Outlook 2016 blank login popup with O365 account

Azazel90 391 Reputation points
2021-07-17T10:59:54.517+00:00

Trying to make Outlook 2016 work on Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard with O365 accounts. But every time I try to add an account to Mail (in control panel, so I can use it in outlook) it will drop the modern authentication window but it's blank so I'm stuck. Nothing I've found online worked permanently so far:

  1. Office and Windows is fully up to date
  2. Nothing saved in credential manager
  3. Already ran repair setup for Office and even reinstalled Office
  4. Tried the following regedit methods

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity\Version (value set to 0)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity\EnableADAL (value set to 0)

Setting Version dword to zero in the registry lets me add the account in Mail (in control panel) because it drops the oldschool login window and that one works fine. But as soon as I open Oultook it drops the modern auth window and it's blank again. Fun fact: after doing so, I can see the dword Version being set back to 1 instead of 0 automatically. It doesn't even make sense...

Already checked our O365 company settings and modern authentication is disabled completely for all users. Already tried enabling it then disabling it again. Didn't work.

It seems like something is forcing my outlook to use modern authentication instead of the old one and that's messing up the whole thing. Already tried the other way around by "fixing" modern authentication window like this:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity]

"Version"=dword:00000001

"EnableADAL"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange]

"AlwaysUseMSOAuthForAutodiscover"=dword:00000001

It didn't work either, the modern authentication window was blank and useless. Anybody got any ideas on how to fix this?

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Accepted answer
  1. Azazel90 391 Reputation points
    2021-07-21T10:47:40.837+00:00

    Solution:

    1. Reverted all registry changes
    2. Disabled modern authentication in O365 tenant, from powershell: Set-OrganizationConfig -OAuth2ClientProfileEnabled $false
    3. Disabled modern authentication on the on premise server: Setting HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity\EnableADAL valuse to 0
    1 person found this answer helpful.

4 additional answers

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  1. Brian Hansen 41 Reputation points
    2021-09-22T13:26:39.843+00:00

    Disabling modern auth is not a good solution to this problem, as Microsoft is disabling login without Modern Authentication from November 2021

    I had the same issue on new installed windows 7 computer (fully updated to latest patch) and with office 2016, also fully updated.
    When trying to add O365 mailboxes to outlook it gave a blank modern auth screen.
    When i tried to open word and login to my O365 it gave me an error saying ” Sorry, we are having some temporary server issues”

    I found that the problem was related to tls.

    My guess is that you have the same problem as server 2008 is much similar to windows 7.

    MS have a quick fix for this
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/0/6/5/0658B1A7-6D2E-474F-BC2C-D69E5B9E9A68/MicrosoftEasyFix51044.msi

    You can read more here about it here.
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/update-to-enable-tls-1-1-and-tls-1-2-as-default-secure-protocols-in-winhttp-in-windows-c4bd73d2-31d7-761e-0178-11268bb10392#bkmk_easy

    8 people found this answer helpful.
  2. Filosovah 5 Reputation points
    2023-06-06T07:13:45.5866667+00:00

    Would be easier if Outlook2016 would use the primary browser instead of starting the internet explorer exe file from a fixed directory.

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Yuki Sun-MSFT 40,856 Reputation points
    2021-07-19T03:06:06.33+00:00

    Hi @Azazel90 ,

    Noticed that you are running Outlook 2016, but the registry settings you have tried so far are all intended for Outlook 2013("Office\15.0"), was this a typo?

    Already checked our O365 company settings and modern authentication is disabled completely for all users.

    Per current situation, I'd suggest reverting all the previous registry changes back, especially deleting the registry key below:
    Important: Follow the steps in this section carefully. Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Before you modify it, back up the registry for restoration in case problems occur.

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange]
    "AlwaysUseMSOAuthForAutodiscover"=dword:00000001

    Then add the following registry key to disable the modern authentication on the device and see if it helps:
    Registry path: HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity\EnableADAL
    Type: REG_DWORD
    Value: 0

    Reference: How modern authentication works for Office 2013, Office 2016, and Office 2019 client apps
    115697-1.png

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  4. Pradip Marek 1 Reputation point
    2021-10-27T20:31:21.6+00:00

    Hi Awesome People

    BrianHansen-5602 solution is confirmed correced

    Microsoft quick fix for TLS is the solution

    I can confirmed this is the solution to fixing Modern Authentication on a windows 2008 R2 System.

    No more Blank white modern authentication boxes. ( change actioned on 28/10/2021)

    MS have a quick fix for this
    https://download.microsoft.com/download/0/6/5/0658B1A7-6D2E-474F-BC2C-D69E5B9E9A68/MicrosoftEasyFix51044.msi

    You can read more here about it here.
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/update-to-enable-tls-1-1-and-tls-1-2-as-default-secure-protocols-in-winhttp-in-windows-c4bd73d2-31d7-761e-0178-11268bb10392#bkmk_easy

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