Office 365 Exchange will not setup in Outlook 2016

Office 365 Exchange will not setup in Outlook 2016

Updated: March 18, 2022

This blog post is old and while it still works for some, I will be updating more on this new blog post Windows 11 and Exchange cannot connect scroll down to the troubleshooting tips.

Here is the latest “reg fix” if your Exchange account is not setting up in Outlook. There are about 50 other things to try but I’ll put this as my top one as it’s fixed a most recent client issue.

The registry key specifically bypasses Modern Authentication as Microsoft is currently doing some work on that feature. So the underlying issue was that Modern Authentication was preventing the password prompt in Outlook from appearing. Once the registry key was added the password prompt appeared and the profile setup was successful.

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity\
Type: REG_DWORD
Value Name: EnableADAL
Value data: 0

Need more fixes? Or have another fix? Email Lisa@callthatgirl.biz and I’ll add to it here! 

Desktop Level Troubleshooting

Profile testing

• Test on your own computer first, if it connects, it’s probably a local issue with the clients Outlook/computer/network
• Add account to current profile while Outlook is open
• Add account in the current profile in the control panel mail app while Outlook is closed
• Create a test profile in the control panel mail app
• Set Outlook to prompt to select profile on launch then click new and try to add the account
• Open a blank profile in outlook
• Delete Windows Credentials from Credential Manager multiple times
• Check the disabled add-ins, be sure there is nothing in there that should be enabled
• Delete all profiles and add account (be sure data from IMAP is backed up first!)
• Try starting Outlook in Safe Mode and adding the account
• Verify all add-ins not needed are removed
• Ping autodiscover.xxxxxxxxxx.com
• Ping outlook.office365.com

Registry Changes

• [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover]
• “PerferLocalXML”=dword:00000001
• “ExcludeHttpRedirect”=dword:00000000
• “ExcludeHttpsAutoDiscoverDomain”=dword:00000001
• “ExcludeHttpsRootDomain”=dword:00000001
• “ExcludeScpLookup”=dword:00000001
• “ExcludeSrvRecord”=dword:00000001
• “ExcludeLastKnownGoodURL”=dword:00000001
• “ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint”=dword:00000001

• If these fail, try this trick –add this to the registry
  • [HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity]
    Type: REG_DWORD
    Value Name: EnableADAL
    Value data: 0

Other efforts worth trying

• Disable AV and Firewall, consider completely removing if need be.
• Quick repair on Office
• Full uninstall of Office/reboot/reinstall
• Delete all Windows credentials
• Change password in O365 portal
• Disable IPv6 on the computer
• Change DNS to Google 8.8.8.8
• Set DNS back to ISP
• Run the Outlook Diagnostic tool from https://diagnostics.outlook.com
• Test from https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/
• Power cycle modem/router
• Check the DNS records — Change the cPanel MX record to remote from local
• Be sure to remove any old autodiscover records if not going from O365 to O365

If this all fails, downgrade Outlook. I do this usually if my efforts don’t work in the first 30 min.

Feel free to leave a comment if this blog helped you! I am enjoying reading and replying to them.

Tags: Can't connect Outlook 2016 to Exchange 2016, How To Fix Outlook Connectivity Problems, I can't connect to my Exchange account in Outlook 2016, Microsoft Outlook 2016 cannot connect to the server, Office 365 Exchange will not setup in Outlook 2016, Outlook 2016 cannot connect to server Office 365, Outlook 2016 not connecting to server, Outlook connection issues with Exchange mailboxes

Category: Outlook Support