Microsoft has restored services after a widespread outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, and Microsoft 365 across North America. The company confirmed the issue was resolved early January 23, following hours of instability that left users without email, collaboration tools, and security services.
The Microsoft logo including Outlook, Teams, and Microsoft 365, returned after a major outage.
Outage Begins Across Core Microsoft Services
Microsoft services started failing around 11:40 a.m. Pacific on January 22. Users quickly reported problems accessing Outlook, Teams, Microsoft 365, and other platforms.
Downdetector recorded a sharp increase in outage reports during the early afternoon. Microsoft Store, Azure, Defender, Copilot, and Purview were also affected.
The outage followed a brief service disruption on January 21. That earlier issue prevented logins to Microsoft 365 and Teams but was resolved within hours.
This time, the disruption lasted much longer. Users reported repeated service returns followed by fresh interruptions throughout the day.
Microsoft Confirms Resolution After Nine Hours
Microsoft said the issue had been resolved by early January 23. Downdetector showed a steep drop in new reports after midnight Eastern Time.
The company confirmed on X that the “impact has been resolved.” The post came after a prolonged period of troubleshooting.
We’ve confirmed that impact has been resolved. Full details can be found under MO1221364 within your Microsoft 365 admin center.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) January 23, 2026
Earlier updates acknowledged difficulties restoring stable access. Engineers worked to rebalance traffic across affected infrastructure.
Microsoft also cautioned that some users might still see minor issues. The company said further monitoring would continue.
Root Cause Linked to Infrastructure Constraints
Microsoft’s status page later outlined the technical cause. A portion of the dependent service infrastructure in North America failed to process traffic properly.
The company said elevated service load combined with temporary capacity limits during maintenance caused the outage.
Engineers began redirecting traffic to alternate infrastructure. Microsoft described the approach as incremental to support stable recovery.
Another update suggested a possible third-party networking issue. That external factor may have worsened access problems.
Timeline of Service Updates and Public Statements
Microsoft first acknowledged the outage at 11:37 a.m. Pacific. The company posted on X that it was investigating the issue.
We’ve identified a portion of service infrastructure in North America that is not processing traffic as expected. We’re working to restore the infrastructure to a healthy state to achieve recovery. More information can be found at https://t.co/uSHwRmXFJZ or under MO1221364 if…
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) January 22, 2026
At 12:17 p.m., Microsoft said part of its infrastructure was not processing traffic as expected. An update followed at 1:14 p.m.
The company said affected infrastructure had been restored to a healthy state. However, further load balancing was still required.
Later tweets confirmed traffic was being redirected to alternate systems. Engineers said they were working toward full recovery.
User Disruptions and Downdetector Data
Downdetector logged more than 12,000 reports for Outlook by midday. Microsoft 365 recorded over 15,000 reports during the peak.
Teams, Azure, and Microsoft Store also showed elevated outage reports. Users reported login failures and missing access to services.
Microsoft’s status page showed email errors for Outlook users. Some received a “451 4.3.2 temporary server issue” message.
Other users reported delays in SharePoint and OneDrive searches. Microsoft Purview and Defender XDR were also inaccessible for some.
Business Response and Customer Communication
Managed service providers reported operational disruptions. David Stinner, president of US itek, said Outlook had been down for hours.
Stinner said his company informed customers early through ITControlPanel. The goal was to reduce help desk call volumes.
He said proactive updates eased stress for customers. Communication helped prevent confusion during the outage.
Stinner added that customers mainly wanted timely information. He expected Microsoft to resolve the issue within hours.
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Pattern of Recent Microsoft Service Disruptions
This was not Microsoft’s first outage in 2026. Teams and Outlook experienced access issues on January 21.
Microsoft blamed that earlier outage on a third-party network issue. The company said its service environment was healthy.
On January 15, Microsoft Copilot also experienced service problems. The company said a configuration change caused that disruption.
Other large outages in recent months included Verizon and AWS. Those events also disrupted millions of users.
Microsoft said it will continue reviewing infrastructure stability. The company aims to prevent similar outages in the future.
