Meeting Participant Limits

All meetings on VCU Zoom support up to 300 participants.

If you need to host a meeting with more than 300 participants, you have two options.

1. Send out a live stream of the meeting via Youtube, Facebook or another streaming platform. See above under "How do I live stream my Zoom meeting" for more details. If you want to use VCU's Kaltura server for your live stream, contact us at zoom@vcu.edu for assistance.
   
   
2. Purchase Zoom's "Large Meeting" add-on. This is an annual subscription that can be purchased by your department to support meetings with 500 or 1000 participants. If interested, you can contact us at zoom@vcu.edu for more details.

No Account Access or Getting an SSO Error

Possibility 1: You're logging in incorrectly

Single Sign-On (SSO) is the process used to grant access to your VCU Zoom account at vcu.zoom.us. It's what presents you with the VCU Central Authentication Service interface, prompting you to enter your eID and VCU password. If you don't see the familiar VCU CAS login screen, you're in the wrong place.

So how could you end up in the wrong place? Well, it's technically possible to create a Zoom account at the Zoom company website (zoom.us) using any valid email address, even one that ends in "vcu.edu," but unless you log in at vcu.zoom.us, you're not a member of the VCU Zoom account. Instead, you've probably created a free, "Basic" Zoom account, limited to 100 meeting participants and 40 minutes of meeting time unless you've paid for an upgrade. Logging in at vcu.zoom.us will transfer your account to VCU Zoom, upgrading you to a full license and removing those restrictions.

If you prefer to log in from the desktop app (instead of the portal), be sure to always choose the "Sign in with SSO" option and enter "vcu" as the domain to call up the VCU CAS prompt for your eID and password.

Possibility 2: Your employment or enrollment status makes you ineligible for Zoom

VCU has a limited amount of Zoom licenses, so access is restricted to currently employed faculty, staff and affiliates, and currently enrolled students. If you've separated or graduated from VCU, your status has likely been updated to "former employee" or "former student," in which case you won't be able to log in.

If you're an incoming student who's not yet enrolled in classes, your status may be listed as "accepted." This means an eID has been created for you, but it won't get you into Zoom, yet. Once you're officially enrolled in classes, you'll be updated to "student" and able to activate your Zoom license.

Possibility 3: You Need To Clear Your Browser Cache

Sometimes data ends up stored in your browser cache that can foul up the SSO authentication process. Maybe you have other browser tabs open where you're logged in under different credentials, or maybe you've recently visited other Zoom portals besides VCU Zoom. If you're having trouble logging in, try opening an incognito browser window and use it to start over at vcu.zoom.us. If that does the trick, you'll need to return to your main browser window at some point and clear your cache for a fresh start.

Meeting Unexpectedly Ends After 40 Minutes

If you're being cut off at the 40-minute mark, you do not have a VCU Zoom account. You've probably created an account at the Zoom company website (www.zoom.us) using your VCU email address, but if so it's a free, "Basic" account, not attached to VCU. As a result, your meetings will be limited to 40 minutes in duration and 100 participants in size. As long as you're a currently enrolled student or currently employed faculty or staff, you can upgrade your account to "Licensed" status by logging in at vcu.zoom.us with your eID and VCU password. This will move you from "owner" of a limited Basic account to "member" of the fully-featured VCU account, increasing your meeting participant limit to 300 and removing any restrictions on meeting duration. The only limitations imposed on you will involve certain settings that are locked at the admin level to comply with university policy. In all other respects you will be gaining abilities: longer meetings, the power to assign VCU colleagues as Alternative Hosts, etc.

Unable to Add an Alternate Host

An "alternative host" by definition will need to be able to start and run your meeting without you, which means they'll need to be on the VCU Zoom account, as you are. You should be able to list anyone with a vcu.edu identity as your alternative host, but you will not be able to list users from VCUHS Zoom (where membership is based on "vcuhealth.org" credentials) or from outside of VCU entirely. (See "Co-Hosts vs Alternate Hosts" for more details).

It's always possible your colleague just hasn't established a VCU Zoom account, yet. If so, all they need to do is sign in at vcu.zoom.us to activate a license, then you'll be able to list them as your alternative host.

Please note that an "alternate host" is not the same thing as a "co-host." You can make anyone from anywhere a co-host, even if they're not affiliated with VCU. But you can only name a co-host with a meeting in progress, not before. Just open the "Participants" window to find the person you want, and use the provided option to "Make Co-Host." If you need to leave the meeting early, this person can continue on as host.

If Zoom Goes Down...

Zoom outages rarely occur and tend to be brief when they do happen. That said, if Zoom should go down, VCU users are encouraged to use Google Meet as a temporary alternative.

Everyone with a VCU eID has access to a Google account, including the Meet application. With it, you can share video, audio and desktop content in a format similar to Zoom. You can invite anyone to join you in Google Meet whether they're from VCU or outside and they don't need an account of their own to join your meetings. Any recordings you make will be saved to your Google Drive.

The Collaboration Services webpage includes everything you need to know about using Meet.

Any interruptions of Zoom service will be reported via the "alert" banner on the Technology Services website, with updates added as they become available. Also, Zoom publishes real-time status reports at status.zoom.us on a 24/7 basis.