Outlook is not connecting to Hotmail account

[GeneralHiningII]

Problem: Cannot add my hotmail.com.au account to Outlook

Isolating the problem: Adding my Gmail account works fine by itself. Using the app password given by Google is okay.

Things I've tried:

- Deleting the .ost files and restarting Outlook
- Deleting all profiles and creating a new one
- Running scanpst.exe from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16
- Clearing credentials from Credential Manager

Details: When I enter the email (it has a hotmail.com.au domain - not sure if this is the problem, it shouldn't be as this was all working fine a while ago) into the new email section, it prompts for a password. I have tried both my MS password as well as a generated app password. It will prompt a Windows Security dialogue. I have tried the above 2 passwords, as well as my Windows PIN.

It then continues searching for settings for several minutes, before hanging - it will then say I must restart Outlook. I restart Outlook, and it spends several minutes loading the profile, after which it shows the dialogue "cannot open the file because it is not .ost". Checking \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook shows there is an .ost file, however it is 0 KB.

If I first add the Gmail account and let it run, it works fine. Syncs fine, etc. When I try add the hotmail account, sometimes it can be added, however afterwards it shows that its in 'private folders' which I cannot access.

Other (notable) things:
In Control Panel, when I search for mail settings, and then click Emails and Accounts:
- If the gmail account is the only one on the profile, it loads quick and fine
- If the hotmail account has been added somehow, it hangs and becomes unresponsive

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

That's probably because of the fact that Microsoft dumped all Hotmail accounts about 6 years ago, and they've been trying to convert the 300-400 million people using it to Outlook.com or LiveID or some other Microsoft E-mail platform. Hotmail hasn't worked properly in Outlook since like Outlook 2010. I suggest you contact Microsoft to do a conversion to Outlook.com which works best with Outlook 2013/2016.

Gmail, Google's E-mail, not yet owned by Microsoft is still an active E-mail domain as is Yahoo (except Yahoo is also owned by Microsoft), and therefore works just dandy with the newer Outlook versions (2013/2016). Using expired E-mail domains works poorly with the newer Outlook versions (2013/2016), and even not at all if you are using your Outlook to connect to an Exchange Server to pull down your E-mail with Hotmail or even old versions of Microsoft Mail (such as MSN).

<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[GeneralHiningII]

Yeah I figured it was something like that. I'll give it a shot and ask MS to change mine over and report back. It's just weird since it was working fine perfectly last month.

 

[GeneralHiningII]

Okay, so - the email was changed by adding an alias, it's not a permanent conversion as I have a couple accounts on other sites linked to the first one. But logging in and sending emails etc. works.

Trying to add the new email on the Outlook desktop app still gives a similar problem. The app hangs and then says 'The action cannot be completed [...] Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action.' It then asks for manual setup, but the same problem happens. Not sure what's up with that.

 

[HenkB]

Ran into such a problem with an version of Outlook prior to 10. You need at least Outlook version 10 or higher. And also the old Outlook Hotmail Connector, previously needed for Hotmail accounts, is not working any longer, not even with newer Outlook versions.

Remove your old Hotmail profile and remove the Outlook Hotmail Connector, I even re-installed Outlook to be sure of clean and fresh new start.
Than re-enter your Hotmail account. Outlook should be able to auto configure it, by itself. The result should be that it connects to a Microsoft Exchange Server.

Don't know whether this is your problem, but hope it is helping.

Have a nice weekend
Henk

B.t.w. you helped me years ago with a crash analysis....

 

[GeneralHiningII]

Haha yeah I think I remember, your name looks familiar.

However, I'm currently running I believe version 16 of Outlook, and I have already added and removed the Hotmail profiles and so on. I would prefer not to have to reinstall Office, however at this point I think there's not much else I can do. I haven't used the Outlook Hotmail Connecter at all so far.