- You Cannot Install Skype For Business Web App Plug In Mac Pro
- Trouble Installing The Skype For Business Web App Plug-in On Mac
For a list of supported operating system and browser combinations, see Supported platforms for Lync Web App. To download Silverlight, visit the following Web site: Download Microsoft Silverlight. With these requirements in place, you’ll be ready to get started. To learn how, see Quick Start: Participate in online meetings with Lync Web App. If you do not have the Skype for Business desktop app installed, when the time for the meeting arrives, click the link in the invitation you received. The Skype for Business Web App Sign In page will open in your browser, follow the instructions provided to install the web app (if needed) and join the meeting.
There are several advantages for using Skype for Business for instant messaging, video conferencing, audio conferencing, and screen sharing with other team members within your organization. You can also use Skype for Business to communicate with external users that are not part of your company’s network. Depending on various factors, external users may have problems joining the Skype for Business meeting, or they may not have a Skype for Business client installed on their computer. I won’t list all the possible scenarios in this article that may cause problems, instead I will focus on the solution for a common scenario. There are multiple versions of Skype and there are just too many possible scenarios where users may have issues joining a meeting. If you want to know more about different Skype for Business clients, check out my article The Many Versions of Skype for Business.
Things can especially get confusing for people who are trying to join your meeting and have a version of Skype for Business installed but they are not part of your company. This is due to the fact that they are part of a non-federated domain and are trying to join a meeting in your domain as an authenticated user. When the Skype for Business client is installed on a computer it will automatically attempt to join using the full Skype for Business client, rather than Skype for Business Web App. In some cases the individual on the other end (the external user) may not have Skype for Business installed and they are unclear as to which client they should install. Either way, if you know a couple of things that I am going to share, you can get the external user from a non-federated domain connected to your meeting fairly easily.
PROBLEM
You create a Skype for Business meeting request and send it to an “external user” that is not part of your domain. She already has Skype for Business installed on her computer but she is unable to join the meeting. The reason she is unable to join your meeting is that she is part of a different, non-federated domain and is trying to join a meeting in your domain as an authenticated user. Because she has the Skype for Business client installed on her computer, the client automatically attempts to join her using the full Skype for Business client, rather than Skype for Business Web App. Even if she doesn’t have the Skype for Business client installed, she may not know exactly which client she should download and install. Either way, if you know a couple of things that I am going to share, you can get this external user connected to your meeting fairly easily, even from a non-federated domain.
SOLUTION
The solution is to force the external user to use Skype for Business Web App. Unfortunately, Skype for Business doesn’t give you any control or options for selecting a different method. It automatically forces you to use the default method for connecting to a meeting, which is Skype for Business client. Follow my instructions below to force user to connect using Skype for Business Web App when necessary.
For the sake of this article, I will assume your company is using Office 365 and you are running Skype for Business client that’s part of Microsoft Office 2016. Follow the instructions below.
1-Start Skype for Business if its not already running.
2-In your Skype for Business client Click Meet Now. You could also schedule a meeting but I am using this as an example to quickly start a meeting without going through the process of scheduling a future meeting.
3-Click OK to accept the default setting for using full audio and video experience.
4-Once the meeting starts. Click the ellipsis in the lower right hand corner and then select Meeting Entry Info.
5-Copy the entire meeting link, which will look something like this:https://meet.lync.com/contoso/username/26MB4THW, where Contoso is the name of your domain and the username is the name of the user who setup the meeting. You will notice that the meeting link always has the user’s name and then the 8-character meeting number at the end of your company’s standard URL.
6-Add ?SL= at the end of the URL and give the meeting link to the external user(s). By adding ?SL= to the URL, the external user will be forced to use the Skype for Business Web App.
NOTE: I have noticed that I am not limited to using ?SL=. In my tests I was able to use ?SL=0, ?SL=1, ?SL=2, ?SL=3, etc. and didn’t notice any difference . If your experience is different, please leave a comment.If the external user has Skype for Business installed, her system will automatically try to use Skype for Business to join the meeting and would not be able to join the meeting. If the external user doesn’t have Skype for Business and downloads and installs the Skype for Business client, she will still be unable to join the meeting because she will still not get an option to use Skype for Business Web App and will end up using the Skype for Business client from a non-federated domain. When the external user uses a URL that you sent her, with ?SL= added to the end of the URL, she will be forced to use the Skype for Business Web App and can successfully join your meeting. The URL may look something like this:
- https://meet.lync.com/contoso/username/26MB4THW?SL=.
