Password problems can be perplexing – sorry I couldn’t resist the tongue twister

Seriously, administrators will have the challenge of correcting password issues under time constraints as business activities and users are all working toward completing projects on time. So having a tool chest of techniques for solving and correcting password issues is a requisite of any good administrator.

One problem that you will encounter from time to time is when passwords are not being kept by Outlook even though they have been specified to be retained. This may happen even if the “Save Password” box has been checked.

Several solutions have been offered on the internet.

Deleting User Account Information

One solution involves deleting the user account information and resetting the password. This method involves making changes to the Registry. As always, anytime you touch the registry you should always back it up first.

There are other times when Outlook doesn’t remember the passwords after the operating system has been reinstalled. The system is configured correctly in that the correct passwords are in the account properties but when the end user attempts to send or receive an email they get the username and password dialog box popup.

Disabling Prompts

Another solution you can try is to disable the prompt that asks to save passwords. You can do so by bringing up the Control Panel by going to the lower left corner of the screen and clicking on the Start button and then click on Control Panel. Once you have the control panel up you should then double click on Internet Options and select the Content tab. Next, click on the AutoComplete button in the Personal Information section. Check the box for “User names and passwords on forms” and uncheck the box for “Prompt me to save passwords”. You should now close Outlook and then restart it and try your password again.

Sometimes you will have a user who is able to receive email without being asked to enter a password but they are unable to send email without getting the password prompt request. The administrator should check the account properties server tab on the outgoing mail server and then, for that end user, uncheck the “My server requires authentication” setting and click OK or hit enter. This should stop the password requests from occurring when sending email.

Creating a New Email Account

Another problem situation can occur if you have any users who are using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 then you might run into a problem when you go to create a new email account. For instance, when creating a POP3 email account you have the option to specify “Require logon using Secure Password Authentication”. If you do not type in a password and the “Remember password” check box is left unchecked in the Add New Email Account dialog box, then when you go to test your account settings you will be prompted to enter in your credentials. This prompting for credentials will happen every time the user starts Outlook.

What is happening is that Outlook 2007 is not using the logon credentials configured in the Windows operating system.

Microsoft has provided a hotfix package as of April 30, 2009. You can correct the problem by applying the hotfix and set an appropriate value for the AlwaysUseCachedCredsForSPA registry entry. As always, anytime you touch the registry you should always back it up first.

To start the Registry editor go to the bottom left corner of your screen and click Start. Next, click Run and type “regedit” in the Open text field. Click OK or just hit enter. Find the following registry subkey and then click on it:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice12.0OutlookInternetMail.

Then, from the Edit menu, move the cursor to New and then click on DWORD Value. You can then type in “AlwaysUseCachedCredsForSPA” and press or hit enter. This procedure will allow you to modify the value for “AlwaysUseCachedCredsForSPA”. Right click on it and then select Modify. Enter a value of “1” in the Value data box and hit enter or click OK. Lastly exit the Registry editor.

As an alternative you can implement a workaround which consists of entering in your credentials when in the “Add New Email Account” dialog box. You can do so by clicking on the “Test Account Settings” and entering in the credentials. Select the “Remember password” check box and type in the password.  This workaround will allow you to not be prompted for the credentials when you test the account settings.