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--- microsoft_teams_on_linux [23.02.2021 09:03] – created Pascal Suter
+++ microsoft_teams_on_linux [08.02.2023 19:06] (current) – [use custom image (flimsy)] Pascal Suter
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Microsoft Teams on Linux ======
-There is an official native Linux client for MS Teams, but it still is missing features and is only in a "Preview" state for years.
+<del>There is an official native Linux client for MS Teams</del> Not anymore! since September 2022 the native client has been discontinued for Linux and Users should now use the web application instead.
-Here are some workarounds I found on the way while using teams
+To get the maximum of features, you should use either chrome or edge.
-===== Desktop remote control is not working =====
+simply navigate to https://teams.microsoft.com and then click on the three dots in the upper right corner of your chrome browser (where you also have options such as Print etc.) and click on "install Microsoft Teams". Now you should be able to start it like a native app.
-One of the key benefits of Teams vs. so many other platforms is the ability to remotely control the shared screen of someone or vice versa. Sadly, not so with Linux.
-[[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/8761/request-control-during-screen-share-ubuntu-180404.html|here]] is a workaround to at least allow a Linux client to control other Windows clients. The command specified in the original article has a few typos, here is the fixed one:
+compared to the linux native client, you will finally have some features that where missig:
+  * background images work, but only the microsoft defaults, you can't upload your own
+  * singe window sharing works, you no longer need to share your whole screen
-stop Teams app
+there are also things that don't work anymore:
+  * you can't open a pop-out chat window, instead you can open your teams PWA app mulitple times if you want to have a chat in parallel to a meeting for example.
-  sed -i 's/"enableScreenSharingToolbar":false/"enableScreenSharingToolbar":true/g' ~/.config/Microsoft/Microsoft\ Teams/settings.json
-start Teams app
+====== use custom image (flimsy) ======
+i stated before, you can't upload your custom image as background.. that's partially true.. while the app does not allow, you can hack your browser to use another image.
+you image needs to be somewhere on a server serving it via HTTPS to your client. It does not have to be reachable by anybody else on the internet, but for you it must be reachable via https.
+when your teams PWA app is open, focus on it and press ''CTRL + SHIFT + I'' to start hte developer tools window. now go the the Application tab, then choose ''Local Storage -> https://teams.microsoft.com...''. you should see lots of entries. if you don't wait a moment and they should eventually appear.
+now search for "localItemsStorage.video.customBackground-call.setBackground" and you should see one entry. If you don't see an entry, start a new conference call and choose any background from the default ones, then try again.
+if you see the entry, change the value to something like ''{"effectType":16,"path":"https://www.my.page/my.image.png"}'' then press enter.
+if you now restart your teams PWA app and you start a video call, you will see a black background, because most probably your webserver will not allow cross-site access to the image with an origin from teams.microsoft.com. If you can change your web-servers configuration, you can change it to add the following header, for requests coming for this iamge:
+  Access-Control-Allow-Origin https://teams.microsoft.com
+once your webserver has this set, your image will work in teams.
+If you can't manipulate your server's headers you can work around this issue by installing a browser extension that works around the CORS checks for you. However, the problem is, that this is not a safe setting to have on all the time while surfing the web, and if you use chrome also as your default web-browser, unfortunately when you enable this plugin in your teams PWA it will also be enabled for all your other browsing, so this might be a security issue there.. If you still want to proceed, you can install the extension as follows:
+Click on the puzzle icon in the upper left corner of your title bar, then choose "extension manager". Now install the ''Moseif Origins & CORS changer'' plug in. now using the same puzzle icon, you should be able to enable it in your teams PWA window.
+finally restart teams and you should see your image as background. Don't know for how long that will last though ;)  and you will have to repeat this for all your pc's