How to Stop Guest Users from Creating or Updating Channels in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams makes it easy to collaborate with people inside and outside your company. But sometimes, external contractors or guest users are given too much freedom — like creating or editing channels — which can create compliance and security risks.
If your organization uses Microsoft 365 and includes external contractors in your Teams, you might want to limit their permissions so they can only participate in discussions, not manage your Teams’ structure.
Here’s a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to stop guest users from creating or updating channels in Microsoft Teams using the Teams Admin Center and PowerShell.
Scenario
Let’s say your company uses Microsoft 365 E3 licenses and has created a Team for each department — IT, Sales, HR, and more. Some of these Teams include external contractors (guest accounts).
The company’s new security policy says:
- Contractors must not be able to create new channels.
- Contractors must not be able to edit existing channels.
To meet this policy, you’ll configure two things:
- Global guest access permissions in the Microsoft Teams Admin Center.
- Team-level permissions using PowerShell commands.
Step 1: Change Guest Access Settings in the Teams Admin Center
The first and most important step is to adjust global guest access settings. These settings apply across all Teams in your organization.
Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the Microsoft Teams Admin Center:
https://admin.teams.microsoft.com - In the left menu, select:
Users > Guest access - Find the following settings and turn them Off:
- Allow guests to create, update, or delete channels
- Allow guests to delete channels
- Review other permissions such as file sharing or private call access, and adjust them based on your company’s policy.
- Click Save when done.
That’s it! You’ve now set global restrictions that apply to all Teams in your tenant.
Note: It can take up to 24 hours for these changes to fully apply across all Teams.
Step 2: Enforce Team-Level Restrictions with PowerShell
While the admin center settings cover most cases, it’s a good practice to verify or enforce restrictions at the team level, especially if you manage multiple departments.
You can use the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module for this.
Here’s what to do:
- Open PowerShell as an administrator and connect to Microsoft Teams:
Connect-MicrosoftTeams - To view your Teams and confirm their Group IDs:
Get-Team - To disable the ability for guests to create or update channels in a specific team:
Set-Team -GroupId <GroupId> -AllowCreateUpdateChannels $false - To also block them from deleting channels or managing connectors, use:
Set-Team -GroupId <GroupId> -AllowDeleteChannels $false -AllowCreateUpdateRemoveConnectors $false
You can repeat this for each departmental Team that includes external users.
Example:
Get-Team -DisplayName "Marketing" | Set-Team -AllowCreateUpdateChannels $false
This ensures your settings are consistent and that no guest user can accidentally (or intentionally) make structural changes to your Teams.
Why Not Other Settings?
You might notice other configuration options in Teams — like meeting policies or Azure AD group settings. However, these don’t control guest permissions inside Teams channels.
Let’s clear that up quickly:
| Option | Why It Doesn’t Apply |
|---|---|
Azure AD cmdlets (Get-AzureADGroup, Set-AzureADGroup) | Used for managing group membership and properties, not Teams channel permissions. |
| Meeting policies or settings | Control meeting behavior (like recording or sharing), not channel creation. |
| Skype or Calling policies | Manage communication settings, not Teams structure. |
Only Guest Access settings and PowerShell Set-Team commands directly control guest permissions for channels.
Summary
| Step | Action | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Configure Guest Access in Teams Admin Center | Stop guests from creating or editing channels tenant-wide |
| 2 | Use PowerShell Set-Team | Enforce or verify restrictions at the team level |
By combining both methods, you ensure that external contractors can still collaborate through posts, files, and meetings — but cannot change your team structure or accidentally disrupt internal workflows.
Final Thoughts
Managing guest access properly in Microsoft Teams is about finding the right balance between collaboration and control. Restricting channel creation and updates for guests keeps your environment secure and prevents unauthorized structural changes — without stopping collaboration altogether.
In short:
- Use the Teams Admin Center for global guest policies.
- Use PowerShell for fine-tuned control.
- Review these settings regularly as your Teams environment evolves.
