Microsoft fixes global outage affecting Microsoft 365 and Copilot across 74 countries
Microsoft blamed the disruption on a fault linked to an earlier network capacity upgrade. Due to the outage, Indian airlines reported email problems
Microsoft said that a global outage affecting Microsoft 365 and Copilot for more than 24 hours has been fixed. The outage, which resulted in users in 74 countries being unable to access services, led some organisations to switch to phone calls and paper records.
“We have completed our efforts to address the underlying issue of the incident and restored service,” stated Microsoft, as reported by the Times of India. Earlier, the tech giant had said that it was “deeply sorry” for the disruption.
Outage disrupted services in 74 countries
Reports of the global outage first surfaced on November 12, with users across the Americas failing to open their Exchange Online mailboxes. Microsoft acknowledged the fault at 5:54 pm GMT (11:24 pm IST). It later warned that users in any region could face problems.
Also Read: Microsoft apologises for global outage, rules out cyberattack
As for the reason behind the outage, Microsoft said that it resulted from an earlier network capacity upgrade, adding that the problem “was introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a recent network change.”
It described the incident as “a technical issue not related to cyber or AI/agents.”
Server failures slowed recovery
According to initial updates, “elevated load” were reported across regions. As some servers failed automated health checks and went offline, their workloads fell on the remaining servers and started to overwhelm them.
Also Read: Widespread outage hits Microsoft; attempts to fix issue 'not working as expected'
Microsoft later acknowledged that its initial recovery steps “have not provided the anticipated relief.”
“Given the scale of demand, we restored services gradually, validating stability at each stage. While this took longer, it helped ensure a stable restoration,” the company said.
Microsoft described the recovery as “encouraging recovery progress” as pending emails moved closer to normal levels.
Airlines, health services also hit
Teams chats and meetings returned before some Exchange Online calendar features. Personal services such as Outlook.com and OneDrive were also affected. OneNote and Microsoft To Do faced problems too.
Microsoft said in January that it had more than 450 million paid commercial subscriptions to Microsoft 365.
Also Read: Microsoft services gradually restored in Asia Pacific, but Outlook disruption continues
In India, IndiGo and Akasa Air reported email problems. Air India rerouted its email services, while flights continued as usual. In the UK, NHS staff turned to paper records, and pharmacies warned of prescription delays.
The outage also affected OpenAI and Anthropic's Microsoft 365 connectors. Workhorse Group postponed its quarterly results announcement to November 16.