Automatic update of work location on MS Teams using BSSID

I think Teams won’t switch unless the policy is stamped + the in‑app Insights consent is on, so toggle it → sign‑out → 30s wait → reopen in working‑hours; if still stuck, clear the Teams cache and retry.

Hi @Hafiz Shoaib, 

I hope you are doing well today.  

Based on the information you shared that your concern is regarding Microsoft Teams not automatically detecting the office location via Wi-Fi, even though all the required configuration steps have been completed on your end. 

After carefully reviewing your case, this behavior is most commonly attributed to a few specific conditions that are not immediately visible in the standard configuration checklist. First and foremost, it is worth noting that the Wi-Fi-based work location detection feature (Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 488800) has undergone several rollout timeline changes, with General Availability currently targeted between early and late May 2026, meaning your tenant may not yet have received the update. Furthermore, there are two additional layers that can silently prevent detection from working: a granular in-app user consent setting within Teams that is separate from the Windows Location Services permission, and a working hours dependency that requires the user to have configured working hours in their Outlook or Teams calendar for the feature to trigger at all. 

In the meantime, to help bring clarity to this situation, please kindly work through the following steps in order: 

1/ Confirm the policy is effective for the impacted user and refresh the client state 

• Verify the user is actually inheriting the intended policy assignment and that the correct tenant policy is in effect. 
• Allow time for replication if the policy was recently created or newly assigned, then sign the user completely out of Teams and sign back in. 
• Clear the Teams desktop cache and restart the device to ensure the client re downloads the latest policy configuration. 

Get-CsUserPolicyAssignment -Identity ******@domain.com 
Get-CsTeamsWorkLocationDetectionPolicy -Identity "PolicyName" 

• References:  
  • Set-CsTeamsWorkLocationDetectionPolicy (MicrosoftTeams) | Microsoft Learn 
  • New-CsTeamsWorkLocationDetectionPolicy (MicrosoftTeams) | Microsoft Learn 

2/ Confirm the user's in-app consent level and working hours 

• Even when a user has already granted location access at the operating system level, Microsoft Teams has an additional, separate consent layer that specifically governs BSSID-based location matching.  
• Please have the affected user go to Teams Settings, then Privacy, and then Location, and confirm that the Insights for IT Admins toggle is turned on, not only the Emergency Calls toggle. 
• Selecting Emergency Calls only at the initial prompt will prevent BSSID-based detection from functioning, even if Windows Location Services are enabled.  
• Additionally, please confirm that the user has working hours configured in Outlook or Teams calendar settings, and that all testing is being carried out within those hours, as Teams will not update work location outside of a user's configured working hours under any circumstances 
• Reference: User location consent experience in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Learn 

3/ Validate the BSSID Entry Format and SSID List Configuration 

• As a final check, please review the BSSID entries that were uploaded to confirm that the BSSID value has been populated in both the DeviceId field and the MACAddress field. 
• According to Microsoft's official guidance, when managing entries individually via PowerShell cmdlets rather than through a bulk CSV upload, both fields are required, and if only one is populated, the mapping will not match correctly when a user connects.  
• At the same time, please also verify that the workplace SSID list was configured using the correct format, with the Default: prefix included and multiple SSIDs separated by semicolons. 
• Any deviation from this format will prevent Teams from recognizing the connected network as a trusted workplace network, regardless of how the BSSID mapping has been set up. 
• Reference: Configure automatic update of work location - Microsoft Places | Microsoft Learn 

Moreover, before enabling this feature, ensure you are a Microsoft Teams administrator (for Teams policies) and an Exchange administrator (for Wi-Fi settings). If the account used to upload BSSID/SSID settings lacked Exchange admin rights, the settings may not have saved correctly even if no error was shown. Therefore, if you don't have a permission, please reach out to your IT's organization to review your permissions and policies. If the issue persists after these checks, ask your IT administrator to submit a support request directly to Microsoft Support team.          

They can raise a support ticket by visiting: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn     

As community moderators, we appreciate your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.         

