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I use a linux-based laptop (Debian 11, upstream of Ubuntu). My colleagues use Microsoft teams for meetings. I would like to share my screen or at least a presentation in a format other that Powerpoint, such as a browser tab or a pdf file. Is there a work-around to:

  1. share the screen from a linux laptop?
  2. or at least share a pdf presentation?

There are related messages under this thread in a Microsoft forum: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/34407/screensharing-not-working-in-the-official-ms-teams.html I don't have any access to the administrative settings on the server side.

I'm using Microsoft Teams Version 1.4.00.26453 (64-bit) installed from the .deb package downloaded from microsoft-teams/download-app.

Update 2022

Based on comments under this answer, and several other answers reporting Teams working well under the Wayland desktop, I tried to share the screen when Teams was started inside the chromium web browser. I could see the share tray and select screens but it didn't work. It still didn't work after installing the Teams browser extension as recommended on this Microsoft Q&A site.

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  • 1) according to this thread for a different linux build, the browser extension might work in chromium, but not in chrome. 2) You might also want to try the unofficial teams for linux
    – 1NN
    Commented Jan 22, 2022 at 13:41
  • 3) A sub-optimal workaround would be to use OBS, define a virtual webcam and share your document through that. You'll need to spotlight your own video feed for everyone, though, and quality might be an issue.
    – 1NN
    Commented Jan 22, 2022 at 13:45

2 Answers 2

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This issue was raised in the post Teams for Linux desktop sharing.

No answer came from Microsoft, so the users supplied these workarounds:

  • "I switched to X11 from Wayland. Screen sharing works flawlessly on Chromium (Version 91.0.4472.77 (Offizieller Build) snap (64-Bit)) and Teams App (Microsoft Teams Version 1.4.00.7556 (64-Bit))."

  • "I had the same problem until I uninstalled the proprietary Nvidia driver. I am currently using the open-source "xserver-xorg-video-nouveau". No more issues with screensharing."

  • "A work-around for screen and application sharing (at least for me) is to use the browser version of Teams (https://teams.microsoft.com/) with Google Chrome browser (version 87.0.4280.141.)"

  • "I was able to get screenshare working by utilizing the XOrg version of Gnome Desktop. In latest version of Fedora, click the gear icon in lower right hand corner and log into the desktop using Xorg version of Gnome. This resolved the issue for me."

  • "we can get around this by creating a 2nd virtual webcam that shows our desktop: https://superuser.com/questions/411897/using-desktop-as-fake-webcam-on-linux"

One of these workarounds might work for you. If one did, you may add the information to that post.

EDIT

You could try using X11 as described in :

Another screen-sharing solution might come from Using desktop as fake webcam on linux.

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  • When using the Teams desktop app, the "share tray" only gives me the possibility to share a PowerPoint presentation. When using the Chromium browser (version 90.0.4430.212), the "share tray" gives me a screen sharing possibility and I can even select a monitor, but screen sharing doesn't work. I haven't tried switching from Wayland to Xorg.
    – Paul Rougieux
    Commented Sep 6, 2021 at 14:50
  • You should try using X11 as described in Using Microsoft Teams on Linux and also How to enable/disable wayland on Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop. Another solution might come from Using desktop as fake webcam on linux.
    – harrymc
    Commented Jan 20, 2022 at 9:50
  • Thanks I quite enjoyed reading the faschingbauer blog link. I would prefer to stick to Wayland if possible. Especially considering that 4 users report that they were able to get teams running inside Chromium on Wayland on these Ubuntu-related answers. I will try the fake webcam as a fall back solution.
    – Paul Rougieux
    Commented Jan 20, 2022 at 10:00
  • I now use teams inside the Firefox web browser. It also works with chromium, the open version of Chrome. Teams has screen sharing capability on Firefox in Linux, provided you start the meeting from the calendar "Meet Now" button, or when you join a scheduled calendar meeting.
    – Paul Rougieux
    Commented Apr 9 at 12:16
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I found some pretty fresh threads about this from both Microsoft and Ubuntu forums. According to them there's a problem between Teams and Wayland caused by Teams using an outdated version of Electron.

One suggested solution is switching from Wayland to xorg. Another suggestion is installing beta versions of Chrome or Edge.

Sources:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msteams/forum/all/teams-screen-sharing-doesnt-work-on-linux/aa871d64-b600-442f-b751-d5e9b282ad37?page=1

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1329667/microsoft-teams-and-wayland-will-screen-sharing-be-fixed-in-21-04

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  • Thanks for pointing to the AskUbuntu Q&A, I get that the issue is due to the absence of Wayland support, which should be fixed by Microsoft. I will try some of the temporary workarounds there.
    – Paul Rougieux
    Commented Sep 6, 2021 at 13:06
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    Yap - maybe they just should roll with the times and update their tools :-)
    – Peregrino69
    Commented Sep 6, 2021 at 13:13

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