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Start with Microsoft 365 Service health. In the Microsoft 365 admin center, open Health > Service health and look for an incident or advisory affecting the same workload and users. Then compare Microsoft’s public status page and run the Microsoft 365 network connectivity test from the affected location and from an independent connection.
A matching, broad incident across unrelated networks points toward Microsoft. A failure limited to one device, office, VPN, ISP or browser—especially when the connectivity test fails only there—makes your local network path the stronger explanation. Neither signal is absolute, so collect evidence and report an unlisted problem.
Why attribution matters before you start changing things
Microsoft 365 failures can look alike even when their causes are unrelated. Outlook may stop synchronizing because a Microsoft service is degraded, because a proxy cannot authenticate, or because DNS is returning the wrong answer. Teams may fail to connect during a Microsoft incident, but the same symptom can come from a blocked WebSocket, broken VPN route or expired certificate on one network.
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The fastest attribution workflow
- Check tenant-specific Service health. Sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center and select Health > Service health. Review current incidents, advisories, affected services, user impact, issue history and the latest investigation, mitigation and resolution updates.
- Use Microsoft’s public status page if sign-in fails. The public page separates business and enterprise services from consumer products. It is useful when administrators cannot reach the admin center, but it does not provide the same tenant-specific detail available in Service health.
- Classify the status. An advisory means Microsoft knows about a problem while the service remains available, often intermittently or for a limited scope. An incident is a critical problem in which a service or major function is unavailable.
- Map the scope. Ask whether the failure affects one device, one office, one VPN, one ISP, several locations, multiple tenants or users on unrelated networks. Record which Microsoft workload is failing and which workloads still work.
- Run Microsoft’s network connectivity test. From the affected device and location, run the Microsoft 365 connectivity test. Save the result, then repeat it from a known-good path such as a phone hotspot or another office.
- Inspect the local path when the evidence is isolated. Check DNS, proxy authentication, firewall filtering, TLS inspection, VPN routing, Wi-Fi, ISP reachability and system clock or certificate errors. Test both a browser and the desktop client.
- Report an unlisted problem. If Service health has no matching entry, use Report an issue in the admin center. Microsoft reviews related service data and reports from other organizations and may create an incident or advisory when the cause is on its side.
- Preserve a timeline. Record UTC timestamps, affected service, tenant and location, client type, exact error text, status-page observations and connectivity-test results. This information lets Microsoft or your ISP correlate your symptoms with wider events.
Read Service health like an incident record
What the page establishes
Tenant-specific Service health is Microsoft’s primary source for known Microsoft 365 incidents and advisories. It shows the current condition of each cloud service, active issues, historical entries and updates as Microsoft investigates, mitigates and resolves a problem. Match the entry’s workload and user impact to what your users actually report; a notice about one function does not automatically explain failures in every Microsoft 365 application.
Advisory versus incident
| Status type | Microsoft’s meaning | What users may observe | How to use it diagnostically |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advisory | A known problem exists while the service remains available, commonly with intermittent or limited impact. | Some requests succeed while others fail, or only a subset of users or features is affected. | It supports a Microsoft-side explanation when the affected feature and scope match your reports, but local network checks still matter for users who cannot connect at all. |
| Incident | A critical issue makes a service or major function unavailable. | Consistent failure of the named workload or function for the stated population. | A matching incident is strong evidence of a Microsoft-side event; compare your users and locations with the incident’s stated scope. |
Why a clear page is not a clean bill of health
Status entries can lag the first user report while Microsoft validates symptoms, and an issue affecting only your tenant or route may not yet qualify for a broad notice. If the dashboard is clear, continue with the connectivity test, compare independent networks and submit Report an issue rather than concluding that your network is definitely at fault.
Use the public status page when administrators cannot sign in
Microsoft’s public service-status page is the fallback when the admin center is unreachable or no administrator is available. It distinguishes business and enterprise status from consumer products, so select the section that corresponds to your account. A public notice can confirm that Microsoft is investigating a broad event, but business customers should return to tenant Service health for detailed impact, updates and tenant-specific context as soon as access is restored.
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Several reports from the same office or VPN are not independent evidence: they may all traverse one failed firewall, ISP or identity proxy. Reports from unrelated networks are more informative. Ask a user in another office to test, try a different ISP, and compare a tenant outside your organization if one is available. This is diagnostic inference rather than proof, but it sharply changes the odds.
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| Comparison | Evidence that favors Microsoft | Evidence that favors the local network path |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Users in multiple locations or tenants fail at the same time. | Only one device, office or site fails. |
| Network independence | Unrelated ISPs, VPNs and internet connections show the same symptom. | All reports share one ISP, VPN concentrator, proxy or firewall. |
| Service specificity | The same Microsoft workload or major function fails while independent networks are affected. | All internet traffic, or several unrelated websites and cloud services, fail from one path. |
| Status evidence | A matching tenant incident or advisory is listed. | Service health and the public page are clear, with no matching scope. |
| Path-test result | The connectivity test shows a comparable device-to-Microsoft failure from multiple locations. | The test fails only from one location and succeeds over a known-good connection. |
Run and compare Microsoft’s network connectivity test
Test the affected path first
- Open Microsoft’s Microsoft 365 network connectivity test in a browser on the affected device and location.
