During this period, the Microsoft accounts of many project developers were abnormally blocked. Among them, the developer accounts of projects such as VeraCrypt and WireGuard were unable to log in, while the developer accounts of the open source virtual machine software UTM disappeared directly (when logging in, it was prompted that the account did not exist).
Most of these projects require the use of system-level drivers, and such drivers must be signed by developers in the Microsoft Hardware Program before they can be trusted by the kernel. Being banned from the account means that drivers cannot continue to be signed, and therefore new versions cannot be released.
The above incident caused a lot of discussion on social media. In addition to conspiracy theories (some netizens claimed that Microsoft was tightening system permissions), more netizens questioned how Microsoft's work could be so rough, otherwise it would not have caused so many developer accounts to be banned.
Microsoft launches fast track to help developers recover:
There should be a lot of actually banned developer accounts. It is too inefficient for developers to contact Microsoft's vice president of developer relations on Twitter to solve the problem. So now Microsoft has launched a fast track to help developers recover their accounts.
The problem that this fast track solves is that developers cannot contact Microsoft's manual customer service. This incident was originally reported by the developer of the encryption software VeraCrypt on his own forum. Since he could not contact the manual customer service, the developer had to post for help from netizens. It was later spread on social media that it attracted Microsoft's attention.
Now that the fast track has been reviewed by Microsoft's manual team, developers only need to submit error reports and wait for review. Microsoft says this can speed up the resolution of developer accounts that fail to complete compliance certification.
As for the reason for the ban, Microsoft and the developers disagree:
The key reason for this ban is that Microsoft has notified developers via email to complete the required identity verification since October 2025. Accounts that failed to complete the identity verification were automatically suspended by the system at the beginning of this month.
Identity verification is required because kernel driver signing involves system security issues. Only developers who detail their development plans, software, and platforms and submit their real identity information can obtain approval from Microsoft, which can then be used to sign kernel-level drivers.
The problem is that many developers claim that they have not received any notification before, which means that there may be some kind of problem with Microsoft's email system, resulting in some or all developers not receiving any notification at all until the account is suspended after the date set by Microsoft is exceeded.
Microsoft did not elaborate on this matter, but now the new fast track requires developers to resubmit detailed business information, which is not much different from reapplying for an account. After the review is completed, you can log in again with the old account and continue to obtain the developer signature certificate.
It is now recommended that all affected developers take immediate action to submit new applications. After all, it is said to be reviewed by a manual team, but no one knows how long it will take for the final approval. Previously, it took UTM developers 3 months to successfully obtain approval from Microsoft (it was also the long-term lack of review that finally attracted Microsoft's attention after posting on social media).
via Microsoft