization header.

Find a license SKU that includes Microsoft Teams

Query your tenant’s available SKUs, then pick one that contains the Teams service plan. In Graph, the Teams plan usually appears as servicePlanName TEAMS1 under a SKU like Office 365 E3 or Microsoft 365 E5.

Example curl is:

curl -X GET "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/subscribedSkus" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

From the response, note:

• The skuId of the SKU you want to assign.
• Inside servicePlans for that SKU, the servicePlanId where servicePlanName is TEAMS1. You’ll use this to verify enablement later.

Assign the license to the user

Call assignLicense on the user with the skuId you selected. Do not include the Teams plan in disabledPlans.

Example curl is:

curl -X POST "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/{user_id_or_upn}/assignLicense" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-D '{
    "addLicenses": [
        {
            "skuId": "{sku_id_with_teams}",
            "disabledPlans": []
        }
    ],
    "removeLicenses": []
}'

You should see the SKU in assignedLicenses in the response.

Make sure the Azure AD account itself is enabled

If the directory user is disabled, Teams won’t work even with a license. Set accountEnabled to true if needed.

Example curl is:

curl -X PATCH "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/{user_id_or_upn}" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{ "accountEnabled": true }'

Verify that Teams is enabled for the user

Check the user’s assignedPlans and confirm the Teams service plan is enabled. Use the servicePlanId you noted from the SKU earlier.

Example curl is:

curl -X GET "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/{user_id_or_upn}?$select=assignedPlans,assignedLicenses,accountEnabled" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer {access_token}"

In the response, find the entry in assignedPlans where:

• ServicePlanId matches the Teams service plan ID from your SKU
• CapabilityStatus is “Enabled”
• AccountEnabled is true

Provisioning can take a short time. If capabilityStatus isn’t Enabled yet, wait a few minutes and check again.