Microsoft outage recovery remains uncertain, with no ETA

In updates posted Thursday, Nov. 12, Microsoft said it was routing traffic through alternate paths and restricting some traffic to affected servers in certain locations. It reported limited recovery and said users should expect service to return gradually. By 10:58 p.m. ET, however, the company said changes intended to improve serviceability were not working as expected and that it was exploring other ways to increase traffic capacity.

The outage has affected services that interact with Exchange Online and email, including Outlook, SharePoint Online, Teams, Copilot AI and Microsoft 365. Microsoft said Azure appeared to be operational. In an update at 1:08 a.m. ET Friday, Nov. 13, the company said it was still investigating the cause and was not aware of malicious activity behind the incident.

Earlier Thursday, Microsoft said its actions had not provided the expected relief and that it was opening all available pathways to restore service. The company had not provided a recovery timetable. Mashable said it had contacted Microsoft for comment but had received no response by publication time.

The article compared the disruption with an Outlook outage on Aug. 31, when service was fully restored by 11 p.m. ET after beginning around noon. Based on that earlier recovery, it suggested the current outage might be fixed around 11:30 p.m. ET, but cautioned that the timing could differ depending on the cause and the work required.