“Try launching the store again”: Outages strike Microsoft Windows Phone Store and Azure cloud services

Microsoft experienced a major outage on its Azure cloud storage service and Windows Phone Store over the weekend, with the situation made worse through unhelpful error messages.

WMPower User reports users attempting to access the Windows Phone Store to purchase, download or update apps received a black screen with the error code C101a006.

Despite the error occurring at Microsoft’s end leading to a prolonged outage, the error message advised users to “try launching the store again. If the problem continues, check back in a little while, or try restarting your phone”.

The error coincided with an outage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud storage service, caused by an outdated HTTPS certificate.

The expired HTTPS certificate meant that devices, websites and services requiring an encrypted SSL connection were unable to connect to the service.

“Storage is currently experiencing a Worldwide outage impacting HTTPS operations (SSL traffic). Status of affected services will be updated in the table below. We have identified the root cause and are validating the recovery options before implementing them. Further updates will be published to keep you apprised of the situation. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our customers,” Microsoft advised customers on the Azure status page.

The error also appears to be linked to outages in other Microsoft services, including XBox Live, NuGet and Team Foundation service.

Microsoft says it has since fixed the error, claiming 99% availability across all sub-regions.