7-When the external user clicks the meeting URL you sent her, she will see a screen that looks similar to the one below. She should simply click Join the meeting and install the Skype for Business Web App plug-in, rather than clickingSign in if you are an Office 365 user because that will take her to her Skype for Business client. The Skype for Business Web App plug-in is necessary not only for audio and video but also for screen sharing during a Skype for Business meeting and is only installed in your browser if it doesn’t already exist.
8-When you start the meeting, make sure that you do not use ?SL= at the end of your URL because you are the organizer of the meeting. Otherwise, you will be joining the meeting as a guest and will not be able to have all the proper controls.
9-Once the user has joined the meeting, you should both be able to use various features of Skype for Business normally.
HELPFUL NOTES & TIPS
- As an organizer, make sure that you DO NOT use ?SL= at the end of the URL. Only the external users should use ?SL= at the end of their URL.
- This technique will work whether you want to setup a quick Skype for Business meeting with someone that’s not on your company’s network using Meet Now option as described in step #2 above, or you want to schedule a meeting for a future date.
- This technique will also work for any external user whether he/she resides in United States or another country.
- If someone sends you a Skype for Business meeting invite from another company (a non-federated domain), simply add ?SL= at the end of the URL so you are forced to use the Skype for Business Web App client to connect to their meeting.
- Use Internet Explorer for best results because some of the features in Skype for Business may not work in other browsers.
- If the external user is able to join the meeting but the audio is not working, it’s likely that he/she didn’t join the meeting with Skype for Business Web App. Ask the user to exit the meeting and join again using Skype for Business Web App, as described in step #8 above.
- Make sure that the external user has Silverlight installed in the browser. Silverlight is required for some of the advanced features of Skype for Business.
- Have the external user clear the browser cache and close all browsers, if he/she is having difficulty joining the meeting.
- This solution doesn’t apply to every possible scenario. The external user may not be able to join the meeting because of other issues, such as problems with the audio device or driver, firewall issues, compatibility issues with browser add-ons, etc.
- If the user is having a problem installing the Skype for Business Web App plug-in, ask him/her to follow the instructions in Microsoft’s article Trouble installing the Skype for Business Web App plug-in?
Summary: IT Professionals should review the support requirements for the Skype for Business Web App and Skype Meetings App while planning for Skype for Business Server. This article is not intended for the users of these apps.
Once you've implemented Skype for Business Server, your organization's users will presumably have the Skype for Business client installed as part of the deployment process.
Later on, those users may create meetings and invite users from outside the organization, and those meeting invitees may not have any version of the Skype for Business client. When those users click the URL for the meeting invite, the lack of a client will be detected and the invitee without a Skype for Business client will be asked to download and install a lightweight, meetings-only client so they can join the meeting.
Note
The Skype for Business Web App and Skype Meetings App are only available when trying to log in to a meeting without having Skype for Business. User help for these apps is at https://aka.ms/smahelp.
Note
You can't pre-install either the Skype for Business Web App or Skype Meetings App, but smart phone and tablet users may be able to install inexpensive mobile clients they can use to attend meetings.
By default, the server hosting the meeting will direct the user to download and install Skype for Business Web App to join the meeting. The Skype for Business Web App is stored on the Front End Server and gets sent to the meeting attendee.
For Skype for Business Server, Skype Meetings App (on Windows) and Skype for Business for Mac (on Mac) are available as replacements for Skype for Business Web App beginning with CU5, but providing the replacement apps requires the additional configuration described in Enable Skype Meetings App to replace Skype for Business Web App (Optional). If Skype Meetings App and Skype for Business for Mac are enabled, users will download the latest version of the apps from the Microsoft 365 or Office 365 Content Delivery Network (CDN) rather than from your Skype for Business server. For Skype for Business Server 2019, using Skype Meetings App and Skype for Business for Mac is the only option.
