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Where meetings go to die: Microsoft Teams outage lets customers skip that collaboration call they've been dreading

(2021/04/27)


Updated When the sun is out, thoughts can turn to taking an impromptu day's vacation. Microsoft Teams appears to be no exception to this rule as users noted problems with the collaboration platform this morning.

Connecitivity woes seemed to start at around 10:00 UTC as users across the UK and mainland Europe reported errors with the desktop and web applications on PC and Mac. Not all customers were affected (and some reported success on mobile platforms) however a bunch were were greeted with a variety of errors instead of the chat of meetings they expected.

[1]@MicrosoftTeams Can't login, my account and customers accounts, multiple tenants. Help! [2]pic.twitter.com/7VRpYEDhCu — Dave Hodges (@Daveeeh) [3]April 27, 2021

Sometimes a 401 or "operational failed" error can be a blessed relief compared to the fifth video conference before lunch. If you're affected, we'd suggest a nice cup of tea, a biscuit and some daytime television while Teams totters.

The Microsoft 365 initially weighed in by [4]confirming it was "investigating an issue with Microsoft Team impacting Europe and Asia," urging users to follow the TM252802 in the Admin Center.

[5]

But at 10:53am UTC, Microsoft admitted things had deteriorated globally.

We’ve confirmed that this issue affects users globally. We’re reviewing monitoring telemetry and recent changes to isolate the source of the issue. More information can be found under TM252802 in the Admin Center. — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) [6]April 27, 2021

In the Admin Center, Microsoft told IT pros glumly watching the tickets roll in (by email) that: "We're analyzing system telemetry to isolate the source for the issue. In parallel, we're reviewing recent changes made to the service as a potential root cause."

Microsoft? Roll out a catastrophically badly tested update? Surely not.

[7]

The ongoing instability of Teams, particularly after a year in which the company has had plenty of time to deal with the issues arising from a tsunami of customers coming to depend on the platform, is a tad embarrassing. The whole shebang went, er, [8]bang in February .

Things have also not gone well for the first wave of US customer sign-ins as some ran [9]headlong into the wall of Microsoft's inability to keep Teams upright despite those initial assurances that things were only tottering over Europe and Asia.

The Register contacted Microsoft for comment, but the Windows behemoth has yet to respond. Probably too busy sticking duct tape on whatever has broken this time. ®

[10]

Updated at 14:27 BST on 27 April to add:

A Microsoft spokesperson has sent us a statement: "We have resolved an issue that affected access to Microsoft Teams for some customers and services are now running normally."

* Teams Is Tottering Say Unimpressed Punters

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[1] https://twitter.com/MicrosoftTeams?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[2] https://t.co/7VRpYEDhCu

[3] https://twitter.com/Daveeeh/status/1386988517998354433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[4] https://twitter.com/MSFT365Status/status/1386991069091479552?s=20

[5] 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=2YIg1JJENWlXTE933gxUPiAAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[6] https://twitter.com/MSFT365Status/status/1386997012378308613?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[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=33YIg1JJENWlXTE933gxUPiAAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/17/microsoft_teams_crashes/

[9] https://twitter.com/Chricar2/status/1386994446655442944

[10] 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=44YIg1JJENWlXTE933gxUPiAAAAMA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/

Looks like I picked the wrong week

JimmyPage

To get to grips with Teams in my new role

Re: Looks like I picked the wrong week

Andy Non

I picked the wrong day yesterday to attend a Zoom meeting using an old windows laptop. Turned it on and it spent half an hour installing updates before I could logon. Missed the meeting.

Re: Looks like I picked the wrong week

DailyLlama

What? That sounds like the ideal excuse to me!

Re: Looks like I picked the wrong week

TRT

Not if it was a meeting of the IT Preparedness Committee.

No naked ambition for me.

Peter D

I always keep the camera off on Teams calls. I have no desire to subject my colleagues to the sight of me naked when they're trying to get their work done.

Re: No naked ambition for me.

Danny 14

We had a mandatory H&S (the irony) teams meeting on Monday afternoon. It was 3.5 hours long. I left my camera off but many had theirs on, it was very funny watching the bright eyed faces turn to complete dispair around the 2.5 hour mark. Meanwhile I could stay focussed on my other monitor without people watching my occasional trip to the kitchen (microphones on so I had to be careful).

At least with an onsite meeting this would have had pizza, biccys and more fun.

Screwed up one of my meetings this afternoon ...

UCAP

... but the silver lining in that cloud is that I managed to get some real work done.

Re: Screwed up one of my meetings this afternoon ...

TRT

Every on prem has a silver lining.

Work? What's that?

John Sager

My only use of Teams is the Friday evening virtual pub session with friends that has replaced the weekly IRL session since we were placed under house arrest. That mostly works, even though it's still work time in the US, but there are occasional glitches. Nice of MS to do a Linux client too.

Re: Work? What's that?

Anonymous Coward

I suspect that your "even though" is really "because" - they'll prioritise support when it affects the US working day, plus they won't risk deploying an 'update' in those hours.

Ah, so that’s what the problem was

WolfFan

I had a Teams meeting around that time. Certain people had significant problems getting and staying on, including the alleged instigator of the meeting, who tried four different devices before she could find one which would stay connected and have working audio and working video at the same time. (I had ‘video problems’ the entire meeting…) I love MS incompetence in things like this. Snide remarks about Zoom were made, not by me, I’m not that fond of Zoom either.

We apologize for any minor inconvenience

cjcox

We are sorry that new changes may have impacted somewhat your ability to use our services.

But, please notice that your framerates in gaming are closer to where they were.

And, you're welcome!

"Microsoft? Roll out a catastrophically badly tested update? Surely not."

Pascal Monett

Of course not. Borkzilla would never roll out a badly-tested update.

Borkzilla only rolls out absolutely not tested updates.

That which shrinks
Must first expand.
That which fails
Must first be strong.
That which is cast down
Must first be raised.
Before receiving
There must be giving.

This is called perception of the nature of things.
Soft and weak overcome hard and strong.

Fish cannot leave deep waters,
And a country's weapons should not be displayed.