Outlook Keeps Asking for Your Password

When Outlook keeps showing a password box, the mail server keeps refusing its sign-in. The usual causes are an old saved password, a username that isn’t your full email address, or wrong server settings. Work through these steps in order.

Steps 2 and 3 are for classic Outlook for Windows. In new Outlook for Windows or Outlook for Mac, skip them.

1. Check what you type in the prompt

1. Check the username. It must be your full email address, for example you@yourdomain.com.
2. Check that Caps Lock is off, and type the password carefully.
3. On your own computer, tick the option to remember the password. Don’t tick it on a shared computer.
4. If the prompt comes straight back, close Outlook completely and open it again.

2. Clear old saved passwords (classic Outlook for Windows)

Windows can keep an old password and keep giving it to Outlook. Removing it makes Outlook ask once and save the new one.

1. Close Outlook.
2. Type credential manager in the search box on the taskbar and select Credential Manager Control panel.
3. Select Windows Credentials. (Also check Web Credentials.)
4. Find entries that contain your email address or your mail server’s name. Leave every other entry alone, including Microsoft account and Office entries.
5. Click each matching entry to expand it, then remove it.
6. Open Outlook and enter your password when asked.

3. Check the server settings (classic Outlook for Windows)

Sometimes the prompt is for the outgoing (sending) server. Select File, choose the account, then select Account Settings > Server Settings. Choose Incoming mail or Outgoing mail to check each one:

• the username is your full email address for both;
• the outgoing server requires authentication, with the same username and password as incoming mail;
• the servers and ports match Set Up Mail Client (usually 993 for IMAP and 465 for SMTP), with SSL/TLS.

To open Set Up Mail Client: in cPanel, click Email, click Manage in the address’s row, click Open Webmail, then in the Set up email on your device panel click Automatically configure my device. See how to find your email settings.

4. Set a new password

If Outlook still asks, set a new mailbox password. If Outlook says it can’t connect to the server instead of asking for a password, a new password won’t help: see Troubleshooting.

1. Log in to cPanel. If you can’t log in, open a support ticket.
2. In the cPanel sidebar, click Email.
3. Find the address in the list, and click Manage in its row.
4. Open the Settings tab and click Change Password.
5. Enter a new password, and click Update Password.
6. Enter the new password in Outlook when it asks.

If you see an Email Accounts icon instead, click it, click Manage next to the address, type the password in New Password, and click Update Email Settings. Or type the tool’s name in cPanel’s search box (Ctrl+K or Cmd+K). If you can’t find it, open a support ticket. No cPanel access? Ask whoever manages your hosting to do this.

5. Remove the account and add it again

If nothing else works, remove the account from Outlook and add it again as IMAP, with the servers, ports and username from Set Up Mail Client. See how to set up email in Outlook.

How to tell it worked

Close and reopen Outlook. It opens without a password prompt, new mail arrives, and a test message you send reaches another address you own.

Troubleshooting

• Outlook can’t connect at all, or Webmail stopped loading too after many prompts: close Outlook on every device so it stops retrying, and don’t keep trying passwords. Open a support ticket. Include roughly when it started and your public IP address (search for “what is my IP” to find it).
• Only one computer keeps asking: that device still has the old password. Update it on every device.
• Outlook asks you to sign in to Microsoft: your mailbox isn’t a Microsoft account. Read the warning in step 5, then remove the account and add it again with the IMAP option.
• New Outlook or Outlook for Mac still asks after step 5: open a support ticket with your Outlook version and screenshots, with the password hidden.

Still need help?

Open a support ticket from the Client Portal at my.bluearctic.com (see our support page). Include your domain, the email address, your Outlook version (new, classic or Mac), the exact text of the prompt or error, a screenshot, and what you already tried. Never include a password.