Recent Discussions
Proposal : Offline Copilot Appliance for Education
Hi all at Microsoft, I am one of your old school engineers. An inspired idea suddenly came to me this morning when I saw how school institutions are suffering with cloud based infrastructure. I ran the idea through Copilot for analysis. Here is the output. Hope you can implement it. Cheers. Proposal: Offline Copilot Appliance for Secure, High Compliance Environments Executive Summary I am proposing a new Microsoft product category: Microsoft Copilot Secure Appliance (MCSA). This is a hardware bound, offline capable AI system designed for education, and regulated enterprise environments where cloud dependent AI is not viable. This product creates a new high margin revenue stream for Microsoft without reducing Azure consumption. It addresses a global market segment currently underserved by cloud only AI offerings. Market Problem Many sectors cannot rely on cloud dependent AI due to regulatory constraints, air gapped networks, national security requirements, offline resilience mandates, Azure outage sensitivity, and strict data sovereignty laws. These customers require deterministic offline operation, hardware locked security, predictable performance, controlled update channels, and zero cloud dependency. Microsoft currently has no product that satisfies these requirements. Proposed Solution: Microsoft Copilot Secure Appliance (MCSA) A dedicated, hardware accelerated AI appliance that runs a local Copilot class model with offline reasoning, offline inference, hardware bound licensing, encrypted model weights, TPM secured boot, signed update packs, and optional cloud augmentation. This creates a premium enterprise product similar to Cisco UCS, Palo Alto firewalls, Azure Stack Edge, and HoloLens Industrial Edition, but focused on AI reasoning and secure offline operation. Revenue Model Hardware sales: estimated unit pricing between $8,000 and $20,000 per appliance. Subscription update packs: monthly or annual licensing for model updates, knowledge packs, security patches, and compliance modules. Estimated recurring revenue between $200 and $500 per device per month. Enterprise support contracts: premium support tiers for government, defense, critical infrastructure, education districts, and regulated industries. Estimated annual revenue between $50,000 and $250,000 per organization. This model does not compete with Azure. It expands Microsoft’s footprint into markets where Azure cannot operate. Strategic Benefits to Microsoft New revenue channel. Offline AI appliances represent a high margin vertical market that Azure cannot reach. Government and defense adoption. Many countries legally require offline AI systems. This product satisfies those mandates. Education resilience. Schools worldwide experience outages when cloud identity fails. An offline Copilot appliance restores deterministic operation. Competitive advantage. No major cloud provider currently offers a secure offline AI appliance with enterprise reasoning capabilities. Brand alignment. Fits naturally into Microsoft’s existing ecosystem including Azure Stack, Surface Hub, Defender for IoT, Confidential Computing, and Copilot for Enterprise. Technical Feasibility The system can be built using quantized large scale models, secure hardware accelerators, TPM bound licensing, encrypted model weights, signed update packs, and local inference runtimes. Estimated development cost: between $150 million and $400 million. Estimated annual maintenance: between $20 million and $45 million. This is well within Microsoft’s R&D capacity. Conclusion The Microsoft Copilot Secure Appliance represents a strategic opportunity to expand Microsoft’s AI leadership into markets where cloud dependent AI cannot operate. It is technically feasible, commercially viable, high margin, globally relevant, aligned with government and enterprise needs, and complementary to Azure rather than competitive. I believe this product would strengthen Microsoft’s position in secure AI, expand revenue, and address a critical gap in the current AI ecosystem.
We couldnt find an Account with that Username
My son recently turned 15 and has lost access to his outlook account. Not sure if it is a coincidence or not. We can not use the recover option as it says the user can not be found, cant recreate it as it says its already in use. I used this https://account.live.com/username/recover and it sends the verification email but i cant gain access to the account is there any way to regain access to it . It was linked to a microsoft family safety group . Any help with this would be appreciated . Thank you
[Help]Tips on how to chat with live customer service
How can I chat with live customer service and the technical team to get their assurance that Microsoft will fix the issue or is currently investigating it, such as the file history log problem? For example, these two posts: Windows 11 to KB5101684 File History bug | Microsoft Community Hub Win 10/11 file history is malfunctioning after an update why hasn't Microsoft fixed this issue yet? | Microsoft Community Hub[Help] Posting Tips
Hello, how can I make my Microsoft Community Hub posts more engaging, get hundreds of views, and receive many replies? For example, these two posts: Windows 11 to KB5101684 File History bug | Microsoft Community Hub Win 10/11 file history is malfunctioning after an update why hasn't Microsoft fixed this issue yet? | Microsoft Community Hub 300-400 people viewed this, but only 2 replied. Why is this? It's clearly used for file history logging. The error occurred after updating KB5101684; other users should have noticed this. I'm worried Microsoft will never be able to fix it.I replied to the message. When will it be approved?
