On October 29, 2025, Microsoft Azure experienced a major outage that began around noon, disrupting multiple services reliant on its cloud infrastructure. The incident affected Microsoft 365, Xbox, Minecraft, and other applications, causing widespread issues for consumers and businesses, including Alaska Airlines.
Microsoft identified the root cause as problems with Azure Front Door, which resulted in loss of availability for certain services and challenges accessing the Azure Portal. The investigation also pointed to issues involving the domain name system. This outage occurred just hours before Microsoft’s quarterly earnings report, illustrating the heavy reliance on cloud platforms for operations.
Outage reports surged on platforms like Downdetector, reflecting the scale of the disruptions. To address the problem, Microsoft rerouted the Azure Portal away from Azure Front Door and recommended that affected users employ programmatic access methods, such as PowerShell or the Command Line Interface (CLI).
The event impacted key functionalities across various sectors, underscoring the operational dependencies on Azure’s infrastructure.
