It is only in the last few days that Microsoft admitted that a recent update for Windows was causing problems for some Outlook users. At the time the company was not able to provide much in the way of information, and nothing in the way of help – but now there is a workaround available.
Unfortunately, there is still not a proper fix, but a workaround is better than nothing. The good news is that Microsoft seems to be on the right track to coming up with a patch, but here are the details of the workaround for the time being.
Problems started after Microsoft released the KB5074109 update for Windows 11. When first acknowledging the problem, the company said: “After updating Windows 11 to KB5074109 January 13, 2026 users with Outlook POP account profiles report that Outlook is not exiting properly. This means that Outlook will not restart after you close it. In addition, some users report issues with Outlook hangs or freezes. This is an emerging issue, and we don’t have all the symptoms yet, but we will update the topic as we understand the issue better”.
The investigation has been ongoing ever since, and Microsoft has clearly made a little progress. Now in a message posted to Windows release health, the company says:
After installing Windows updates released on or after January 13, 2026 (KB5074109), some applications might become unresponsive or experience unexpected errors when opening files from or saving files to cloud-backed storage, such as OneDrive or Dropbox.
For example, in some configurations of Outlook that store PST files on OneDrive, Outlook might become unresponsive and fail to reopen unless its process is terminated in Task Manager, or the system is restarted. In addition, sent emails might not appear in the Sent Items folder, and previously downloaded might be downloaded again.
Workaround:
If you are experiencing this issue, please contact the application developer for possible alternative methods of accessing the files.
For Outlook-specific scenarios, moving the PST files out of OneDrive should resolve the issue. For guidance, please see documentation at How to remove an Outlook .pst data file from OneDrive. In addition, email accounts can still be accessed via webmail, if supported by your email provider.
Organizations and IT administrations who need urgent help with a mitigation, should contact Microsoft Support for business.
Microsoft signs off with the familiar promise that a fix is in the works: “We are working on releasing a resolution for this issue as soon as possible. We will provide an update when more information is available”.
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