Someone replied to my post, and I successfully replied with a status update: In Review, Awaiting Review. When will it be approved? However, if I check theunder review section, the post doesn't seem to be under review. When will it be approved?When will my reply to the message be approved, administrator? File History has stopped functioning | Microsoft Community Hub Welcome to comment if KB5101684 or KB5120249 caused the same File History issue. | Microsoft Community Hub Possible File History Issues After KB5101684 and KB5120249 on Windows 11 and Windows 10 | Microsoft Community Hub win 11 25H2 KB5101684 Preview and win 10 22H2 KB5120249 issue | Microsoft Community Hub This issue occurred after I and other users installed KB5101684, disrupting File History. | Microsoft Community Hub Win 10/11 file history is malfunctioning after an update why hasn't Microsoft fixed this issue yet? | Microsoft Community Hub Please confirm the KB5101684 File History issue and release a fix in the August security update. | Microsoft Community Hub Windows 11 to KB5101684 File History bug | Microsoft Community HubHow can I delete my posts on the community hub?
How can I delete my posts on the community hub? Please have the administrator delete the following posts for me: Possible File History Issues After KB5101684 and KB5120249 on Windows 11 and Windows 10 | Microsoft Community Hub Please confirm the KB5101684 File History issue and release a fix in the August security update. | Microsoft Community Hub This issue occurred after I and other users installed KB5101684, disrupting File History. | Microsoft Community Hub Also, someone replied to my post. My reply is still under review. Please approve it. Thank you.
Content Not Published Your post contains invalid HTML.
"Content Not Published Your post contains invalid HTML. Remove the following invalid tags before publishing: p (data-afsc-id)" That message appears just about every time I try to post something in this forum. It is so annoying. Can't someone fix the forum so that it stops doing this? I am never posting any html. Apparently, the forum is adding the html itself and then saying that I can't post it.
Career Change
Hello I am after some advice if possible please? I am looking for a career change to get into I.T and wanted to ask the best way to get my foot in the door please? I have a family to support and wondered if anyone else went through the same thing and how they supported their family while learning. I have been looking and got a few ideas in mind but I want to make sure everything is covered before going ahead. I am very passionate about computer technology and would love to learn more about it and build a great career through it. All support is appreciated. Thanks
Microsoft 365 Copilot Training: Explore Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
Hello Getting Started on the Tech Community , I have recieved an invitation to join this event on August 18th 2026 but all options are easter/european times. Do you have this session available for America's time zone? https://msevents.microsoft.com/event?id=1980970910&ocid=eml_pg524077_gdc_comm_mw&mkt_tok=MTU3LUdRRS0zODIAAAGjdU2p6LqmpYtBXwA-5BrSNEvzsDFPpGpSPpqGT2aWB1RfXaY6wX_MCzAPRsNZwcaDB5cQQfWXl35GMu8Vr1faby2VCJKwU6DB-LP2PVSoq2RcrmvIh0kIpGO4
Building Production-Ready Pipelines in Azure DevOps: Beyond the Documentation Examples
Hi everyone, When moving from basic Azure DevOps tutorials to enterprise production environments, we all quickly realize that documentation examples don't always cover real-world complexities. Handling multi-stage dependencies, keeping Terraform state secure, and managing secrets across environments requires a highly strategic approach. To help DevOps engineers bridge this gap, I recently put together a deep-dive architecture breakdown detailing how to build a resilient, multi-stage YAML pipeline from scratch. Here is a quick look at the core enterprise architecture I focus on: - Multi-Stage Lifecycle: Safe progression flows through Build, Dev, QA, UAT, and Production stages. - Infrastructure Automation: Clean integration with Terraform, including state and secrets management using Azure Key Vault. - Security Gates: Implementation of SAST scanning, Workload Identity, and automated approval policies. - Team Alignment: Connecting Azure DevOps with project tools like Asana to streamline cross-platform tracking. I wanted to share this pattern here to get some community feedback on the YAML structure. Before I post the full configuration snippets, I would love to hear how your teams handle environment gates and approvals. What are the biggest bottlenecks you run into with multi-stage YAML pipelines? Let's discuss in the comments below! Best regards, Abdullah Shahid
