Newcomer

Question

Locked by Admin

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
April 6, 2022
5 replies
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Hi,

I am currently trying to take remove the passcode to allow people to enter my zoom meetings. It says "Locked by admin" so i am unable to make this change in my settings. After some research it said that an "Owner" of an account can make these changes but still i am unable.

Does anyone know how to to rid of this "Locked by admin" or how else i can turn off my entrance passcode for people to enter my meetings?

Ray_Harwood

Community Super Champion | Customer

@UncleDrew, sometimes the terminology is ambiguous - even I get confused.

I suspect you are either on a Pro account with others (less than 10 total users), or on a Business, Enterprise, Educational, or Governmental account with more than 10 users. Someone, somewhere, has access to the ADMIN menu screen normally located under the PERSONAL menu on the web.

Seems to me that your Admin has set the "Room Meeting ID Passcode" switch to ON (see Admin -> Account Management -> Account Settings -> Meetings -> Security, and look for "Room Meeting ID Passcode"). If that is set, no user can create a meeting without the Passcode.

Note: If you remove the Passcode, all your meetings will be required to use the Waiting Room. Leaving the Passcode in and using the Join link provided by Zoom, the Passcode is embedded in the link ("encrypted" at the end of the URL), and your attendees don't need to know the Passcode if using the Link you send out.

If you are the sole USER on the Zoom ACCOUNT, then you are the Admin for yourself, obviously. I don't think that "Room Meeting ID Passcode" switch would be available on a single-user Pro or a Free account... at least I haven't seen it on my test accounts.

J

JW7

Newcomer

Hi Ray. Thanks for your help. I have a Pro account and am the owner. How do I designate myself as the Admin as well? Thanks again.

Ray_Harwood

Community Super Champion | Customer

Thanks for your reply Ray. I read that owner should have all privileges. Unfortunately, when I am logged in and try to change certain settings (such as "allow participants to join before host") I am unable and there is a message stating "locked by admin." I am not sure how to get Zoom to recognize that I am the owner and give me all access.

It's fairly simple, actually - once someone explains it! 😎 Take a look at the full menu on the left of your Zoom Web Portal. Here's mine... yours will be different, but similar:

When working in the Personal menu space, you're acting as a user with your own Zoom login, meetings, and settings.

As so many of us are either the only user on the account, or managing a small number of accounts, it's often hard to remember that we are also the owner/admin of the account. To manage our (one person or small group) "organization", all we have to do is go down to the Admin menu below to make changes. Any time you see something as a User that you don't have access to, wander down to the Admin -> Account Management -> Account Settings menu and make the appropriate changes there... which affect "all users," including yourself!

When working in the admin's Account Settings area, you'll note that there are some items with switches (on or off), and some items with both switches and lock symbols.

When you see a lock symbol, it can be unlocked which means that the switch controls the default appearance for users, but they can change it if they want; or it can be locked, which means that the user can't change it. In this example, the Waiting Room for meetings is ON by default, but the user can remove the Waiting Room (assuming they comply with other security requirements). If the lock icon was locked, the user(s) are forced to have Waiting Room ON, and unable to change it.

So keep in mind that Zoom has many large customers (according to recent public filings, more than 3,600 customers pay over $100K/annually), and their user interface is geared toward customers with multiple users on a single account. Think of your "role" whenever you're dealing with Zoom -- sometimes you're a User, and sometimes you are an Owner/Admin -- and go to the appropriate main menu block to get things done.

Hopefully this explanation helps, and isn't overwhelming. Think of it like owning a car: when you're in the driver's seat, you're a driver; when you open the hood, you're an auto mechanic... you're still a driver, but your role has changed... until you sit back in the seat ready to go.

S

sandymillin

Newcomer

I'm having a similar problem - I'm the owner of a single Pro account, but the host key setting says it's locked by admin. Surely I'm the admin?! My account isn't linked to any others. How can I update this setting? Thanks!

Ray_Harwood

Community Super Champion | Customer

Hi, @sandymillin,

What exactly are you trying to do? The setting on your screen shot is related to using a host key in a Zoom Rooms environment. As a single account Pro user, you normally wouldn’t be doing this.