Skype Meetings App offers a simplified browser experience for downloading and installing the app and joining meetings, including one-click join for users of Internet Explorer. Skype Meetings App also has many improvements over the Skype for Business Web App for reliability and the meeting experience.
Note
As of Skype for Business Server 2015 CU5 or later, meetings held using Skype for Business Online will no longer send a clientless user the Skype for Business Web App, they will instead be sent Skype Meetings App (on Windows) or Skype for Business for Mac (on Mac). As of Skype for Business Server 2015 CU5 or later, if you Enable Skype Meetings App to replace Skype for Business Web App (Optional), clientless users will be sent Skype Meetings App or Skype for Business for Mac instead of Skype for Business Web App.
Software requirements
To use the Skype for Business Web App, a user must have one of the following supported operating system and browser combinations.
Operating System and minimum browser support for Skype for Business Web App
Operating system | Edge | 32- and 64-bit Internet Explorer 11 or later | 32- and 64-bit Internet Explorer 10 or later | 32- and 64-bit Internet Explorer 9 or later | 32- and 64-bit Version of Safari 6.2.8 - 11.X | 32- and 64-bit Version of Chrome 18.X or later |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Windows 10 | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes ❸ |
Windows 8.1 ❶ | N/A | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes ❸ |
Windows 8 (Intel based) ❶ | N/A | N/A | Yes | N/A | N/A | Yes ❸ |
Windows 7 with SP1 ❷ | N/A | Yes | No | No | N/A | Yes ❸ |
Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 ❷ | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes ❸ |
macOS 10.8 and later (Intel-based) ❷ | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Yes |
❶ The Skype for Business Web App browser plug-in requires a specific sharing plugin to use computer-based voice, video, sharing, and viewing of ongoing screen sharing and other features. A meeting attendee is given the option to install the sharing plug-in either when they join the meeting or when they initiate one of these features. On Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, the sharing plug-in can be installed only if you're running Internet Explorer 10 or Internet Explorer 11 for the desktop. These features are not available with non-desktop versions of Internet Explorer 10 and 11. Note that Firefox and Safari version 12.0 and later is no longer supported.
❷ On supported Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Macintosh operating systems, all features are available including computer-based voice, video, application viewing, application sharing, desktop viewing, and desktop sharing. To use these features, you must install a plug-in when prompted. Note that Mac OS X version 10.7 is no longer supported. Also note the web app will not install on OS X 10.15 or later. We recommend using the latest version of Skype for Business for Mac which supports anonymous join scenarios moving forward.
❸ Accessing the Web App from Chrome on Windows will launch a small program which loads the Web App in an embedded Internet Explorer frame. This program requires one of the supported versions of Internet Explorer be installed for the Web App to load properly.
Note
Microsoft 365 and Office 365 users can use Internet Explorer 10 or later with Skype for Business.
Skype Meetings App
Skype Meetings App runs as an app on computers using Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, with 32- and 64-bit Internet Explorer 11 or later installed.
For any other dependencies, refer to Supported platforms for Skype Meetings App
Skype for Business for Mac
Skype for Business for Mac runs on computers using macOS version 10.8 or later.
Hardware requirements
Computer hardware requirements are determined by the operating system and browser. Voice and telephony features require a microphone and speakers, headset with microphone, or equivalent device compatible with the computer. Video features require a video device compatible with the computer. For detailed information about video hardware support and expected video quality, see Skype for Business client video resolutions.
Network requirements
If a user of Skype for Business Web App or Skype Meetings App experiences meeting connection issues, chances are their organization's network infrastructure is not configured to support Office 365 as described in Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges. This is the case whether the meeting was created by a user of Skype for Business Online or Skype for Business Server.
If the user is on a network not configured as described, many app features may or may not work and they may not be able to connect to the meeting at all.
Supported Meetings features
This table compares the Meetings features available to users of the Skype for Business client, Skype for Business Web App, Skype Meetings App, and Lync Web App. Lync Web App is listed for feature comparison purposes: a user would only be downloading and using Lync Web App if the meeting was hosted on a Lync 2013 server.