Looking for Guidance: Improving Playwright MCP Runbook Replay Reliability
Hi everyone, We are building an AI-powered browser automation agent using Playwright MCP, and we have implemented a runbook/replay mechanism to reduce repeated reasoning and improve navigation performance. Current Architecture Our setup currently looks like this: AI Agent (Client) – Hosted on Azure Container Apps Playwright MCP Server – Hosted on Azure Container Apps Chrome Extension – Running in the user's browser The Chrome Extension maintains a webhook connection with the Playwright MCP relay/server. The MCP server generates Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) commands, which are executed by the Chrome Extension in the user's browser. Runbook Functionality When the agent needs to navigate to a particular page, it normally performs multiple browser actions such as: browser_navigate browser_snapshot browser_click browser_type Other Playwright MCP tools During the first successful execution, we record the tool calls and their parameters used by the agent to reach the desired page. We store these actions as a runbook. For subsequent requests requiring navigation to the same destination, instead of asking the AI agent to reason through the navigation steps again, we directly replay the stored runbook. First execution User Request ↓ Agent Reasoning ↓ MCP Tools ↓ Browser ↓ Desired Page Example recorded sequence: browser_navigate → browser_snapshot → browser_click → browser_snapshot → browser_type ... Subsequent execution User Request ↓ Runbook Replay ↓ MCP Tools ↓ Browser ↓ Desired Page This significantly reduces latency, token usage, and unnecessary LLM reasoning. Example Runbook Step { "tool": "browser_click", "args": { "target": "e140", "element": "Earn credentials link" }, "a11y": { "role": "link", "name": "Earn credentials", "index": 0, "text": "Earn credentials", "textIndex": 0, "path": "generic/list/listitem/article/generic/generic", "url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/" }, "pageUrl": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/", "timestamp": "2026-07-30T10:24:04.374Z" } For each recorded action, we persist information such as: MCP tool name Tool parameters Snapshot reference Accessibility role Accessibility name Element text Element index Text index Accessibility-tree path Page URL Other relevant metadata The Problem The main challenge is runbook replay reliability. A runbook contains references obtained from a previous browser_snapshot. During replay, the page may have: Slightly different DOM structure Timing differences Dynamic content Accessibility-tree changes As a result, a previously recorded snapshot reference may no longer match the current page. For example, a recorded action may effectively be: browser_click(ref="some_snapshot_ref") During replay, that reference may no longer exist or may resolve to a different element because the current snapshot has changed. This causes intermittent failures in operations such as: browser_click browser_type Other element interactions Current Status We have improved the replay mechanism and currently achieve approximately 90% replay success. The remaining ~10% failures are difficult because they are often nondeterministic. The same runbook can succeed or fail depending on the current browser or page state. Questions We would appreciate advice from anyone with experience using Playwright MCP or building production browser automation systems. What is the recommended way to make Playwright MCP tool calls more resilient to changes in snapshot or accessibility-tree references? Is relying on snapshot ref values fundamentally unreliable for replay? Should we instead store a different representation of the target element? If so, what additional information would you recommend storing for each interaction? What is the best strategy for re-resolving an element when the original snapshot reference is no longer valid instead of failing the entire runbook? Are there Playwright MCP capabilities or recommended patterns that specifically address dynamic pages and changing accessibility trees? For a production-grade browser automation agent, what architecture or strategy would you recommend to achieve >99% replay reliability? Our goal is not to eliminate dynamic behavior from websites, but to make the runbook intelligent enough to recover when previously recorded element references become invalid. Any architectural recommendations, implementation patterns, or examples from production systems would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!Playwright MCP browser context is lost after 8-12 minutes of idle time.