Your actual Host Key is located on your profile page (https://zoom.us/profile) in the Meeting section:

To view the key, click the eye lash icon. To change the key, click the Edit link.

S

sandymillin

Newcomer

In the past, I'm sure I've used host key in Zoom to hand over the host role in a normal Zoom meeting when I needed somebody to cover a class for me - I use Zoom for teaching, and don't really want to hand over my sign in credentials.

Ray_Harwood

Community Super Champion | Customer

You’re spot-on with using the Host Key instead of giving someone your login info!

Simply go to your profile and click the eye lash icon to see your Host Key. If you don’t like it (I make mine something I can remember), click the Edit button at the right of the Host Key and make charges.

Make sure any time you’re going to allow someone to host a meeting on your behalf that you do not have Waiting Room enabled and that you do enable “Join before host” enabled, preferably for 15 minutes and not “Any time.”

Then give your substitute host the Host Key. They join the meeting and open the Participants window, click the Claim Host button at the bottom, then enter the Host Code.

Let me know if you need anything else.

S

sandymillin

Newcomer

That's the issue - I have 'Join before host' enabled, and it still won't allow me to switch on the host key option. That means that there is no 'Claim host' button in the Participants window. I can't work out how to change that setting.

Thanks for trying to help me by the way!

S

sandymillin

Newcomer

I still don't seem to have a solution to this problem which works - is anybody able to help? Thank you.

hollyworton

Newcomer

If you go to the left-hand menu for settings, you'll see PERSONAL and ADMIN. I suspect you're trying to change the settings under the personal menu, which is why you're getting the "locked by admin" message. Head down to the admin menu, then click on ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT, then ACCOUNT SETTINGS. You'll see pretty much the same options in there to turn on/off passcode. Hope this helps!

R

Roddy

Newcomer

Hello Holly,

I include myself among the others having the issue of having the "Meeting Passcode" grayed out and locked under the "Admin" section. Currently, I have a free Basic account ( used to have a Pro account) of which I am the only owner and user. Even when I had the Pro account it was for myself exclusively and I never added any users or administrators. I have always had the "Waiting Room" enabled, and still is. According to Zoom's documentation, I should not be forced to have the "Meeting Passcode" enabled if I have "Waiting Room" on. I am not able to disable the passcode setting since it is grayed out. My only thought is that maybe Zoom has decided to obligate "Meeting Passcode" to be enabled even when the "Waiting Room" is already enabled, although their documentation states otherwise.

Any help from anyone will be appreciated.

Ray_Harwood

Community Super Champion | Customer

Hey, @Roddy.

I've tried to replicate your screen shot. I have an account that I occasionally turn Pro and then back to Basic again, and it still shows the Passcode item to be changeable -- not "greyed out". I created a brand new Basic account, and they no longer present the full Admin menu to them... and the Passcode item on the Personal -> Settings menu is greyed out.

I've been looking for documentation that would indicate that Basic users must have a Passcode... but I don't see any. For the moment, I'm going to assume that this is now a requirement of Basic accounts... especially since you know it was different when you were a Pro account, but now that you're no longer Pro, it's locked to be required.

I'll keep my eyes open for documentation of this requirement. Honestly, Passcodes are a good thing, and if you're passing out the Join URL with the Passcode enabled, it should work for everyone you invite. I get it that some people don't want to include it... but apparently for Basic users, you have to.

Thanks for your patience! Reach out any time.

R

Roddy

Newcomer

Ray,

Thank you for investigating this. I also had come to the conclusion that it has changed to be a requirement on Basic accounts. However, the official Zoom documentation does not state this, on the contrary. It still states that as long as you have "Waiting Room" enabled, which I always do, you do not need a passcode But this has been grayed out on their end.

Once again, I appreciate your time and effort. There are many posts asking the same thing and the responses are always the same to those in this situation, simply go to Admin settings and enable/disable there; Of course, this is no longer possible. Zoom needs to update the documentation for this. Since I no longer have a Pro account, I have no way to eMail or contact them this issue.

Jesus loves you! Have a great week.

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