Can’t set an alarm with Cortana? You are not alone

Of course I’m guilty of almost abusing Cortana, the new personal digital assistant introduced in the Windows Phone 8.1. She’s managing my calendar, search queries, reminders, and lot of other things I’m discovering each time I fire the app.  

While all is well between us, Cortana fails to set up alarms on my Windows Phone device. A little shout out around, and I realized I wasn’t alone. Lot of our readers have also reported the issue on Windows Phone Central Forums.

For lot of people who’ve updated their phones to the Windows Phone 8.1 Preview for Developers, any alarm instruction like ‘wake me up at 10’ or ‘set alarm for 7 am’, does not work. Each time, Cortana returns the following error – Something’s not right. Try again a little bit. (8000ffff).

Some random suggestions like soft reset or hard reset popped up here and there, and I tried both on my Nokia Lumia 920. But no go. Sam Sabri also teased me that it’s because I’m using Cortana in an unsupported country (here’s our guide how you can do that as well). However, as I explored the issue, I realized some folks in the US are also experiencing the same issue.  

Have you experienced this issue as well? Has any trick or hack worked for you? Tell us in the comments, but be sure to add your region, phone model and any other relevant information. 

Abhishek Baxi