After installing the March 2026 Patch Tuesday update, a lot of Windows 11 users are finding they can't sign into Microsoft apps anymore. OneDrive, Teams, Word, Excel, Edge, and Copilot all throw the same error even though the internet is clearly working fine.

The error looks like this:

"You'll need the Internet for this. It doesn't look like you're connected to the Internet. Check your connection and try again."

The error code is usually 0x800704cf. Microsoft has confirmed this is a known issue tied to KB5079473. It only affects personal Microsoft accounts. Work and school accounts are usually fine.

Here's how to fix it.

What's Going On

KB5079473 leaves some machines with a corrupted network connectivity state. Windows knows you're online, but the layer that handles personal Microsoft account authentication gets confused and thinks there's no connection.

Microsoft has documented this on the Windows 11 24H2 release health dashboard.

Fix 1: Restart Your PC

Start here. It sounds too simple, but this resolves the problem for most people. The important part is restarting while you're connected to the internet.

  1. Make sure Wi-Fi or ethernet is active.
  2. Open Start and choose Restart, not Shut Down.
  3. After it boots back up, try signing in again.

A cold shutdown and power-on handles network state differently than a proper restart in Windows 11. If you've only been shutting down and powering back on, a real restart often does the trick.

Fix 2: Restart the Sign-In Assistant Service

If a restart doesn't fix it, manually restart the Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant service.

  1. Press Win + R, type services.msc, and hit Enter.
  2. Scroll down to Microsoft Account Sign-in Assistant.
  3. Right-click it and choose Restart. If it shows as stopped, choose Start instead.
  4. Try signing in again.

You can also run this from an elevated command prompt:

net stop wlidsvc
net start wlidsvc

Fix 3: Reset Your Network Stack

If sign-in still fails, run a full network reset. Open Terminal as Administrator by right-clicking the Start button and choosing Terminal (Admin), then run each of these:

ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Restart after running all of them.

Heads up: The winsock reset will drop any active VPN or custom network configuration. You'll need to reconnect those afterward.

Fix 4: Wait It Out

Microsoft says the issue can self-resolve after a background service update. If none of the above work and you're not in a rush, leaving the machine connected for a few hours sometimes clears it.

Don't wait on a production machine though. Try Fixes 1 through 3 first.

If you've been through everything above and you're still locked out, remove and re-add your Microsoft account:

  1. Go to Settings > Accounts > Email and accounts.
  2. Remove the Microsoft account.
  3. Sign back in, using your password rather than Windows Hello if you get a choice.

This clears the cached credential state the update left behind.

Which Apps Are Affected

The issue only hits personal Microsoft accounts, not work or school ones. The apps most commonly affected are:

  • OneDrive
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Microsoft 365 apps
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Copilot
  • Microsoft Store

Need help getting your team back online after a bad update? Contact Rain City Techworks.