Outlook Keeps Prompting For Password

Scenarios & Cause

There are mainly two scenarios when Outlook may keep on prompting for password. The scenarios and their causes are:

When the password of the domain user account gets changed, MS Outlook 2010 and 2013 versions, prompt for the password again and again. When the user enters the new password once and selects the option Remember my credentials option, Outlook does not prompt for the password for that session. However, when the user logs off and starts Outlook later on, it again prompts for the password.

Cause: This can happen in the scenario when the stored credentials do not get overwritten when the authentication prompt is triggered by Outlook even if the Remember my credentials option has been enabled by the user.

Another scenario, when Outlook prompts for a password repeatedly is when the user tries to connect with Office 365. In case the user cancels the credentials prompt, he may encounter the following error:

“The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action.”

Cause: The main reason behind this scenario is when the Logon network security setting in the Security tab of MS Exchange is set to a different value other than Anonymous Authentication.

Workaround to Avoid Repetitive Password Prompt

The possible workarounds to avoid the continuous password prompt from Outlook are:

For Scenario 1

The first resolution is to download and install the latest update of MS Outlook 2010 and 2013 versions.
In case the latest updates, do not prove to be beneficial, remove all the credentials that have been saved in Outlook. for doing this, follow the below-mentioned steps:

Click on Start and select Control Panel.
From the menu, select Credential Manager option.
Browse to Windows Credential and locate the set of Outlook credentials.
Select the credential and expand it.
Click on Remove from vault option.
Click on Yes option in the Delete Windows Credential dialog box.
Repeat the above steps for other Outlook credentials as well.

For Scenario 2

For fixing this issue, the Logon network security settings should be changed to Anonymous Authentication. For this, follow the below-mentioned steps:

Exit Outlook.
Click on Start and select Control Panel option.
Select and double click on Mail from the menu.
Select Show Profiles option.
Select the Outlook profile and click on Properties option.
Select E-mail Accounts option.
Select the email account and click on Change option.
Select More Settings option in the Change Account dialog box and click on Next.
Click on Security tab in the Microsoft Exchange dialog box.
In the list of Logon Network Security, select Anonymous Authentication option from the drop-down menu.
Click Ok and then click on Apply.
Select Next option and then click on Finish.

Outlook Keeps Prompting For Password

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