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Newcomer
September 15, 2021
Solved

Error code 401

  • September 15, 2021
  • 18 replies
  • 30 views

A few days a go I bought a new laptop and whenever I try and join a zoom meeting, it gives me an error stating

 

"Unauthorized

Sorry, your session was expired. Please refresh the page or login again, 

401" 

 

But when I try joining the same call with the same account on a different computer it works fine. I tried to google the problem and I tired to flush my DNS, logging off and back on, deleting zoom, clearing cache, deleting history but nothing seemed to fix the problem. 

Is there anything else I can do to fix this problem? 

    Best answer by valeried

    This is the response I received from Zoom Support for the user who was trying to use Firefox to open a Zoom meeting in Canvas.

    Val

     

    I was able to engage with our engineering team, and they advised the following:

    Browsers increase security settings to provide users with more control over their privacy settings while navigating the web. These security settings also prevent tools nested within another tool (e.g., Zoom in Canvas) from validating user data required for the nested tool to function correctly.
    For Firefox, Zoom should be added as an exception to the third-party browser cookie blocking security settings to resolve this issue.

    Firefox: Exempt Canvas and integrated tools from Enhanced Tracking Protection

    1. Log in to Canvas

    Click the Shield icon located to the left of the URL address bar

    Locate the "Enhanced Tracking Protection is ON for this site" message

    Toggle the switch OFF for Enhanced Tracking Protection

    1. The message should change to "Enhanced Tracking Protection is OFF for this site."
    2. Reload the page if needed

    18 replies

    Community Manager
    September 21, 2021

    Hi @fatchiny, are you perhaps using canvas and receiving this error? 

    Newcomer
    November 22, 2021

    One of our instructors receives this error message when she tries to start a Zoom meeting that she created inside Canvas. She *is* able to start the same meeting from the Zoom web portal.

    We discovered today that she does not have this problem using Chrome, but does have this problem using Firefox.

    Partner
    June 30, 2025

    HELP... this morning my computer is not allowing me to join a Zoom Meeting or Launch a Zoom Meeting

    Newcomer
    November 9, 2021

    I'm getting the exact same problem, and yes, I'm accessing the page through Canvas. I've tried copy-pasting the meeting ID directly into the Zoom app, but that method requires a password, which I don't have. Accessing the link from the same Canvas page on the same account using a different device (Android 12) works just fine, but my laptop (Windows 10) encounters the error.

    Newcomer
    November 10, 2021

    Are you signed in to your Zoom account? Can you see your Zoom Desktop Client? What does it say in your profile? These are just questions that I'm posing because I'm trying to figure out a similar issue.

    Newcomer
    November 22, 2021

    One of our instructors receives this error message when she tries to start a Zoom meeting that she created inside Canvas. She *is* able to start the same meeting from the Zoom web portal. She is signed into her university Zoom account in Zoom desktop client, and the client is up to date.

    We discovered today that she does not have this problem using Chrome, but does have this problem using Firefox.

    Newcomer
    November 10, 2021

    I have the same issue, but I use Brave. I can open direct links, but when i try to open the ones that are in my university site, it won't open, it just says "Unauthorized Sorry, your session was expired. Please refresh the page or login again"
    I've tried everything but nothing works.

    Newcomer
    November 19, 2021

    turn off the Brave Shield

     

    click on lion on the right of the address bar

    Newcomer
    November 10, 2021

    Does it happen when people are not signed into their Zoom accounts? Does it happen when using Firefox?

    Newcomer
    November 22, 2021

    Yes -- only Firefox. Not chrome. In our instance the user *is* signed into the university Zoom account.

    Newcomer
    November 11, 2021

    I'm having the same problem on all my Zoom accounts.  I can't get in to any of them - not work or personal.

     

    Newcomer
    November 12, 2021

    I have the 401 problem on 2 Zoom accounts, on 2 browsers (Firefox and Chrome), on 2 different computers.

    The irony is that others who cannot login cannot post about it here.  I can only post here because I have a private Zoom account where I login through Google.

    One thing I noticed on the Zoom login page - it will not accept uppercase letters (I tried it in the account name and they appear as lowercase) and we need an uppercase letter in our password.

    Newcomer
    November 13, 2021

    I'm facing the same problem too. I have been using zoom since last year and have never had any problems signing in via Chrome. But 2 days ago, i started getting the 401 error message. It's really frustrating because I rely on zoom fully to conduct my online class. 

    Newcomer
    November 13, 2021

    I have just started having the same problem this morning. I'm also using Chrome.

    Newcomer
    November 13, 2021

    As of November 11, I also began receiving the 401 error code when attempting to sign in via Chrome.  I completely cleaned my cache, Browser and cookies and nothing changed.  I also rely on Zoom for my online classes.  Luckily I was able to access my account through Firefox - however - when signing in via the internal link from this Zoom Community page while on Chrome I had no problem! However - I don't think I can access my meetings from here.

    Newcomer
    November 13, 2021

    Could other people please try to sign in to Zoom and see if the sign-in page accepts uppercase letters? 

    Although I don't have uppercase letters in my email address, I have tried to type uppercase letters there and it won't accept them as uppercase - they are shown as lowercase.  If the sign in page won't accept uppercase letters than our passwords, which need to contain an uppercase letter, will not be acceptable.

    And how do we get anyone from Zoom to address this issue?

    Newcomer
    November 14, 2021

    Hi; using a workaround I just sent this to Zoom support: 

    Hi, problems signing in. This seems a known issue that others are having - see below that I will post on this Community thread. https://community.zoom.com/t5/Meetings/Error-code-401/td-p/10629

    For now, I found a (poor) workaround - "forgot password" and Zoom's emailed link to reset password (pw requirements the same, need upper and lower case). Changed PW, got in. Thought I was set - signed out and in, but it only worked ONCE...2nd sign out and attempt to sign in brought the same "error code 401" that I started seeing today 11/14.

    First on laptop while my desktop still was OK, but soon it started on desktop too. Both running Win 10 and Chrome. I tried clearing all cookies, cache, restart etc. Ran all cleaning and scanning utilities I have, but the problem still exists. 

    I'm a paid Zoom user since early 2020. Hope you can help -thank you!

     

    FYI - I mention upper/lower case password requirements in my request as someone posted in Community that it was an issue for them when signing in. They said the sign in page wasn't accepting typed upper case letters, which are required in PWs. Thanks

    Newcomer
    November 15, 2021

    I, too, tried the reset password 'solution' for my personal Zoom and it worked only once.

    The Zoom account I use to run meetings is for a company.  I have access to the Zoom account but not to the email (someone else in the company receives it)  so I cannot use the change password route to access that account every time I want in.

    It is frustrating that multiple people are having this problem and Zoom has not fixed it.