How to Fix Microsoft Teams Not Loading or Crashing
Microsoft Teams not loading, showing a blank white screen, crashing on startup or freezing during calls are among the most common Microsoft 365 support issues. The good news is that 90% of these problems are solved by clearing the Teams cache or reinstalling the app. This guide covers every fix in order from quickest to most thorough.
The Teams cache accumulates corrupted data over time and is responsible for most Teams loading issues, blank screens and crashes. Try clearing the cache first before any other fix – it takes 2 minutes and resolves most cases.
Fix 1: Clear Microsoft Teams Cache (Windows)
Close Teams Completely
Right-click the Teams icon in the system tray (bottom right, near the clock). Click Quit. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and confirm there are no Microsoft Teams processes still running in the Processes tab. End any remaining Teams processes.
Delete the Teams Cache
Press Windows + R to open Run. Type the following and press Enter:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Teams
The Teams AppData folder will open in File Explorer. Select all files and folders inside this directory (Ctrl + A) and delete them. Do not delete the Teams folder itself, only its contents.
The folders to delete include: Application Cache, blob_storage, Cache, databases, GPUCache, Local Storage, tmp and others. Select all and press Delete.
Reopen Microsoft Teams. It will rebuild its cache on first launch (takes 1 to 2 minutes longer than usual). Most loading issues resolve after this step.
Fix 1 (Mac): Clear Teams Cache on macOS
Clear Cache on Mac
Quit Teams from the menu bar. Open Finder. Press Cmd + Shift + G to open Go to Folder. Type:
~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Teams
Delete all contents of the Teams folder (same approach as Windows – delete contents, not the folder). Also navigate to ~/Library/Caches and delete the com.microsoft.teams folder if present. Reopen Teams.
Fix 2: Sign Out and Sign In Again
Re-Authenticate
Inside Teams (if it opens at all), click your profile picture in the top right corner. Click Sign out.
Close Teams completely. Reopen Teams. Sign in again with your Microsoft 365 work account. Enter the password and approve MFA if prompted.
Re-authentication refreshes the authentication tokens which can become expired or corrupted, causing loading failures.
Fix 3: Update Microsoft Teams
Install Pending Teams Update
If Teams loads partially, click the three dots (…) menu next to your profile picture. Click Check for updates. Teams will download and apply any pending updates. After updating, Teams will prompt for a refresh – click Update now.
Outdated Teams versions can have bugs that cause crashes or blank screens that have been fixed in newer releases.
For the new Teams (2.0), updates happen automatically. For classic Teams, manual update check ensures you have the latest version.
Fix 4: Repair or Reinstall Teams
Repair via Windows Settings
Go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps. Search for Microsoft Teams. Click the three dots next to it and select Advanced options. Click Repair.
If Repair does not work, click Reset (this clears all Teams data on this device, similar to a fresh install). After reset, reopen and sign in.
Complete Reinstall
If all else fails, completely remove and reinstall Teams:
- In Settings > Apps, uninstall all instances of Microsoft Teams (there may be two – the classic version and Teams Machine-Wide Installer)
- Also run this in Command Prompt as Administrator to remove the machine-wide installer:
wmic product where name="Teams Machine-Wide Installer" call uninstall
After uninstalling, restart the PC. Download the fresh Teams installer from teams.microsoft.com/download. Install and sign in. A fresh install resolves issues that cache clearing and repair cannot fix.
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