How to fix OUTLOOK inability to access AOL email

Question

The app password generated by AOL and placed into Outlook stopped working. I generated a new app password, but Outlook keeps changing connection to YAHOO, even using manual repair methods.

I turned off 2 step verification and returned my personal AOL password, yet OUTLOOK continues to modify account definition to access yahoo.com, from aol.com.

This prevents both my wife's account (@verizon.net) and my account (@verizon.net) from being supported on our Windows 11 computers.

Manual repair does not work.

Answer 1

To address the issue of Outlook being unable to access your AOL email and incorrectly changing the connection to Yahoo, you can try the following steps:

1. Check Account Settings: Ensure that your AOL account is correctly set up in Outlook. Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings, and verify that the incoming and outgoing server settings are correct for AOL.
2. Remove and Re-add Account: Sometimes, removing the account and then re-adding it can resolve configuration issues. Make sure to back up any important emails before doing this.
3. Disable Automatic Account Setup: If Outlook is automatically changing your account settings, you may want to disable the automatic setup feature. This can sometimes prevent Outlook from overwriting your settings.
4. Use App Password: Since you mentioned generating an app password, ensure that you are using this password for your AOL account in Outlook. Make sure to enter it correctly without any extra spaces.
5. Update Outlook: Ensure that your Outlook application is up to date. Sometimes, bugs in older versions can cause connectivity issues.
6. Check for Conflicting Software: Sometimes, security software or other applications can interfere with Outlook's ability to connect to email servers. Temporarily disable any antivirus or firewall software to see if that resolves the issue.
7. Repair Outlook: Use the built-in repair tool in Outlook. Go to File > Options > Advanced > Repair to run the repair tool.
8. Contact Support: If the issue persists, consider reaching out to AOL support or Microsoft support for further assistance, as they may have more specific solutions for your situation.

These steps should help you troubleshoot and resolve the issues with accessing your AOL email in Outlook.

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References:

• Password prompt at every Outlook start or can't create profile
• Outlook continually prompts for your password when you try to connect to Microsoft 365

Answer 2

AOL/AT&T/Verizon/Yahoo mail has been a problem in every email client I have tried since ... forever.

Get a new email account on some other service. (e.g. outlook.com, GMail)
Pay the $5/month to upgrade to Yahoo+ https://www.yahoo.com/plus/mail
Setup Auto Forward on your Yahoo account.
Start telling everyone you know to start using the new account.
Or just setup a "Vacation Response" on your old account telling everyone you have moved email accounts.
Check your old email via the web periodically, and when no one is using it anymore, close that sucker down.

Answer 3

BTW as of 12:40 est - ITS WORKING. Just sign back in with your original IMAP password.

Answer 4

After updating Outlook to the latest version, Outlook 2511, it worked. But you must use an app password generated from the mail.aol.com web console and override the Yahoo IMAP and SMTP endpoints Outlook defaults to... Use imap.aol.com and smtp.verizon.net, respectively.