[URGENT] Cannot login into outlook.con without error

Stuart Massey 20 Reputation points
2026-05-12T16:25:33.6066667+00:00

My Microsoft account login works normally at account.microsoft.com, but all Outlook mailbox services fail across every device and client.

Symptoms:

  • Outlook.com fails with HTTP 401 / X-OWA-Error
  • Calendar.live.com and People.live.com redirect to the same Outlook login failure
  • Apple Mail says “connection to the mail server failed”
  • Multiple browsers/devices/networks tested
  • Private browsing and cache clearing did not help
  • Password reset completed successfully
  • Microsoft support page says: “If you can sign in, but still can't access Outlook.com, the only option is to wait for us to fix an issue on our end.”

This appears to be a mailbox authentication/provisioning issue rather than incorrect credentials.

Has anyone seen this resolved, or is there a way to escalate for mailbox backend repair/reprovisioning?

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Email
Answer accepted by question author
EmilyS726 265.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2026-05-12T17:00:15.4433333+00:00

Many users are having the same issue right now. Last time this happened, it had to be fixed from Microsoft's side. I believe this is a Microsoft server-side issue. There's no official acknowledgement at the moment, but I believe there's nothing you can do on your end until Microsoft fixes this.

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  1. Stuart Massey 20 Reputation points
    2026-05-13T19:52:13.33+00:00

    Microsoft eventually just resolved the problem - no idea how or why the problem happened. Absolutely shocking support process!!

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