Getting error trying to install Outlook new or classic on my new Windows 11 computer

Question

I had a Windows 10 computer and had planned to buy a new Windows 11 computer later this year. But on the old computer, my Outlook program simply stopped working. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling - but the reinstall would hang up. I rely on Outlook to manage a number of projects so I decided to get a new computer earlier than planned.

Now on the new computer I find out that the "new" Outlook does not support pst files - which I depend on heavily. So I tried installing Outlook Classic. After multiple attempts - installing/uninstalling/reinstalling both the new and classic versions of Outlook, I can't get it to set up my gmail. I sign in on gmail when prompted, I confirm the sign-in on my phone, and then Outlook returns an error "Something went wrong, try again." I've checked all the settings for Microsoft access to gmail and they are correct.

I can't open Outlook at all because of this error. I even tried setting up a new Outlook email account to get around it (at least to get Outlook to open) - that returned the same error message ("something went wrong, try again").

I have to conclude that Microsoft has a major bug with Outlook but all the instructions I've found on their site are useless because most of them tell you what to do when you have Outlook open. I can't even get that far.

Please 'fess up Microsoft. Are you working on a fix? I see lots of people reporting similar problems in February and I've tried all the recommended solutions to no avail. I won't renew my Office 365 subscription again unless this gets fixed fast. In the meantime, I'll just have to find another platform and say goodbye to all my pst project files. What a major headache. But once I've switched over, I'm not coming back.

Answer 1

Dear RM Rojas

Welcome to Microsoft community.

According to your description, you need to use PST and want to configure your Gmail account.

Currently, New Outlook does not support opening PST files. For PST files, you need to use Classic Outlook.

When you configure your Gmail account in Classic Outlook, what mail protocol do you use and what specific problems do you encounter? Through testing, I can configure Gmail's IMAP protocol in the following way. You can try it as follows. However, it should be noted that the imap protocol uses the ost file by default. If you have other requirements for the account protocol, please explain further.

1. Gmail requires a special application password to configure the IMAP protocol, not the account password. If you still remember the password of the last application you can use it, if you have forgotten it you will have to reapply it by accessing your browser itself. The prerequisite for the application password is to enable two-step verification of the account.

Sign in with app passwords - Google Account Help

Disclaimer: Microsoft makes no representations and/or warranties, implied or otherwise, and is not responsible for information received from linked third-party sites or any technology-related media.

3. If your Gmail account has not been opened through IMAP permission, you need to find "Forwarding & POP/IMAP" in Google mail settings, check the status of IMAP downloads, whether it is allowed to use it or not, and choose Allow all emails or others according to your situation.
4. Open Classic Outlook and add your Gmail account, select "Let me manually set up my account" under "Advanced options", click Continue. Enter your "Password" and click Connect.

5. Due to the recent release of a new type of authentication by Google, you need to change the default IMAP domain address, if it is not changed, you may encounter error, please click "Edit Account Settings" to change it.

6. The required changes are set out below:

1) IMAP server address: imap.googlemail.com SMTP port encryption type and port number:  SSL/TLS / 993

2. SMTP server address: smtp.googlemail.com SMTP port encryption type and port number: STARTTLS / 587

I hope this information has been helpful to you. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will be happy to help.

Sincere greetings

Forry.F - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 2

To Forry.F - Once I rated your answer I was unable to reply to provide further details. So I'm adding this reply for that purpose.

In short, by trying parts of what you recommended, I was finally able to set up my gmail account on Outlook Classic. Although I obtained a new app password from Google, I never ended up using it. I think the solution was using the "manually set up my account" (your item 4) and then choosing IMAP. Then everything worked out.

One clarification - on my prior Windows 10 computer when Outlook stopped responding completely, I was not able to figure out how to access that ost file so I could export it to use on my new computer. Based on various searches (FYI, I am not technically savvy on all this), I believe my old ost file became "orphaned." I found where it was located on my old computer and tried using a free utility to save it as a pst file in hopes that I could open that pst from Outlook on my new computer and find all those lost tasks and contacts. That did not work. Therefore I lost all my tasks and contacts that were in that old Outlook profile.

I was able to open other pst files I had created to save past emails for various projects.

Still disappointing to have lost so much data in those tasks and contacts. It will be difficult to recreate them.

Thanks for your response. I am glad to have Outlook up and running on my new computer.

Answer 3

The problem is that Classic Outlook fails to install. Over and over it returns this statement: "We couldn't install this product. Wait a bit, then try again. Then there is a note to "see details", which state: Sorry about that! Something went wrong. We're aware of the issue and working to fix it Try refreshing or come back later". This has been going on for several weeks.

Is the idea of classic real or is this just a bad joke from Microsoft?