How to stop Microsoft from challenging my existence and asking for a FULL PASSWORD at least ten times a day

Question

I have a Microsoft work account (PII removed) and a Personal Copilot 365 Premium subscription [PII removed]. There is a an old live work address (PII removed) that I don't want or use, but it keeps coming back and I think it's alive. Ii try to ignore it.

Here's my problem: WHY TF DO I HAVE TO PROVIDE MY FULL PASSWORD EVERY TIME I GET NEAR A MICROSOFT ENTITY?

It has literally cost me hours a week to keep remembering and changing the passwords, so I just open up my Microsoft account and everybody eaves me alone for a while.

Please make it stop.

Moved from: Microsoft 365 and Office | Access | For business | Other

Answer 1

Hello @Butch Warner, MA, MFT, CADC-II,

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

Thank you for sharing the details of the issue. Based on the information you provided, it appears that your Microsoft account keeps asking you to enter your password repeatedly.

To better identify the cause, could you please confirm where the issue occurs? For example, does it happen when you are using Office applications (such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, or Office 365 services on the website? This information will help us narrow down whether the problem is related to the application or the web environment.

Additionally, please let us know whether you are using a personal device or a company‑managed device. If it is a company device, it would be helpful to check with other users to see if they are experiencing the same issue. If multiple users are affected, the issue may be related to organization‑level settings or device policies.

If the issue occurs when using a web browser, please try creating a new browser profile and sign in using only one account per profile. This helps prevent conflicts between different accounts stored in the browser, which is a common cause of repeated sign‑in prompts.

We also recommend checking whether any third‑party applications are running in the background on your computer, such as VPN software, antivirus tools, or firewall applications. These tools can sometimes interfere with Microsoft services. If possible, please try temporarily disabling them for a short period to determine whether they are causing the issue. This step will help us confirm if there is a conflict between Office and a third‑party program.

Once you have checked these items, please share more details with us. Any additional information will greatly help us investigate the problem more effectively.

We look forward to your update so we can continue assisting you.

Answer 2

It sounds like you're experiencing frequent password prompts when accessing your Microsoft accounts, which can be quite frustrating. Here are a few potential solutions to help reduce or eliminate these prompts:

1. Enable Modern Authentication: If your organization is still using Basic Authentication, switching to Modern Authentication can help resolve persistent credential prompts.
2. Remove Stored Credentials: Go to Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manager and remove any entries related to Outlook or Microsoft 365. After doing this, restart Outlook and re-authenticate.
3. Check for Office Updates: Ensure that you are running the latest version of Office, as updates can fix bugs that may cause login issues.
4. Create a New Outlook Profile: Sometimes, a corrupted profile can lead to repeated prompts. You can create a new profile by going to Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles and setting the new one as default.
5. Disable Add-ins: Even if you've tried safe mode, manually disabling all add-ins via File > Options > Add-ins and restarting Outlook may help isolate the issue.
6. Use Outlook Web Access (OWA): If the issue is isolated to the desktop version of Outlook, you can access your mailbox via Outlook on the web, which may avoid local authentication issues.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, consider reaching out to your IT department or Microsoft support for further assistance, especially regarding the old email address that keeps resurfacing.

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References:

• Outlook ask for credentials every minute - Microsoft Q&A
• Lock or block login attempts - Microsoft Q&A