Microsoft hits Ctrl-Z after Teams trips over file sharing
- Reference: 1744799888
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/16/microsoft_teams_file_sharing/
- Source link:
The problem began during US business hours, with users reporting odd behavior. Attachments [1]failed to upload , [2]downloads stopped working , and collaboration for affected customers ground to a halt.
Microsoft swung into action and [3]confirmed it was looking into the issue. A note, TM1055900, was posted in the Message Center as engineers investigated.
[4]
It took a few hours to identify the cause: readers will be shocked to learn that it was a modification to the backend which led to the outage. [5]Reverting the change fixed it.
[6]
[7]
Microsoft has suffered a run of backend changes affecting functionality recently. One last week [8]broke software licensing for Microsoft 365 Family subscribers and resulted in alarming and erroneous "Your subscription expired" messages being sent to some users. Then there was the [9]Outlook fiasco caused by a dubious code change, followed by another [10]Outlook fault later that month.
[11]Exchange Server 2019 has less than six months of support left in the tank
[12]ActiveX blocked by default in Microsoft 365 because remote code execution is bad, OK?
[13]Windows Recovery Environment update fails successfully, says Microsoft
[14]Don't delete that mystery empty folder. Windows put it there as a security fix
After the last Outlook fail, a Microsoft spokesperson told us: "We are working to enhance our detection of similar events and reduce the time needed to identify, mitigate, or prevent such impacts."
Maybe don't push stuff to production without thoroughly testing it first? File sharing is a key part of collaboration, and breaking it risks seriously disrupting the workflows of many users.
Not all Teams users were affected. Microsoft said the "impact was specific to users who were currently configured on public preview or part of the Technology Adoption Program (TAP)." So that's alright then.
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There was also a sort-of workaround, which was doubtless of great comfort to affected customers: "Users were able to view/access previously uploaded files when accessing from the 'Shared' tab within all Teams clients."
Microsoft said: "We're reviewing our change management processes to identify why this issue was not detected prior to deployment."
Matthew Hodgson, CEO of the Element messaging service, told The Register: "The Microsoft outage once again highlights the risks of relying heavily on centralised cloud services."
[16]
He noted that going down the centralized route can create single points of failure. In this case, a back-end changed borked the files experience in Teams for many users. Hodgson suggested that companies could mitigate such risks by reducing reliance on any single provider through distributing data and workloads over multiple nodes. ®
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[1] https://x.com/kssundara/status/1912104480604070162
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftTeams/comments/1k0evx7/user_cant_download_files_from_some_teams_chats/
[3] https://x.com/MSFT365Status/status/1912117386351702159
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z__UIF6-MsYpXT5Ifr2DDgAAAZE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://x.com/MSFT365Status/status/1912117386351702159
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z__UIF6-MsYpXT5Ifr2DDgAAAZE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z__UIF6-MsYpXT5Ifr2DDgAAAZE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/10/not_just_you_microsoft_365/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/microsoft_outlook_outage/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/20/outlook_outage_again/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/15/exchange_server_2019/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/15/activex_microsoft_365/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/15/winre_update_error/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/14/windows_update_inetpub/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z__UIF6-MsYpXT5Ifr2DDgAAAZE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/saas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z__UIF6-MsYpXT5Ifr2DDgAAAZE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: 90 days to upgrade
I blame Skype; this used to happen all the time in the Linux app, and the same file would work fine in the web version.
Maybe "integrating" the two broke it ?
Not that we care, we've moved to something not-Microsoft at 3 quid per user per month, and uninstalled Skype. That's how much people hate Teams, even though we have a 365 sub for Office that (probably) includes it.
Re: 90 days to upgrade
Yet, on the upside, Microsoft subscription payment service is ticking along nicely without missing a beat.
Apologies to Goodfellas.
"Now the guy's got Microsoft as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Microsoft. Trouble with the billing? He can go to Microsoft. Trouble with licensing, downtime, Azure acting up? He can call Microsoft. But now the guy's gotta come up with Microsoft’s money every month no matter what. Business slow? Screw you, pay us. Oh, you had a breach? Screw you, pay us. Your latest software update took down your servers, huh? Screw you, pay us."
Don't Blame (the Old) Skype
Remember the old Skype -- the one which was decentralised -- until Microsoft took it over?
Maybe Microsoft should consider — oh, I don't know — giving users the capability of sending actual file attachments in Teams, rather than making them inline shared files with all the attendant permissions problems they create?
This could be just a me problem, but trying to open shared documents in Teams using multiple user accounts (one privileged) via Firefox results in being denied access because FF guessed at the wrong user profile to access from that tab. I end up having to open a private browsing window, then copying and pasting the Teams document link into a new session so I can force the right account. It's a multi-step process to open some file that may or may not be important.
Odd behaviour
“…odd behavior. Attachments failed to upload, downloads stopped working, and collaboration for affected customers ground to a halt”
Oh. I thought that was normal behaviour
Re: Odd behaviour
This was for people using the beta-test version, so perhaps you're right. Does the beta-test version break often?
A modest proposal
Software development and maintenance is difficult. It involves such requirements as thinking. Automation would make it simpler. It is proposed therefore to set up an automatic process which makes random changes to the software at random times. Those that cause problems can then be reverted, those that don't can be left in even if their effects are meaningless.
"Maybe don't push to production without properly testing first?"
That's just not how they roll at Microsoft! Why bother testing when you can get your customers to do it?
Surprise, surprise; yet another cock-up.
I never get tired of saying it
So, how's that cloud thing working for?
Re: I never get tired of saying it
In defense of the cloud, it has enabled some very powerful capabilities which would be much more difficult to implement without it. I got an IM in Teams from a teammate in India requesting a file, which popped up on my phone. From my phone, I was able to locate the file in OneDrive and send it to him via Teams. I'm not saying you couldn't implement something similar with on-prem technology, but the cloud does make it simpler for the customer, freeing them from having to administer the complicated back-end infrastructure. For smaller organizations, cloud technologies can enable capabilities that they simply wouldn't have otherwise.
It obviously has its downsides as well, such as operational cost and being at the mercy of the vendor's changes, so it's not all bread and roses, to be sure.
"Reviewing our change management"
> Microsoft said: "We're reviewing our change management processes ..."
Might I suggest reviewing your management?
90 days to upgrade
That is the same Teams which is to recieve a "90 days to upgarde to the current version or be locked out"-Teams?
Lovely.