After installing the March 2026 cumulative update (KB5079473), signing in with Microsoft accounts might fail for some Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Teams Free, Office apps, or OneDrive.
As a result of this issue, sign-in attempts will display an error message (e.g., 0x800704cf) with text similar to “You’ll need the Internet for this. It doesn’t look like you’re connected to the Internet”. This appears even if the device is connected to the internet.
0x800704cf (“ERROR_NETWORK_UNREACHABLE”) means “The network location cannot be reached. For information about network troubleshooting, see Windows Help.”
Cause
This is a known issue in the March 2026 cumulative update (KB5079473), and Microsoft has acknowledged this in the Known Issues page → Windows 11, version 25H2 known issues and notifications | Microsoft Learn.
It says the following:
Following installation of Windows updates released March 10, 2026 (KB5079473) sign in with Microsoft accounts might fail for some Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Teams Free or OneDrive. As a result of this issue, sign in attempts will display an error message with text similar to “You’ll need the Internet for this. It doesn’t look like you’re connected to the Internet”. This appears even if the device is connected to the internet.
Please note that this issue occurs only with sign in operations involving Microsoft accounts, which are commonly used for Microsoft Teams Free. Businesses using Entra ID (previously known as Azure Active Directory) for app authentication will not be affected by this issue.
Other applications affected include Microsoft Edge, Excel, Word, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. Whenever a feature in these applications requires Microsoft account sign in, the same message can be encountered.
Resolution: This issue was resolved by Windows updates released March 21, 2026 (), and later updates. We recommend you install the latest updates for your device as they contain important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one.
If you install an update released March 21, 2026 () or later, you do not need to use a workaround for this issue. If you are using an update released before this date, and have this issue, restarting the device while keeping it connected to the internet should prevent the issue from occurring.
Please note this issue occurs when the device enters a specific network connectivity state, and may resolve on its own. However, if the device is restarted without an active internet connection, it might return to a connectivity state where the issue can occur again. In such a case, it will be necessary to restart again while keeping internet connectivity, in order to repair the connectivity state.
Affected platforms:
Client: Windows 11, version 25H2; Windows 11, version 24H2
Server: None
Resolution
So, please install the March 21, 2026, out-of-band update to resolve the 0x800704cf error.
Workaround
The following workaround helped many users:
- Launch services.msc.
- Right-click “Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant”, and select “Restart”.
- Right-click “Microsoft Cloud Identity Service” and select “Restart”.
- Ensure that the above two services are set to Manual start.
Open an Office app or sign in to Teams or OneDrive now. As Microsoft says, if you install an update released March 21, 2026 () or later, you do not need to use a workaround for this issue.
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