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I've stumbled upon a bizarre problem with Skype for Business 2015 (the client application, previously known as Lync 2013 but automatically upgraded to SfB 2015 by some Office update); maybe I'm missing something, but I'm unable to find a solution, hence this question.

The issue: someone invites you to a meeting, but you don't have a Lync/SfB account, thus you need to join the meeting as an external guest by clicking on the meeting link you received; however, the application is actually installed on your computer, as part of the Office 2013 package; in this scenario, clicking the meeting link will automatically launch the application, but then it will get stuck on asking you for sign in information, which you don't have. It looks like there is no way to avoid launching the application if it's actually installed, or to sign in as a guest.

How can you join a Lync 2013 / Skype for Business meeting as a guest when the application is installed on your computer but you don't have any account you can use?

BastianW
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Massimo
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2 Answers2

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It is a little hackish, but if you right click > copy the Join Skype Meeting url from the invite, paste it in your browser and add "?SL=1" (without the quotes, so it would look something like https://meet.yourdomain.com/user/98daf9w?SL=1) on the end, it will force to join in via the web app (where you can join as guest) instead of automatically opening Lync/S4B client that requires a login.

Hope this helps!

Jordan Loehr
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    This actually works. I'll wait to see if there is a simpler way to manage this before accepting your answer, but it indeed works. – Massimo Nov 18 '15 at 17:04
  • Yeah, I've tried to find a cleaner solution to this myself as well but so far haven't. Would love to hear if anyone else knows of a better way :) – Jordan Loehr Nov 19 '15 at 16:08
  • added a better option which might be more user friendly ;-). – BastianW Nov 10 '16 at 16:24
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A better option (as the user might not remember to add the "?SL=1" after some weeks) would be to disable the IE "MeetingJoinHelper" add-on. To Do that perform the following steps:

  1. Open the Internet Explorer
  2. click on the tools icon
  3. then open the "Manage Add-ons" section
  4. Select "All add-ons" than select the the "MeetingJoinHelper Class" add-on
  5. click on disable

P.S. If you need some pictures and a longer howto check the source here.

BastianW
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