- Run the test while the failure is occurring. The test measures connectivity from the device to the internet and then onward to Microsoft’s network.
- Save or export the result, including the timestamp and any failed destinations or checks.
- Note whether the browser was on Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet, whether a VPN or proxy was active, and which Microsoft 365 workload prompted the test.
Repeat from an independent connection
- Disconnect from the suspect office path without changing the device’s other configuration.
- Connect through a phone hotspot or another office that uses a separate internet route.
- Run the same test and attempt the same Outlook, Teams or browser action.
- Compare the results. A failure that follows the device across unrelated connections suggests a device or account issue; a failure confined to the original path raises the likelihood of DNS, proxy, firewall, VPN, Wi-Fi or ISP trouble.
The test is more useful than a simple ping because it follows application-relevant connectivity toward Microsoft’s network. A successful ping does not prove that Microsoft 365 is healthy: many cloud services do not answer ICMP, and application traffic can fail while ping succeeds.
Investigate the local path without making random changes
DNS resolution
Confirm that the affected device resolves Microsoft 365 hostnames consistently and receives the expected responses. Compare resolution on the office network with the same device on a hotspot. A mismatch limited to the office points toward the local resolver, filtering service or ISP path.
Proxy and firewall authentication
Check whether the proxy still accepts the user’s credentials and whether filtering rules changed. TLS inspection can break certificate validation or application protocols even when ordinary websites load. Review proxy and firewall logs at the exact UTC time of failure rather than relying on a later, incomplete view.
VPN routing
Temporarily test with the VPN disconnected only if your organization’s policy permits it. If Microsoft 365 works directly but fails through the tunnel, compare split-tunnel routes, gateway health and security-policy changes with the VPN administrator. Do not permanently bypass a required corporate control as a “fix.”
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Wi-Fi and ISP reachability
Move the affected device to wired Ethernet or a different access point, then compare with a separate ISP. If only one access circuit fails, give the provider the destination, timestamps and test output. A local outage can affect Microsoft 365 while other popular sites remain reachable.
Clock and certificates
Verify that the device’s date, time, time zone and synchronization source are correct. An incorrect clock can make valid TLS certificates appear expired or not yet valid. Correct the time, retry the application and record whether the certificate error disappeared.
Separate an application problem from a network problem
Use both browser and desktop client
Try the affected workload in a supported browser and in its desktop client on the same network. If both fail with similar errors, a shared network path or service issue is more likely. If only one client fails, clear that client’s cached sign-in state according to your organization’s procedure, check its proxy settings and test another user profile before changing network infrastructure.
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Outlook failure does not automatically mean every Microsoft 365 service is down. Note whether Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive or the admin center works. A single-workload failure that matches a Service health entry points to that Microsoft component; a simultaneous inability to reach unrelated internet services points toward the local path.
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When and how to report an unlisted issue
Use Health > Service health > Report an issue when the dashboard has no matching incident or advisory. Include the workload, tenant, affected users and locations, start time in UTC, client and browser versions, exact error text, whether a VPN or proxy was involved, and results from both the affected and independent connectivity tests. Microsoft says it reviews related data and reports from other organizations and may add an incident or advisory if the problem originated in its service.
Continue local checks after reporting. Filing a report does not establish that Microsoft is responsible, and a clear dashboard does not establish that your network is responsible. Keep the report number or confirmation with your incident timeline so later status updates can be matched to the original symptoms.
Practical decision branches
Microsoft incident listed and several networks fail
Communicate that Microsoft is investigating the named workload, quote the incident’s current scope and update time, and avoid disruptive local changes. Provide users with any Microsoft-documented workaround shown in Service health, then monitor the entry until mitigation or resolution is posted.
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No status entry and one office fails
Prioritize DNS, proxy, firewall, VPN, Wi-Fi and ISP checks. Verify from a hotspot or another office, gather connectivity-test output, and escalate to the network owner with timestamps and exact errors. Submit Report an issue so Microsoft can check whether the event is emerging elsewhere.
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One device fails while other devices on the same network work
Test the device on a separate connection. Inspect its clock, certificates, local security software, browser profile, cached credentials and client configuration. Because the network works for peers, changing shared firewall or DNS settings is unlikely to be the first remedy.
Everyone fails but only through one ISP or VPN
Compare a direct connection or independent ISP and preserve the failed and successful test results. Escalate to the ISP or VPN operator with destination details and UTC timestamps while checking Service health for a coincident Microsoft event. Shared infrastructure can create organization-wide symptoms without a Microsoft outage.
Evidence checklist for escalation
- UTC start and latest-observed times.
- Microsoft 365 workload and exact function affected.
- Tenant, office, country or region and number of affected users.
- Devices, browsers and desktop clients tested.
- VPN, proxy, firewall, TLS inspection and Wi-Fi conditions.
- Service health and public-status observations, including incident or advisory identifiers when present.
- Connectivity-test results from the affected path and an independent connection.
- Exact error text, screenshots where permitted and actions already attempted.
This record gives Microsoft, your network team and your ISP a common timeline instead of a vague report that “Microsoft 365 is down.”
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