Microsoft Outlook Experiences Major Global Outage
It’s been a frustrating day for many as Microsoft Outlook is experiencing a major global outage, preventing millions from accessing their emails. On Wednesday, July 9, 2025, at 10:20 PM UTC, this pervasive problem started.
Consequently, millions are being left without access to their inboxes, creating chaos for personal and professional communications. The problem is affecting both Outlook and Hotmail users worldwide.
What Users Are Experiencing
Reports from users across the globe indicate a variety of problems:
- A common message that appears is “something went wrong” when individuals try to log in.
- Many are encountering login and server connection issues, preventing access to their mailboxes.
- Some users are even being told their license is not valid, despite being up-to-date with their subscription payments.
- Error codes like “Error 500” and “Error 401” are also being displayed.
- For some, Exchange emails are neither being received nor sent from any email platform I have tried (Outlook or Gmail).
These issues are affecting Outlook across all connection methods, including Outlook.com (the web-based service), Outlook Mobile apps on smartphones and tablets, and the Outlook desktop client.
According to Downdetector, which tracks outages, hundreds of thousands of people have reported problems, confirming this as a truly global incident impacting users in regions from the UK and US to Australia, Canada, Hungary, Germany, Peru, and Guam.
Additionally, Microsoft 365 problems have been reported by over 200 users on Downdetector.
Microsoft’s Response and Ongoing Fix Efforts
Microsoft has acknowledged a “service degradation” affecting its consumer products, specifically Outlook. They have stated, “We’re having issues, but we’re working on it.”
More importantly, Microsoft has identified the underlying cause of the problem, which appears to be linked to an authentication component within its mailbox infrastructure.
As a result, Microsoft is actively applying configuration changes, restarting affected components, and conducting additional validations to properly configure the authentication.
While these “safe change management processes” typically take time, Microsoft has indicated that the “deployment of the fix is progressing quicker than anticipated,” and they expect the impact to “gradually mitigate as it progresses.”
They are also exploring “expedited deployment methodology in regions that are experiencing the highest levels of impact” to provide faster relief.
Despite these efforts, some users have expressed frustration on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) regarding what they perceive as a lack of immediate and detailed official communication from Microsoft’s social media channels.
It’s important to note that while Microsoft email services like Outlook and Hotmail are experiencing this outage, other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft 365 and Skype, are reportedly operating normally. There were also some earlier reports of an MS Teams outage, but that issue appears to have been resolved.
A Pattern of Disruptions
This isn’t an isolated incident for Outlook. Just a couple of months ago, in May, users faced a similar problem with a “500 Internal Server Error,” which was later attributed to a recent update.
Earlier in March 2025, an erroneous code update also triggered Outlook and broader Microsoft 365 service failures, generating over 35,000 outage reports.
These recurring issues highlight the complexities involved in maintaining massive, interconnected online services and the challenges of quickly resolving widespread technical issues.
Conclusion
Microsoft is actively working to resolve this significant global outage impacting Outlook and Hotmail users. While a fix is being deployed, patience is key as the company strives to restore full email access. For now, users are encouraged to monitor official Microsoft channels for the latest updates.
