Microsoft Teams Keeps Crashing or Freezing: How to Fix It on Windows and Mac (2026)

What "Teams keeps crashing" really means (and why it is rarely one bug)

People use "Teams crashes" for at least five different things, and each one has a different fix. Before you delete anything, work out which of these you are seeing:

• The window closes by itself. Teams opens, shows the logo or the first screen, then disappears. This is a true crash of the app process.
• The window freezes. You can see Teams, but clicks do nothing, the title bar says "Not responding," or the cursor shows the spinning circle. The process is alive but stuck.
• It never finishes loading. A white or grey screen, an endless spinner, or a message that something went wrong. Often this is a sign-in, network or cache problem rather than a crash.
• It crashes only during calls or screen sharing. Usually a camera, microphone, graphics driver or video effect problem.
• It restarts in a loop. Teams closes and reopens itself again and again. This points to damaged local data or a bad update state.

Microsoft Teams on a desktop is a large application. Chats, channels, calls, meetings, files and apps all run inside it, and it keeps a local cache so that it opens quickly. That design is why one damaged cache file, one broken graphics driver or one low-memory moment can make the whole thing fall over. It is also why the right fix is usually small and targeted, not a full reinstall of Windows.

This guide is for people using Teams on Windows or Mac, whether through work, school or a small business Microsoft 365 plan. Every step that changes something on your computer is reversible or low risk, and we say so before each one. If your problem is a specific sign-in code such as caa5004b, our short page on Teams error caa5004b covers that code, and the page on Microsoft Teams not working is the general quick reference. This article goes deeper on crashes and freezes specifically.

First, which Teams do you have? Classic versus new Teams

This matters because the cache location and the reset steps differ. Microsoft's documentation describes two desktop generations: the classic Teams client and the new Teams client. According to Microsoft Learn's lifecycle pages, support for the classic Teams client ended on July 1, 2024, and the classic client stopped being available on July 1, 2025. Microsoft's guidance for people who cannot use the new client on a device is to use the Teams web app in a supported browser instead.

In practice, in November 2026 almost everyone should be on the new Teams client. If you still follow an old tutorial that tells you to delete %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams, you are following classic Teams advice. Microsoft's current cache page still lists that path for classic Teams, but it also lists a different path for the new client, and the new client is the one you most likely have.

A quick way to tell on Windows: open Settings, then Apps, then Installed apps, and search for Teams. If you see an entry that Windows lets you open Advanced options for, that is the new client. If you are not sure, the safest approach is to follow the new Teams steps in this guide.

The most common causes, ranked by how often we see them

Based on the support requests we handle at IT Cares and on Microsoft's own troubleshooting pages, these are the causes in rough order of frequency. This ranking is our own field experience, not a Microsoft statistic.

1. A damaged or oversized local cache. Teams stores temporary data locally. When some of it is corrupted, the app can crash on startup or freeze when you open a specific chat or meeting.
2. An interrupted or stuck update. Teams updates itself. If that was interrupted by a sleep, a shutdown or a full disk, the install can be left in a half state.
3. Low memory or a crowded PC. Teams, a browser with many tabs, Outlook and a video call can exhaust 8 GB of memory quickly.
4. Graphics driver trouble. Video calls, background blur and screen sharing lean on the graphics driver. A broken or very old driver makes the app freeze exactly when the camera starts.
5. Another program interfering. VPN software, security tools and other apps that touch the network or the camera can conflict with Teams. In Microsoft's community forums, some users reported crashes alongside a particular VPN client. That is anecdotal, but the pattern of "crashes only when the VPN is on" is worth testing.
6. Account and sign-in state. A stale sign-in, a mixed personal and work account, or an organization policy can make the app misbehave on load.
7. Not enough disk space or an unsupported system. Teams has minimum requirements, covered below.
8. Malware or a hijacked account. Rare, but if Teams behaves strangely together with other odd behaviour on the computer, treat it as a security question.

Does your computer meet the minimum requirements?

Microsoft publishes system requirements for the Teams client. As listed on Microsoft Learn when we checked, Windows needs a processor at 1.1 GHz or faster with two cores, 4 GB of RAM, 3 GB of free disk space and Windows 10 version 10.0.19041 or later (Windows LTSC editions are excluded for the desktop app). On Mac, Microsoft lists a dual core processor, 4 GB of RAM and one of the three most recent macOS versions. Microsoft's support page for avatars in meetings asks for more: at least a two core processor with 6 GB of RAM, and recommends four cores and 8 GB for the best experience. Requirements change, so check the linked Microsoft page if your machine is borderline.