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If you have any updates regarding the issue, please feel free to share them with me.           

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation. 

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The configuration steps listed cover most prerequisites. The following additional checks and configurations are required or commonly missed for Automatic Update of work location via Wi‑Fi/BSSID in Teams:

1. Confirm all prerequisites are met

• Buildings and floors must be configured in Microsoft Places and visible in Teams.
• Desk pools/desks are not required for Wi‑Fi–based detection but are required for peripheral-based detection.
• A Teams admin must have enabled Automatic Update via a Teams Work Location Detection policy.
• An Exchange admin must have configured both the SSID list and the BSSID list.
• Automatic Update works only on the Teams desktop app (Windows/macOS), not web or mobile.
• Automatic Update works only during users’ configured working hours.
• Automatic Update works only on organization‑managed networks and BSSIDs configured in the tenant.

2. Verify the Teams Work Location Detection policy settings Use Get-CsTeamsWorkLocationDetectionPolicy to confirm:

• EnableWorkLocationDetection is set to True for the policy assigned to affected users.
• UserSettingsDefault is set as intended:
  • Disabled (default): Wi‑Fi check‑in runs in Ask mode; users must explicitly opt in.
  • Enabled: Wi‑Fi check‑in runs in Inform mode; Wi‑Fi detection is on by default and users can opt out.

Ensure:

• Users are actually assigned this policy via Grant-CsTeamsWorkLocationDetectionPolicy.
• If EnableWorkLocationDetection is False, automatic update is fully disabled regardless of UserSettingsDefault.

3. Confirm SSID list configuration On the Exchange side, verify the SSID list is configured exactly as the Wi‑Fi SSIDs in use:

Set-PlacesSettings -Collection Presence -WorkplaceWifiNetworkSSIDList 'Default:SSID-1;SSID-2'

Key points:

• SSIDs must match the actual network SSIDs (including case and punctuation).
• If only the SSID list is configured (and not the BSSID list), users’ work location will show only as In the office, not a specific building.

4. Confirm BSSID mapping to Places buildings Verify that:

• The .csv used with Add-WifiDevices has BSSID and BuildingName headers.
• Add-WifiDevices -Action MapBuildings was run and BuildingMapping.csv was fully resolved so every BuildingName maps to a valid Places directory building.
• Add-WifiDevices -Action UploadEntries was run with the final mapping file.
• The BSSID of the AP the user is connected to matches exactly the BSSID in the uploaded list.

If managing individually, confirm each device via:

• New-PlaceDevice / Set-PlaceDevice with BSSID set to both DeviceId and MACAddress.

5. Check user working hours and timing Automatic Update behavior is constrained by working hours:

• Work location is automatically cleared at the end of users’ working hours (configured in Teams/Outlook calendar settings).
• Automatic Update does not run outside working hours; connecting to Wi‑Fi then will not update location.

Confirm that:

• Users are connecting during their configured working hours.
• Users have not manually cleared or overridden their work location immediately before testing.

6. Confirm corporate network scope Automatic Update only works on configured corporate networks:

• Connecting to another organization’s networks or unmanaged Wi‑Fi is ignored.
• Ensure the SSID/BSSID being tested belongs to the tenant’s configured networks.

7. Allow for propagation time After configuring desk peripherals or Wi‑Fi settings:

• Changes can take 24–48 hours to propagate before testing.

8. Validate client and consent state

• Ensure users are on the Teams desktop app (Windows/macOS) that supports Automatic Update.
• Confirm users have granted OS‑level location permission and Teams‑level location consent.
• For Wi‑Fi detection, if UserSettingsDefault is Disabled, users must have explicitly opted in when prompted.

If all the above are confirmed and the issue persists, focus on:

• Re‑validating the exact SSID/BSSID values in the Places configuration against what the client reports.
• Ensuring EnableWorkLocationDetection is True and the correct policy is granted to the affected users.

References:

• Configure automatic update of work location
• User location consent experience in Microsoft Teams
• New-CsTeamsWorkLocationDetectionPolicy