Outlook 2002 e-mail account setups sometimes fail

[kenatsun]

Trying to move my e-mail accounts from my old (XP) machine to a new (Vista)
one, when I try to set up my e-mail accounts, I get various failures.

Sometimes, the whole setup works - but then after a while (like after a
couple of reboots), it starts to fail.

Sometimes, the whole "Test account settings..." process works, and I then
receive the test message - but I still can't send an outgoing message. The
usual error message in this case is "Task sending and receiving reported
error (0x800CCC92): Your e-mail server rejected your login. Verify your user
name and password in your account properties. ... The server responded:
?cacn_np[\\PIPE\\lasarpc]"

Sometimes, "Test account settings" fails. The network connections and
incoming mail tests always work. Sometimes "find outgoing mail server"
succeeds but "send test message" fails. In these cases I get error messages
like "The specified server was found but there was no respopnse from the
server" and "Find outgoing mail server (SMTP): Unable to connect to thge
outgoing mail server." At other times, only the "send test message" fails,
with an eoor telling me to verify that the user name is correct.

I have entered an reentered everything dozens of times, confirmed that they
are like the settings on my XP machine, that they match the settings in my
password keeper file, etc. This includes the port numbers, SSL requirements,
and all the other "More settings..." options.

Occasionally, what seems to fix it (temporarily) is creating a whole new
e-mail account with exactly the same setup as an existing one, then deleting
the existing one.

One other thing: Sometimes, on restarting Outlook, I notice that the
password has disappeared from the EMail Accounts / Logon Information /
Password field, even though "remember password" is always checked. This
makes me wonder if something is broken in wherever the e-mail account setup
information is stored. (I don't know where that is, does any one?)

I have also tried uninstalling and reinstalling Office completely.

I'm totally out of ideas. Please help in any way you can.

~ Thanks in advance
~ Ken

 

[DL]

Outlook 2002 is not fully compatible with Vista, though generally I believe
its a network passwords problem.
If you have any anti virus intergrated with outlook uninstall it and reboot,
before continueing your Outlook test

Do you have a pop mail account that only requires the basic set up info,
usually just username/password pop and smtp settings that doesnt require
extended settings eg port etc?

 

[VanguardLH]

Trying to move my e-mail accounts from my old (XP) machine to a new (Vista)
one, when I try to set up my e-mail accounts, I get various failures.

Sometimes, the whole setup works - but then after a while (like after a
couple of reboots), it starts to fail.

Sometimes, the whole "Test account settings..." process works, and I then
receive the test message - but I still can't send an outgoing message. The
usual error message in this case is "Task sending and receiving reported
error (0x800CCC92): Your e-mail server rejected your login. Verify your user
name and password in your account properties. ... The server responded:
?cacn_np[\\PIPE\\lasarpc]"

Sometimes, "Test account settings" fails. The network connections and
incoming mail tests always work. Sometimes "find outgoing mail server"
succeeds but "send test message" fails. In these cases I get error messages
like "The specified server was found but there was no respopnse from the
server" and "Find outgoing mail server (SMTP): Unable to connect to thge
outgoing mail server." At other times, only the "send test message" fails,
with an eoor telling me to verify that the user name is correct.

I have entered an reentered everything dozens of times, confirmed that they
are like the settings on my XP machine, that they match the settings in my
password keeper file, etc. This includes the port numbers, SSL requirements,
and all the other "More settings..." options.

Occasionally, what seems to fix it (temporarily) is creating a whole new
e-mail account with exactly the same setup as an existing one, then deleting
the existing one.

One other thing: Sometimes, on restarting Outlook, I notice that the
password has disappeared from the EMail Accounts / Logon Information /
Password field, even though "remember password" is always checked. This
makes me wonder if something is broken in wherever the e-mail account setup
information is stored. (I don't know where that is, does any one?)

I have also tried uninstalling and reinstalling Office completely.

I'm totally out of ideas. Please help in any way you can.

~ Thanks in advance
~ Ken

Outlook 2002 will NOT remember passwords when ran under Windows Vista.
Outlook 2002 was coded to use pstore (protected storage system) in the
registry to cache the login credentials for the e-mail accounts defined
in Outlook; see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb432403.aspx.
pstore is no longer available under Windows Vista. The registry keys
are still there but are read-only so Outlook cannot record your login
credentials into those registry keys but cannot update them. Vista
dropped pstore and went to DPAPI. For information on DPAPI, read
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms995355.aspx. DPAPI has been
around since 2001 starting in Windows 2000. The result is that you will
need to supply your login credentials for each e-mail account that you
have defined in Outlook for the first mail poll performed by Outlook.
After the first mail poll, the login credentials are reused so you don't
need to supply them again. However, if you exit and reload Outlook then
you need to supply the login credentials for only the first mail poll.

Outlook 2003/2007 are coded to use either pstore or the newer DPAPI
which means they will run under Vista and pre-Vista versions of Windows.
Mainstream support for Outlook 2002/XP has ended. There will be no
further feature changes, bug fixes, or enhancements to it. That means
it will remain incompatible for use under Windows Vista. Your
Microsoft-based solutions are: suffer with the problem when using
Outlook 2002 on Windows Vista, upgrade to Outlook 2003 or 2007, or use a
different e-mail program that runs properly on Windows Vista.

Read:
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/28
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/vista.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securi...w_to_Windows_Vista#Other_features_and_changes
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb756884.aspx

The PStore keys in the registry are read-only in Windows Vista.
Removing the read-only attribute won't fix the problem. The PStore
interface used by Outlook is not available in Windows Vista. You cannot
manually edit the registry to retrieve or enter the passwords. PStore
isn't just a location in the registry with plain text data. It is a
method of encrypting the passwords using TripleDES that are cached in
the registry in a binary construct. Once a user is logged into Windows,
the CryptoAPI can be used to decrypt that Windows account's cached
passwords from the PStore in the registry. While Windows Vista no
longer provides support for PStore, it is possible to continue
supporting PStore using a program. Alas, there will be nothing
forthcoming as a hotfix or add-on from Microsoft to support PStore in
Outlook 2002 because that product is no longer supported.

A possible solution is to use a program (as a macro that runs inside of
Outlook) that manages the encrypted password for you in the protected
registry cache. If you don't want to write the macro or cannot find a
free one already written for you, there is OLAutoPW at
http://www.mgsware.de/index.php/OLAutoPW/138/0/#403. I've never used it
(because I don't use Windows Vista). Cost is 10 euro (~$16). It may
also be possible to use AutoIt, AutoHotkeys, or other keyboard macro
programs that can trigger on specific dialog windows to answer the
password prompt for you but then you need to leave them running all the
time and write up the macro that they run along with identifying the
trigger(s) on when and in which window to run their macro.