Hi Everyone, I'm building an AI agent that uses Playwright MCP to control a browser, and I'm running into an issue where the browser context is lost after the agent remains idle for a while. Architecture My current setup looks like this: AI Agent (Client) hosted on Azure Container Apps Playwright MCP Server hosted on Azure Container Apps Chrome Extension running in the user's browser The extension maintains a webhook connection to the Playwright MCP relay/server. The MCP server generates Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) commands, which are executed by the Chrome Extension in the user's browser. This allows the browser to continue running on the user's machine while the agent and MCP server are hosted remotely. Issue Everything works as expected while the agent is actively interacting with the browser. However, if the agent stays idle for around 8–12 minutes, the next request fails with an agent response that the browser context is lost (or the context/browser is no longer available). If I ask the agent to retry, it invokes the browser_close tool and creates a new browser session. While this allows execution to continue, it completely loses the previous browser state, including: Current page Navigation history Login/session state tied to that browser context Any work already completed in the existing session Ideally, I want the existing browser session and context to remain usable even after periods of inactivity. Questions Is there any idle timeout in Playwright MCP or its browser context management that could explain this behavior? Could this be related to the CDP connection between the Chrome Extension and the MCP server being dropped after inactivity? Are there recommended keep-alive or heartbeat mechanisms for long-lived browser sessions? Has anyone successfully maintained browser contexts for extended idle periods (30+ minutes or longer)? Is there a recommended pattern for reconnecting to an existing browser context instead of creating a new one when the connection is interrupted? Environment Playwright MCP Server hosted on Azure Container Apps AI Agent hosted on Azure Container Apps Chrome Extension executing CDP commands in the user's local Chrome browser Communication between the agent, MCP server, and extension over the network I'd appreciate any guidance on where to investigate this issue or best practices for maintaining persistent browser contexts in this kind of architecture. If anyone has encountered a similar problem, I'd be interested in hearing how you resolved it. Thanks in advance!Unable to follow the Viva Glint Blog
This post was originally submitted as a question in MS Learn on July 2 and I was advised to move it to the tech community. Hi MS team, I continue to click "Follow" on the Viva Glint blog to ensure I receive release updates but then get automatically set to not follow. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/category/Viva-Glint For the second time, I am being automatically set to not follow. I checked with my admin team (there are 4 of us) and this is not an individual/isolated incident. They are also being automatically set to unfollow the Viva Glint blog. Please see screenshots attached from myself and my manager. We should be seeing the button as "Unfollow" indicating that we are following, instead it is showing "Follow" indicating that we are not following. I have opened an MS ticket about this already and was directed to contact the Microsoft Tech Community platform team. I followed the Glint blog back on 4/9/2026 and then was set to unfollow. I followed again at the beginning of June (maybe on 6/4/2026) and I was set to unfollow again. I did receive one "Microsoft Community Hub Weekly Digest" email on 6/7/2026 so I must have still been following then but I have not received any communications before or after. Can you please provide an explanation and a solution? We need to receive email notifications about updates and releases. Following the blog should be a reliable process. As of today, 7/28/2026, I am still following the Glint blog which is great but how do I know I won't be automatically set to "unfollow" a third time?Outlook Groups: who can send an email?
In my personal Outlook email account, I created a Group, me as the Owner, everyone else as a Member without Trusted Sender rights. However, at least one of the Members is able to send emails to the Group? Why have a Trusted Sender category if a mere Member can send emails to the Group? Thanks.Root DFS and ntlm hardening
Hi all Recently we have tried to harden our NTLM. After applying some settings the access to the root of our domain has become intermittent \\domain.co.uk but all the namespaces as well as symbol etc I der the root are working fine and can be navigated to without an issue. DCs have now been applied the same settings which are send LM and ntlm and use V2 if negotiated. The issue is intermitted as it it will work on a DC and then stop and then work again. Similar is on the end user devices. We have on prem DCs and all devices are in tuned and entra joined. We are hybrid but we do not sync or write the devices to ad. Replication and DFS itself are healthy. Issue are some users who have AFS paths already mapped to their devices it fails to connect to them sometimes. But new mapping works. Any ideas or assistance will be appreciated.
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