Bought a new Windows 11 laptop with an ARM chip and found that Teams and the new Outlook simply refuse to open? You are not imagining it. Microsoft has an open entry for this on its Windows release health dashboard, and the fix is not a Windows update at all. It is a Microsoft Store update, and you have to go and fetch it yourself.
Why Teams and Outlook are not opening on ARM Windows 11 PCs
Microsoft’s dashboard entry is titled Microsoft Teams and Outlook might fail to launch on ARM-based devices. It says that after installing Windows security updates released on or after 11 August 2026 (KB5121003), Teams and the new Outlook for Windows might fail to launch, or might close unexpectedly, on ARM-based devices.
Two details in that sentence matter. The trigger is not one specific patch. It is the August security update and everything after it, so September’s Patch Tuesday will carry the same behaviour while the issue is still open. And the scope is ARM devices generally. Microsoft names the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 as examples, not as the full list, so other Snapdragon-powered Windows machines fall under the same wording.
Microsoft also says that classic Outlook, Word, Excel and other applications are not known to be affected. That is a carefully hedged phrase, not a guarantee, so read it as nothing else having been reported, rather than a promise that nothing else can break.
The reason a Store update fixes an app that will not launch is spelled out in the entry itself:
This issue is most likely to occur on new or freshly imaged PCs that have not yet installed any Microsoft Store updates.
In other words, this hits machines straight out of the box. A component that ships through the Store is sitting at its factory version, and the August security update does not get along with it. A PC that has been quietly picking up Store updates for months has probably already moved past the problem.
How to fix Teams and Outlook not opening on your ARM PC
Microsoft publishes a three-step workaround. These are all UI steps, with nothing to type into a terminal.
- Open Microsoft Store from the Start menu.
- Select Downloads, then Check for updates.
- Install the latest update for the Auto Super Resolution Package. You need version 1.0.19.0 or later.
Let the queue finish rather than stopping at the one package, then try Teams and Outlook again. If the Store is slow to surface it, leave the device on a stable connection for a few minutes and check the Downloads list a second time.
Which Windows versions are covered
The release health entry lists the affected platforms as Windows 11 version 26H1, version 25H2 and version 24H2, on the client side only. No Windows Server versions are listed. The originating update is KB5121003, dated 11 August 2026.
The status on the entry is Mitigated, last updated 1 September 2026. Mitigated means a workaround exists, not that the bug is gone. Microsoft says it is working to provide a resolution in a future Windows update.
The part that is genuinely annoying
None of this is hidden. Microsoft published the entry, the cause and the steps. The problem is the shape of the fix. A Windows security update breaks two Microsoft apps on Microsoft’s own hardware, and the repair arrives through a different update channel entirely.
Microsoft’s own entry describes the fix as a manual Store trip, and lists no prompt or in-product notification that would point an affected user there. Someone who has just unboxed an ARM laptop sees two flagship apps that will not open and has no obvious reason to think the Microsoft Store is where the answer lives. Many people in that position will assume the laptop is faulty and start a return or a service visit. That is a real cost, and it lands on the buyer.
If you have just bought an ARM Windows 11 machine in India and have not yet set it up, running the Store update pass first is worth the five minutes. It is good hygiene regardless of this specific bug, and here it happens to be the fix.
One honest caveat. Because the status is only Mitigated, the Store update is the sole workaround Microsoft has published. If it does not bring Teams and Outlook back, there is no further documented step to try, and you are waiting on the resolution Microsoft says will arrive in a future Windows update.
Source: Microsoft Windows release health