These are minimums, not comfortable working levels. A PC with 4 GB of RAM can technically run Teams, but add a browser and a few Office apps and the system starts using the disk as memory, which makes everything freeze. If your computer is old and slow in general, Teams is often the first program to show it. In that case read our guides on fixing a slow computer and computer freezing randomly alongside this one.

How to check what you have: on Windows, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager (our Task Manager shortcut guide shows other ways), then look at the Performance tab. On Mac, open the Apple menu and choose About This Mac.

Five-minute triage: do these before anything else

These steps take a few minutes, cost nothing, and fix a surprising share of cases. Do them in this order.

1. Fully quit Teams, then reopen it. Closing the window with the X often leaves Teams running in the background. Right-click the Teams icon in the taskbar (Windows) or dock (Mac) and choose Quit. This is also the first step in Microsoft's own cache instructions.
2. Restart the computer. Not "sleep," a real restart. A restart clears stuck processes and finishes pending updates.
3. Test Teams on the web. Sign in to Teams in a current browser. If the web version works, your account and the Microsoft service are fine, and the problem is the desktop app or your computer. If the web version also fails or hangs, the problem is more likely your account, your organization's settings or a service issue, and reinstalling the desktop app will not help. Ask your IT administrator or check the Microsoft 365 service status.
4. Check free disk space. Aim for several gigabytes free. Teams needs room to update and rebuild its cache.
5. Close heavy programs. Close extra browser windows, video editors and games, then try again.

Step 1: repair, then reset the new Teams app on Windows

Windows treats the new Teams client as an installed app, so you can fix it from Settings without touching folders. Microsoft's cache page documents the Reset option. Windows also offers a gentler Repair option on the same screen for many apps. Repair is a general Windows feature, so we list it as the first thing to try, and Reset as the stronger one.

1. Type settings in the Start search box and open Settings.
2. Go to Apps, then Installed apps, and search for "Microsoft Teams."
3. Find the New Microsoft Teams entry, select the three dots (More options) and choose Advanced options.
4. Select Repair first, if you see it. Wait for the check mark, then open Teams.
5. If it still crashes, return to the same screen and select Reset, then open Teams.

Microsoft warns that resetting deletes the app data, including any personalization settings you configured. Your chats, files and meetings live in your Microsoft 365 account in the cloud, not in this local data, so they are not deleted by a reset. You will probably need to sign in again, and the first start will be slower while Teams rebuilds its cache.

Make sure you know your password and second sign-in method first. If you rely on a phone prompt, a security key or a passkey, have it in hand. If you manage your Microsoft sign-in with a work or school account and cannot sign in, your IT administrator must help. Do not guess passwords repeatedly, because that can lock the account. If you suspect the account itself has been taken over, stop here and read our guide on recovering a hacked Microsoft account.

Step 2: delete the Teams cache files on Windows

If Repair and Reset were not enough, or if you prefer a manual approach, you can delete the cache folder. Here are Microsoft's documented steps for the new Teams client:

1. If Teams is still running, right-click the Teams icon on the taskbar and select Quit.
2. Press the Windows key and R to open the Run box.
3. Paste this path and select OK: %userprofile%\appdata\local\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Microsoft\MSTeams
4. Delete all files and folders inside that directory (not the directory above it).
5. Restart Teams.

Microsoft notes that the restart after clearing the cache can take longer than usual because the cache files must be rebuilt. If you are still on classic Teams, which Microsoft no longer makes available, the documented path is %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams, and the same idea applies: quit, delete the contents, restart.

Step 3: clearing the cache on a Mac

On macOS, Microsoft documents these steps for the new Teams client. You will use the Terminal app. Type carefully, because the rm command deletes files without sending them to the Trash.

1. Quit Teams. Right-click the dock icon and choose Quit, or press Command-Q.
2. In Finder, open Applications, then Utilities, then double-click Terminal.
3. Run the two commands from Microsoft's page, pressing Return after each one: rm -rf ~/"Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams" and rm -rf ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2
4. Restart Teams and sign in again.

A practical note from us: in Terminal, a path containing a space (for example "Group Containers") usually needs the space escaped with a backslash or the path wrapped in quotes, or the shell reads it as two separate paths. Microsoft's page shows the commands as listed above. If a command returns "No such file or directory," do not retype it with extra wildcards. Open Finder, choose Go, then Go to Folder, paste the folder path and delete the named folder by hand, which is safer. For classic Teams on Mac, the documented path is the Teams folder under Application Support, which you can also remove from Finder.

