How to enable waiting rooms in Zoom to prevent 'Zoom bombing'

Mary Meisenzahl

Mar 31, 2020, 06:04 IST

Zoom

Zoom.

As the coronavirus closes schools and workplaces, people are increasingly turning to Zoom video calls.
Some public Zoom calls have dealt with trolls joining and sharing graphic images, and online classes have faced people hijacking a meeting, called "Zoom bombing."
Zoom has a setting called waiting room that lets an administrator screen people before allowing them into meetings.
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COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, has closed schools and workplaces around the US as it becomes the hardest-hit country in the world.

In response, schools have turned to tools like Zoom for remote learning, even for children as young as two years old. As Zoom becomes central to daily life, "Zoom bombing," or trolls taking over an online meeting without permission and bombarding the meeting with pornographic images, has increased. The FBI reportedly noted two recent incidents in Massachussetts schools.

Zoom has a hidden tool to prevent Zoom bombing, called waiting room. The setting lets a meeting administrator screen who can enter the call, preventing uninvited guests from taking over. Here's how to enable it.

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Go to account management > account setting, and scroll down to the "Waiting Room" option. Toggle it on.

Once the setting is enabled, choose who it applies to. "All participants" puts everyone in the waiting room by default, and "guest participants only" adds people on different Zoom accounts or who are not logged in into the waiting room. You can also allow other participants to admit people from the waiting room.

Once enabled, waiting rooms can also be set up for specific meetings. To do this, first schedule a meeting.

That button takes you to a calendar of upcoming meetings.

There, check to enable the waiting room for just that particular meeting.

You can also enable a waiting room for all meetings with your personal meeting ID. Under meetings, go to your personal meeting room.

Click edit this meeting.

Make sure enable waiting room is checked, then hit save.

This is what meeting participants will see while in the waiting room.

As the host, control the waiting room by selecting manage participants.

Under "more," you'll have several option, including putting a person into the waiting room.

Once the meeting has started, people can be admitted from the waitlist under "manage participants."

Or, the entire waiting room can be admitted at once.

Clicking more on a video participant, they can be sent to the waiting room during the call.

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