A failed network upgrade brought several of Microsoft’s major online services to a standstill, leaving businesses and users struggling to access Microsoft 365, Teams, Outlook, and other essential tools. After nearly 24 hours of disruption, the company has apologized and says services are gradually returning to normal.
Microsoft addressed the incident in a post on X, making clear that neither a cyberattack nor artificial intelligence was responsible. Instead, the outage began with a problem during an earlier network capacity upgrade. The issue only surfaced after a subsequent network change, triggering widespread service disruptions.
The company says it has now fixed the underlying problem and is working to restore access for customers who are still affected. Recovery has been deliberately cautious, with Microsoft bringing services back in stages and checking their stability along the way. That approach extended the downtime, but the company says it was necessary to avoid further problems.
We are deeply sorry for the disruption this incident has caused our customers and partners. We know the trust they place in our services and take that responsibility extremely seriously. We are seeing broad recovery and stability across our services.
This was a technical issue not related to cyber or AI / agents. The incident was introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced following a recent network change. We have addressed the underlying issue and continue to restore service to remaining customers and regions.
Given the scale of demand, we restored services gradually, validating stability at each stage. While this took longer, it helped ensure a stable restoration.
We will provide a full post-incident report once our review is complete.
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) November 13, 2026
The disruption had consequences well beyond Microsoft’s own platforms. Organizations that rely on its cloud services were left without tools used for everyday communication and operations. In the UK, parts of the National Health Service were unable to access email and Teams, contributing to delays in some healthcare services.
Microsoft has acknowledged the impact on customers and partners, apologizing for the disruption and promising a detailed explanation. The company plans to complete an internal review and publish a post-incident report in the coming days or weeks.
For now, Microsoft says it is seeing broad recovery across its services, although some customers and regions may still experience problems.