Abstract:
Microsoft Corp. is still working to restore access to some office software hours after the system outage, saying users may still be unable to connect to products such as email and chat services. On Thursday, some users were unable to use Outlook, Teams and Copilot artificial intelligence services for most of the U.S. workday. Microsoft's products are among the most widely used software in businesses, governments and educational institutions.
Truck and bus manufacturer Workhorse Group Inc. Referring to Microsoft's system outage, it said the company had postponed its earnings report scheduled for Thursday to Monday. Institutions including school districts, universities and hospitals have warned that communications may be restricted.
Downdetector tracked that just after 1 p.m. New York time, the number of user problem reports for Microsoft's various services reached a peak of about 200,000. However, the number of fault reports for products including Outlook and Copilot has since declined. But that doesn't mean service has been restored.
In a series of status page updates, the company detailed its attempts to repair faulty systems and divert user traffic away from affected servers. After initial efforts to identify the problem and test potential solutions, the company said in an update issued shortly after 6 p.m. New York time that it had observed "limited recovery in some areas."
In a message posted at 5:11 p.m., the company said: "We are continuing to pursue all feasible avenues to restore service as the measures we have taken to date have not had the desired effect. Our investigation found that a core process on the affected server was overloaded, causing the server to stop responding and causing a loss of capacity."
Microsoft said in a separate post on X earlier Thursday that users in any region could be affected.
A Microsoft spokesperson said: "We thank our customers for their patience as we work to restore service as quickly as possible."
That day, the company counted the number of products that users may be unable to access. Technician services including cybersecurity software, file sharing services and management tools have also been affected.
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