Azure outage in recovery: Microsoft expects full recovery by 23:20 UTC

Microsoft’s Azure platform is showing signs of recovery after an outage that disrupted services including Microsoft 365, Xbox and Minecraft. Microsoft reported that it initiated a rollout of its “last known good configuration,” began rerouting traffic through healthy nodes, and that customers were starting to see initial signs of service restoration.

The company’s status updates said the incident began around 12:00 PM ET and that protective blocks slowed the rollout in some regions. In its latest update, Microsoft estimated full recovery by 23:20 UTC (6:20 PM ET) and encouraged customers to monitor the Azure status page for live updates.

Key points

• Impact: Microsoft 365, Xbox (including Game Pass sign‑in/loading) and Minecraft showed spikes in outage reports during the incident.
• Cause & mitigation: Microsoft cited issues with Azure Front Door and deployed its last known good configuration while rerouting traffic to alternate healthy infrastructure.
• Recovery ETA: Microsoft indicated initial recovery signs and an expected full recovery by 23:20 UTC, though times may vary by region.

What users can do

• Check live status: monitor the Azure status page and official Microsoft 365/Xbox support feeds for the latest updates.
• For admins: follow Microsoft’s Service Health alerts, avoid major configuration changes during the incident, and prepare communications for affected users.
• For consumers: try restarting affected apps or devices, wait for the official recovery confirmation, and avoid third‑party “fix” links or tools.

Why Front Door interruptions ripple across services

Azure Front Door is a global edge and routing service that many Microsoft endpoints and customer apps rely on for routing, caching and acceleration. When Front Door experiences problems, it can cause broad, cross‑product disruptions rather than isolated outages, which explains why multiple Microsoft services were affected simultaneously.

Microsoft has said it will continue to post updates on the Azure status page as engineers complete the rollout and validate recovery across regions. If you manage critical systems, contact Microsoft support through your admin channels for prioritized assistance.

Discussion: Have you seen services return to normal yet? How did this outage affect your work or gaming plans, and what contingency steps would you like cloud providers to offer to reduce disruption?