Step 4: uninstall and reinstall cleanly

If the cache steps fail, a clean reinstall removes a damaged installation.

1. Quit Teams.
2. Windows: Settings, Apps, Installed apps, find Microsoft Teams, select the three dots, then Uninstall. Mac: drag Microsoft Teams from Applications to the Trash.
3. Restart the computer.
4. Download Teams again from Microsoft's official Teams download page, or from the Microsoft Store or your company's approved software portal. Avoid third party download sites.
5. Install it, sign in, and test with a short call.

If your computer is managed by an employer, do not remove software your administrator installed unless they say so. Managed devices often reinstall Teams automatically, and removing it can also remove policies. In that case, ask your IT contact for the approved fix.

Teams also installs extras, such as the Teams Meeting Add-in for Outlook. If crashes began right after you opened Outlook or scheduled a meeting, see our guide on Outlook, Word and Excel crashing on Windows 11, because Office add-ins can be the shared cause.

When Teams freezes only during calls or screen sharing

If the app opens fine but locks up the moment you join a meeting, turn on the camera, blur your background or share your screen, the cause is usually not the cache. Work through this list:

1. Turn off video effects. Background blur, background images and noise-related effects use extra processing. Join a test call with video off, then add features one at a time.
2. Update the graphics driver. On Windows, a damaged or very old display driver is a classic cause of freezes when video starts. Our guide to updating drivers explains the safe way, and the page on the GPU driver crashed error covers the related symptoms. Prefer drivers from Windows Update or the maker of your computer or graphics card.
3. Change the camera or microphone. In Teams, open Settings, then Devices, and choose a different camera, microphone or speaker. A virtual camera or a USB headset with a faulty driver can hang the app.
4. Close other programs that use the camera. Two apps cannot always share a camera. Close browsers on a video site, other conferencing tools and screen recorders.
5. Test on a wired connection. A weak Wi-Fi signal causes freezing video, but it rarely crashes the app. If the picture freezes while the app still responds, you have a network problem, not an app problem.
6. Try the browser. Join the same meeting from the Teams web version. If it works in the browser, the desktop app or its driver interaction is at fault.

Which fix for which symptom: comparison table

When the real problem is the computer, not Teams

If Teams is the only app that fails, the app is the suspect. If Chrome, Zoom and Outlook also stutter, Teams is just the heaviest program on a struggling machine. Look at three things.

Memory. Open Task Manager and watch the Memory column while Teams runs. If memory stays near 90 percent or more before you even join a meeting, add RAM or close background programs. A laptop with 4 GB of RAM will freeze with Teams plus a browser. A used laptop with 8 GB is often the difference between a daily struggle and a quiet day.

Disk. A nearly full drive, or an old mechanical hard drive, slows every start. Clear space, and if you still have a spinning drive in a work laptop, a solid state drive upgrade is the most effective single hardware change for general speed.

Heat. A laptop with clogged vents throttles the processor and freezes under video load. If the fan is loud and the base is hot, the fix may be a cleaning, not software.

Other apps crash on the same computer? Compare with our guides for other programs: Zoom keeps crashing, Chrome keeps crashing on Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge keeps crashing. When several programs fail the same way, the common cause is almost always memory, a driver, or a damaged Windows installation, and you should also run Windows Update and, if needed, the repairs in our Windows Update guide.

Repairing Windows itself when many apps crash

If several apps misbehave, two Microsoft-documented Windows commands help. Open Command Prompt as administrator and run DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth, wait for it to finish, then run sfc /scannow and restart. DISM repairs the Windows component store and SFC replaces damaged system files using it. These commands do not delete your personal files. They take time, sometimes 20 minutes or more, and may appear to stall at a percentage. Let them finish.

Also install pending Windows updates, because an outdated Windows build can fall below Teams' minimum supported version, which Microsoft lists as Windows 10 version 10.0.19041 or later for the desktop app.

Printable checklist: Teams crash rescue

Realistic scenarios (illustrative)

These are illustrative examples built from common patterns, not real client cases.

Scenario 1: a dental office front desk, Teams closes at startup

A receptionist's Windows laptop has 8 GB of RAM and 11 GB free on a 256 GB drive. Teams opens, shows the logo and closes within 5 seconds every morning after a Windows update. The web version works. Repair did nothing, Reset fixed it in under 10 minutes, including sign-in. Cause: a damaged local cache after the update. Total cost: zero dollars and about 20 minutes of her time.

Scenario 2: a contractor's office, freezes only in meetings

A small contracting firm has four office laptops. Teams freezes on one of them each time the camera turns on. The cache is fine and the web version also freezes with video on. The graphics driver on that laptop is three years old. After updating the driver and turning off background blur, the freezes stop. A technician doing this remotely typically needs about 30 to 45 minutes.

Scenario 3: a home office with 4 GB of RAM

A freelancer uses an older 4 GB laptop. Teams runs, but with Chrome, Outlook and a spreadsheet open, it freezes for 30 seconds at a time and sometimes closes. Memory sits above 90 percent. Resetting Teams helps for a day. The lasting fix is closing programs during calls, or upgrading to 8 GB or 16 GB of RAM, which for many laptops is a modest, one-time purchase. If the laptop cannot be upgraded, replacement becomes the sensible answer.

What this costs: DIY versus a technician (CAD)

The honest advice: try the free steps in this guide first. Most Teams crashes resolve with a full quit, a restart and a reset. Pay for help when you have already tried those, when the computer is a business machine you cannot afford to have down, or when other apps are also failing and you suspect hardware or malware.

For small businesses: stop crashes from costing you meetings

For an office with five to twenty computers, Teams problems are usually repeat problems. A few habits remove most of them:

• Standardize on the new Teams client and keep Windows and Office updated through a regular schedule.
• Set a minimum spec for new laptops. Microsoft's published minimum is 4 GB of RAM, but for day-to-day work with Teams, a browser and Office we recommend 8 GB or more as a practical floor. This is our recommendation, not a Microsoft number.
• Keep a known-good test: when a staff member reports a crash, the first question is always "does it work on the web?" That single answer saves hours.
• Do not let users clear the cache for missing-messages complaints. Microsoft advises against it because it deletes diagnostic logs needed to find the root cause.
• Keep important files in cloud storage with backup. Note that sync is not backup, as explained in our guide on OneDrive sync problems, so make sure a backup exists too.

Security and privacy: crashes that are not really crashes

Most Teams freezes are boring technical glitches. But a few warning signs deserve a security look rather than another reset:

• Teams, or your Microsoft account, shows sign-ins you did not make, or you receive sign-in approval prompts you did not start.
• You are asked to install a "Teams fix" or "meeting plugin" from a link in an email, text or chat. Install Teams only from Microsoft's official download page, your device's app store or your employer's approved portal.
• A meeting invitation from someone you do not know asks you to sign in on an unfamiliar page. Open meetings from the official calendar, not from a link in an unexpected message.
• The crashing started right after you ran a cracked program or a "free PC booster."

If any of these apply, change your Microsoft password from a different, trusted device, review recent sign-in activity on your account, and run a full scan with a reputable security product. Our guide on recovering a hacked Microsoft account walks through the account side. We do not claim any affiliation with Microsoft, and nothing in this guide asks you to share your password with anyone, including us.

Official resources

• Microsoft Learn, "Clear the Teams client cache" (Windows and Mac steps, plus guidance on when not to clear the cache).
• Microsoft Learn, "System requirements for the Teams client."
• Microsoft Learn, "End of availability for classic Teams client."
• Your organization's Microsoft 365 admin center service health page, if you manage the tenant.

The exact links are listed in the Sources section at the end of this article.

When to call a professional

Stop and ask for help if:

• You have done a full quit, restart, reset and reinstall and Teams still fails.
• The web version fails too and you manage the Microsoft 365 tenant, or you do not have the admin rights to fix a policy.
• Several programs crash and Windows repairs report damaged files they cannot fix.
• You see signs of an account takeover or malware.
• The computer holds client files and you want a backup and a proper diagnosis before more changes.

IT Cares has provided remote and on-site IT support in Quebec and across Canada since 2014. We connect remotely, you watch, we fix and explain. You can call 1 (888) 711-9428 or book a remote session using the button below.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Microsoft Teams not working: quick reference
• Teams error caa5004b
• Zoom keeps crashing
• Chrome keeps crashing on Windows 11
• Microsoft Edge keeps crashing
• Computer freezing randomly
• Computer running slow
• Clear cache in all browsers

Sources and official references

Last verified: November 11, 2026

• Microsoft Learn: Clear the Teams client cache
• Microsoft Learn: System requirements for the Teams client
• Microsoft Learn: End of availability for classic Teams client
• Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Teams lifecycle