Maran Perianen
The Microsoft outage that hit Outlook and Teams came from a network upgrade problem, the company says. Microsoft has apologised to customers and partners. This update follows our earlier Microsoft outage report.
In a post on X, Microsoft said it was deeply sorry and takes the trust placed in its services seriously. It also said it was seeing broad recovery and stability. Work continues for customers and regions still affected. Specifically, it ruled out a cyberattack. It also said artificial intelligence (AI) and AI agents were not the cause.
Here is what went wrong, who was hit and what comes next. However, Microsoft has not yet published its full report.
Why the Microsoft outage began after a network change
Microsoft said a problem from an earlier network upgrade only surfaced after a newer network change. Overall, it says it has fixed the root issue. Meanwhile, recovery work is still going on.
Early updates pointed to servers that went offline after failing automated health checks. That put more pressure on the servers that remained. As a result, loads rose and users saw connection errors.
Moreover, Microsoft said its first recovery steps did not work as expected. These included efforts to add server capacity. In response, the company moved to other fixes.
However, Microsoft did not name the exact fault or the network change. Likewise, it did not say when the first problem began. Its report may explain more.
Who felt the Microsoft outage, from Outlook to airlines
The disruption began on Thursday, 12 November, and ran into Friday. It hit Microsoft 365 services in several regions. Users reported problems with Outlook, Teams, SharePoint and Microsoft Copilot. These are tools many firms use every day.
In addition, people struggled to open inboxes, send mail and use calendars. Likewise, meeting functions failed. Overall, Downdetector logged a sharp rise in reports from 74 countries and territories.
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Notably, the reports first came mostly from the Americas. They later spread to other regions. In India, users also faced problems with Outlook, Teams and other work apps.
Likewise, airlines felt the impact. Organisations in several countries also reported disruption to routine work. Email customer support at Indian carriers IndiGo and Akasa Air was affected. IndiGo warned passengers it might not receive emails and told those who needed urgent help to use other channels. Therefore, the outage showed how much businesses and public services rely on cloud work tools.
Microsoft outage recovery and the report still to come
The outage lasted for several hours. For some users, it ran into a second day. Microsoft brought services back in stages. As a result, recovery was not instant for every customer or region.
Furthermore, Microsoft said it restored services in stages because of the scale of demand. Teams checked stability at each step. Only then did more customers and regions come back online.
Importantly, the company promised a detailed report after its review ends. No date has been given. The report may show what the network change was. It may also show why the health checks failed.
In short, the Microsoft outage came from a network upgrade issue, not a cyberattack. Microsoft says the fix is in place, but some impact remains. This update has no Malaysian details, so check your own service status.
Sashidaran Gunathevan
Navin Kumar Perianen
Sidhaarthan
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