Microsoft 365 experienced a major global outage on November 25, 2024, affecting core services including Outlook, Teams, and Exchange Online. The disruption began around 8 a.m. CET, with Downdetector logging over 800 initial reports.
Service Impact and Technical Details
The outage primarily affected email and calendar functionalities across Microsoft’s enterprise suite. According to Sky News, 80% of reported problems involved Outlook web access. Users attempting to access Outlook encountered a simple error message: “Your request can’t be completed right now.”
Microsoft identified a “recent change” as the root cause and began implementing remedial measures. The company initiated fix deployment and manual system restarts on affected machines.
“We’ve started to deploy a fix which is currently progressing through the affected environment,” Microsoft stated on their social media. “While this progresses, we’re beginning manual restarts on a subset of machines that are in an unhealthy state.”
Geographic Scope
The outage’s reach extended across multiple continents. Users from The Netherlands, Poland, France, and Sweden reported issues on social media. Mailmeteor’s monitoring recorded 423 distinct problem reports, indicating widespread service disruption.
Affected Services
The technical impact extended to:
- Exchange Online access disrupted via multiple protocols (REST, Exchange ActiveSync)
- Microsoft Teams calendar functionality
- Microsoft Bookings system
- Microsoft Defender for Office365
- OneDrive accessibility
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Recovery Progress
Six hours into the incident, Microsoft reported deploying fixes across approximately 70% of affected environments. The company continues to monitor the situation and implement fixes.
Expert Commentary
The University of Galway’s IT group observed the “intermittent nature” of the issue affecting Microsoft 365 customers globally. A similar outage occurred in July 2024, when multiple Microsoft 365 and Azure services faced downtime.
Business Impact Analysis
The outage occurred during business hours, affecting organizations’ Exchange Online and Teams calendar functionalities, which impacted scheduling and communication workflows.
Technical Context
Microsoft was also rolling out its new Recall AI tool for Windows Insiders on the same day. This tool, designed for taking computer activity snapshots, had previously faced criticism over privacy concerns, leading to a postponed launch. The source documents do not indicate any connection between this rollout and the service outage.
Microsoft’s Office service health and Microsoft 365 network health status pages showed no issues with the company’s network health status and availability, internet service provider availability, and customer network infrastructure during this period.
