There are a few circumstances where Outlook constantly prompts for your email password giving you a pop-up similar to this:
Despite entering the password and pressing OK, with or without checking the "Remember my credentials" option, it will continue to bring the pop-up back asking for the information again.
Incorrect Password:
This is the most common reason for this occuring, you can confirm that you are using the correct password by using the Web Access:
Follow this guide on how to access the Web Access: How to Log into Hosted Desktop Webmail - Outlook Web Access
If you are unable to log in to the webmail using the same credentials, it is most likely you are using the wrong password. Please contact HDUK Support and we can assist in resetting this for you: Contact HDUK Technical Support
If however, you are using the correct password and were able to log into the webmail, please look at the next steps in this article.
Incorrect User Account Specified
This can be for one of a few reasons, the first thing to check is that you are using the correct user account to authenticate, this is especially important if you have multiple mailboxes/email accounts set up in Outlook.
Microsoft will often try to default to a user account, but can often get it wrong.
As you can see in this screenshot:
The mailbox it is trying to connect to is:
However, the account it is trying to use is:
In this case you need to select the More Choices text:
This will then expand, giving the "Use a different account" option:
Selecting the "Use a different account" option will then add a "Username" field above the Password field, so you can now enter the correct information:
Outlook should then open without issue after you press OK.
If however, Outlook does not open and continues to prompt, please look at the remaining steps in this article.
Corrupt/Incorrect Cached/Saved Credentials:
If, like most Outlook Users, you have saved your credentials so that you don't have to enter your password every time, then these stored credentials can cause this problem. This is either due to the credential store entry corrupting or it not having been updated correctly following a password change.
You'll need to reset the cached credentials on your machine that pertain to your Hosted Exchange account.
First, you need to press the Search Icon on your Taskbar, search for "Credential Manager" and then select the "Credential Manager" application that becomes available:
By default, it will open on the "Web Credentials" tab.
Typically there aren't entries for your Hosted Exchange account here. Select the "Windows Credentials" Tab instead:
Now on this tab, you need to look for:
- Any windows identity credentials that match your email address(s)
- Any containing "hdcloud.co.uk"
- Any containitn "casarray.hdexchange.local"
- Any Generic "MS.Outlook" credentials entries
On each of the above found, you need to press the arrow at the far right to expand the entry, and then select "Remove"
After pressing Remove it will ask you to confirm:
Once you press Yes it will return to the previous screen with the entry removed:
Once you have removed all the relevant entries, you can close the Credential Manager.
After this when you next open Outlook it will ask you for the credentials, like before, ensure you enter them correctly and check the "Remember my credentials" option:
After doing this, Outlook should now open without prompting you repeatedly for the password.
If you still have the problem however there are a couple more steps you can try.
Antivirus Protection:
There are some antivirus providers, that often as part of their premium protection offerings have a network scanning/protection feature. This can sometimes block the connections Outlook needs to make sometimes to the servers, without an exception being added.
Most providers offer a feature to pause/temporarily disable the antivirus, usually by right clicking the tray icon (near the clock).
Try disabling the AV, and the running Outlook, if Outlook works fine with the AV disabled, then an exception will need to be added in your AV software.
Still having the issue?
If after following the above steps you are still having the same problem with Outlook prompting for credentials, please contact HDUK Support and one of our team will be able to assist you: Contact HDUK Technical Support