Feature/capability | Skype for Business 2016 or 2019 client | Skype for Business on Mac client | Skype Meetings App | Skype for Business Web App | Lync Web App |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Add computer audio | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ (requires plug-in) | ✔ (requires plug-in) | ✔ (requires plug-in) |
Add video | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ (requires plug-in) | ✔ (requires plug-in) | ✔ (requires plug-in) |
Switch audio to a phone for authenticated participants | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Switch audio to a phone for guest participants | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
View multiparty video (gallery view) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Video-based screen sharing | ✔ | ✔ | ✔(View-only) | ||
Use in-meeting presenter controls | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Access detailed meeting roster | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Participate in multiparty IM | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Set IM messages as high importance | ✔ | ||||
Share the desktop (if enabled) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ (requires plug-in) | ✔ (requires plug-in) | ✔ (requires plug-in) |
Share a program (if enabled) | ✔ | ✔(On Windows only; requires plug-in) | ✔(On Windows only; requires plug-in) | ✔(On Windows only; requires plug-in) | |
Take control of another user's shared desktop or program | ✔ | ✔ (❶ On Windows only; requires plug-in) | ✔ (❶ On Windows only; requires plug-in) | ✔ (❶ On Windows only; requires plug-in) | |
Let another user take control of your shared desktop or program | ✔ | ||||
Add anonymous participants (if enabled) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Invite participants by name | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Invite participants by phone number | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Invite participants by email | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Use dial-in audio meetings | ✔ ❷ | ✔ ❷ | ✔ ❷ | ✔ ❷ | ✔ ❷ |
Initiate a Meet Now meeting | ✔ | ✔ | |||
Record a meeting | ✔ | ||||
Add and download attachments | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Add and present Microsoft PowerPoint files | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Navigate Microsoft PowerPoint files | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Add and edit OneNote meeting notes | ✔ | Edit only (not add) | Edit only (not add) | Edit only (not add) | |
Use a whiteboard | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Conduct polls | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Upload files to share with others | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Schedule a meeting or conference | Outlook or Skype for Business Web Scheduler | Outlook or Skype for Business Web Scheduler | Skype for Business Web Scheduler | Skype for Business Web Scheduler | Skype for Business Web Scheduler |
Q&A Manager | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Disable attendee video | ✔ | ||||
Disable meeting IM | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
Mute audience | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Make everyone an attendee | ✔ | ||||
Produce Skype Meeting Broadcast | ✔ |
❶ Participants can't control desktops that are shared by Skype for Business for Mac, Lync for Mac 2011 or Communicator for Mac 2011 users. This also won't work for Skype for Business Web App on Max OSX.
You Cannot Install Skype For Business Web App Plug In Mac Pro
❷ For Skype for Business Online, this feature requires Microsoft PSTN Conferencing, Exchange Unified Messaging, or a 3rd party audio conferencing provider.
❸ The Lync for Mac 2011 client cannot view Microsoft Office 2013 PowerPoint presentations when they have been shared in a conference by the Skype for Business Web App.
Known issues and troubleshooting
For End-users, the online help for these apps is readily available. Cia tradecraft manual. IT Professionals should be aware of the following issues:
Trouble Installing The Skype For Business Web App Plug-in On Mac
- If the user is on a network not configured to meet the Network requirements, many app features may or may not work and they may not be able to connect to the meeting at all.
- Some users may have corporate-administered computers with disabled permission to install apps. for those users, neither app is an option, but smart phone and tablet users may be able to install inexpensive mobile clients they can use to attend meetings.Other installation issues are also covered in the help topics.
- Users may see a firewall warning the first time they run the meetings app. They may be prompted to open ports to optimize the experience, and this may require Admin privileges on the machine they may not have. The app should still function and the user can safely decline to open the requested ports.
- You must have ActiveX enabled without filtering in Internet Explorer, even if IE is not your default browser. In Skype for Business Web App, an ActiveX control—a small module that adds additional features to a web app or other program—is required for audio, video, and screen sharing.
- For some features of Skype for Business Web App to work correctly, you must allow your browser to save cookies on your computer or device.
- You may need to turn on JavaScript support in your browser for some Skype for Business Web App features to work as expected.
AES Support
As of Skype for Business Server 2015 CU5, AES is not supported for ASP.NET 4.6 and this may cause Skype Meetings App to fail to start. Cryptographic requirements due to ASP .NET 4.5 has more details.