IMAP and app passwords not working anymore?

Question

It appears that since about Oct 1 2024, trying to use IMAP with an app password results in an immediate "NO LOGIN" response from the outlook.office365.com server. A few months prior, resetting the app password would work, but not anymore. This also goes for the imap-mail.outlook.com IMAP server I was informed about. How can we go about using IMAP through the app password, like the documentation says we're supposed to be able to use?

Thanks,

Bjorn

Answer 1

Hi and thanks for the reply! However it is not my inability to configure my client, the problem is Microsoft as an email service provider that have made changes on the server side that don't conform to the standards nor to their own published documentation. Everything says the app password is supported as the new style authentication, but that stopped around Oct. 1st. Oauth2 doesn't work with automated APIs, which is why there are application passwords instead for non-human interactive sessions. Requiring relying on other Microsoft-specific protocols is really a non-starter for a standardized and open service as email (sending and receiving) is.

Thanks,

Bjorn

Hi, I'm experiencing exactly the same issue.

Microsoft's documentation still states that App Passwords are compatible with IMAP, but it seems that they are not working properly.

I have tried enabling IMAP in my account settings, generating a new App Password, and configuring my client with the correct parameters, but I keep getting an authentication error. Moreover, the connection attempts don't even appear in Microsoft's activity history, which suggests that basic authentication might have been completely blocked.

Does anyone have any updates on this? Has Microsoft officially confirmed that they no longer allow the use of App Passwords with IMAP?

If anyone has recently managed to connect using an App Password with IMAP, I would really appreciate it if you could share how you did it.

Answer 2

Hi and thanks for the reply! However it is not my inability to configure my client, the problem is Microsoft as an email service provider that have made changes on the server side that don't conform to the standards nor to their own published documentation. Everything says the app password is supported as the new style authentication, but that stopped around Oct. 1st. Oauth2 doesn't work with automated APIs, which is why there are application passwords instead for non-human interactive sessions. Requiring relying on other Microsoft-specific protocols is really a non-starter for a standardized and open service as email (sending and receiving) is.

Thanks,

Bjorn

Answer 3

Dear Bjorn Solberg,

Thanks for using Microsoft products and posting in the community. 

I understand that your inability to configure your mailbox using the IMAP protocol is causing you problems, and I understand how you feel.

First of all, you can visit the corresponding webmail of your mailbox service provider to check whether it works properly in webmail.

You canuse your computer to visit the web version of Outlook : https://outlook.live.com/ and log in to your email account tosee if you can log in properly.

If you can log in fine in webmail, the reason you can't connect to your mailbox in the program you're using is because you're logged in to Outlook.com with basic authentication.

With the introduction of the new style of authentication, Microsoft accounts only support the new style of authentication and cannot be used in platforms that do not fully meet the new authentication rules.

You can provide feedback on this issue to the technical personnel of the program you are using, and ask them to update the platform to adapt and support modern identity verification.

If you want to use the IMAP protocol:

You can use Mozilla Thunderbird, which supports newer authentication.

For more information, please see the following link: Modern Authentication Methods now needed to continue syncing Outlook Email in non-Microsoft email apps - Microsoft Support

Thank you for your patience and support.

Have a great day.

Best Regards,

Linda.L-MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist