This week, Microsoft faced significant disruptions across its services due to an Azure outage, which occurred shortly after a similar incident affected Meta’s Facebook platform. On July 23, 2026, Microsoft 365 services, including Teams and SharePoint, were reported to be experiencing slow performance or were completely inoperable.
As the situation unfolded, Microsoft confirmed that the outage also affected Azure, leading to issues with Windows 11 updates and Microsoft Store downloads. This came as a surprise, especially considering the company’s recent push encouraging users to promptly download Windows security updates. The outage also impacted Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), which had faced previous issues.
The outage was first noted around 11:15 AM PST, prompting Microsoft to notify users and administrators of service disruptions for Windows Update and the Microsoft Update Catalog. Users were informed that they might experience delays or failures in downloading content. Microsoft communicated that recovery efforts were underway and that traffic was being redirected to restore functionality.
Around 1:45 PM PST, Microsoft reported that the issues had been resolved, with services officially back online and updating normally. The Microsoft Service Health Status page currently shows no ongoing issues with Azure or Microsoft 365, although the bug is still listed on the Windows Release Health page.
For those affected or interested in tracking service updates, the following resources may be helpful: