Outlook 2003 not saving password even after KB290684

[Steven Monacoli]

All,
Outlook 2003 is not saving my POP3 e-mail account passwords.
Everytime it goes and checks for new mail, the password dialog box opens and
I have to enter the password.
I have already done KB 290684 - where you delete the Protected Storage
System Provider Key - not once, but 3 times. Still getting prompted for
password. Outlook Express works fine....it's just Outlook 2003. Anyone have
any ideas???
Thanks for your time,
Steve

 

[Vanguard \(NPI\)]

All,
Outlook 2003 is not saving my POP3 e-mail account passwords.
Everytime it goes and checks for new mail, the password dialog box opens
and I have to enter the password.
I have already done KB 290684 - where you delete the Protected Storage
System Provider Key - not once, but 3 times. Still getting prompted for
password. Outlook Express works fine....it's just Outlook 2003. Anyone
have any ideas???
Thanks for your time,
Steve

Try configuring the e-mail account in Outlook to authenticate in one of the
following two ways (assuming your POP3 and SMTP servers are provided by the
same e-mail service):

- Enter the login credentials for the POP3 server. Leave the option
*disabled* to authenticate to the SMTP server.

- Enter the login credentials for the POP3 server. Enable the option to
authenticate to the SMTP server. Select the option to specify the login
credentials. Enter the same ones as you entered for the POP3 account.

After some recent updates, I had problems getting connected where the setup
was:

- Enter the login credentials for the POP3 server. Enable the option to
authenticate to the SMTP server. Select the option to reuse the login
credentials specified for the POP3 server.

Accounts that were working under this last setup stopped working after the
recent updates. I haven't had time to dig through the transport logfile for
Outlook to see why Microsoft is issuing SMTP commands during a mail poll
when there are no pending mails sitting in the Outbox. I had also tried the
trick of deleting the protected storage keys from the registry but it didn't
help. If the login fails, Outlook will present the dialog asking for you to
enter the correct credentials despite you having entered them correctly
(POP3 has only 2 status codes, OK and ERR, and the descriptive text is
optional and variable, so it is tough for an e-mail client to figure out why
the authentication failed and usually they just assume the login credentials
were wrong). By switching to either one of the first two setups (and away
from what used to work using the third setup), the problem went away.

 

[Steven Monacoli]

Thanks for the suggestion..
Unfortuneatley, I tried with authentication and without. Samething...still
asking for the password.
The other thing I noticed.....I first open Outlook..if I check the e-mail
account properties, there is no password in the password field. Even when I
go in there and fillout the password and check the save password box...it
will have dissappeared the next time I check it out. It's VERY strange...
I've even done a "Detect and Repair" a bunch of times...
I hate like hell to blow up the PST. I have a bunch of saved messages in
many different folders.
I suppose I could just use the existing PST as an archive. Create an new PST
and see if that works. This was all working fine until 3 days ok..... then,
for no reason, it started asking for passwords.

Larry

 

[Vanguard \(NPI\)]

Thanks for the suggestion..
Unfortuneatley, I tried with authentication and without. Samething...still
asking for the password.
The other thing I noticed.....I first open Outlook..if I check the e-mail
account properties, there is no password in the password field. Even when
I go in there and fillout the password and check the save password
box...it will have dissappeared the next time I check it out. It's VERY
strange...
I've even done a "Detect and Repair" a bunch of times...
I hate like hell to blow up the PST. I have a bunch of saved messages in
many different folders.
I suppose I could just use the existing PST as an archive. Create an new
PST and see if that works. This was all working fine until 3 days ok.....
then, for no reason, it started asking for passwords.

I'd start with deleting the e-mail account(s) and then recreating them as
new accounts to see if that gets rid of the password prompting problem. If
that didn't help, maybe try creating a whole new mail profile (use the Mail
applet in Control Panel), even if it is a temporary or test profile, and use
Data Management after logging on under the new profile to point at your old
..pst file (you will need to restart Outlook after changing to a different
default message store). If that doesn't work, I'd have to wonder about
Microsoft's updates in the last week (which included at least 2 sets of
updates in that time, for me) causing the problem. You could visit Windows
Update and look at your update history to see which ones you might try to
uninstall and recheck Outlook's behavior.

Do you have any proxies, transparent or not, between your mail client and
the mail server? Do you have anti-virus software scanning your e-mails? If
so, try disabling its e-mail scan feature. If that doesn't help, try
disabling anti-virus scanning altogether. Some AV programs insert an LSP
(layered service provider) in the TCP protocol that interrogates the traffic
passed through it, and it their LSP is screwing up then you have e-mail
problems (and possibly other TCP problems). You might have to disable or
uninstall their e-mail scanning to do a reboot which removes their LSP. For
example, CA's EzAntiVirus uses an LSP (and will require a Windows reboot if
its e-mail scanning is disabled).

Also try disabling any software firewall running on the same host. At one
time, I used Norton's firewall which includes application rules to regulate
which ones can get Internet access. Supposedly a hash value is recorded for
each program that requests Internet access (whereupon you get a prompt
asking if you want to allow the connection or not, and if you want to
remember your selection for future connection requests from the same
program). After updating that program, the firewall should see it as a new
program because the hash code won't match the one recorded before. However,
I have seen Norton's firewall neglect to issue a prompt. Apparently the new
version didn't trigger Norton to its change and Norton would block it
without any prompts. The cure was to go into the application rules and
delete all those for that program so Norton would prompt you on its next
execution to then save a hash value and create a rule for it. Disabling the
firewall worked but obviously you don't want to leave it disabled
permanently. Enabling the firewall caused the blocking but no prompt for
the new version (and it wasn't the old version making the connect attempt).
I noticed it by looking in the firewall's application logfile. I'm now
using Sygate's Personal Firewall and have yet to get nailed with that
problem in almost a year of using it; however, Symantec bought Sygate so it
might reappear depending on what Symantec does with the acquired product.

Some firewalls operate transparently. This means they do not require any
changes to the e-mail account definition regarding the servers. However,
some still operate opaquely and will change the e-mail account to change the
servers (and username to chain to real target mail server) or require that
you make those changes. If the proxy is not loaded or unresponsive, it
won't pass on the login credentials to the mail server so the login fails.
The problem is not that the mail server rejected your login. The problem is
that your mail server never got the login credentials from the AV proxy.

The same above regarding AV proxy problems can also be exhibited if you use
other proxies, like anti-spam products (SpamPal, Spamhilator, SpamBayes if
ran that way instead of as an Outlook plug-in, etc.). Anything
interrogating or intercepting your mail traffic can cause the problem.

 

[Steven Monacoli]

Vanguard,
Here's what I did last night...
First, I blew away the PST, then created a new outlook profile.
Same thing....kept asking me for my password.

I then blew away the pst and the profile....re-installed Office 2003,
created a new profile, etc....same thing!! Still keeps asking me for a
password.
Here's what else I found...if I look under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System
Provider\S-1-5-21-854245398-879983540-725345543-1003, no values are found. I
don't think that should be...
I have no idea what I should do now, except maybe totally remove office,
then re-install.

Steve

 

[Brian Tillman]

Here's what else I found...if I look under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Protected Storage System
Provider\S-1-5-21-854245398-879983540-725345543-1003, no values are
found. I don't think that should be...

See if this helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=290684

 

[Steven Monacoli]

Yeah..that's the very first thing I did....thanks anyway Brian.

Steve

 

[Vanguard \(NPI\)]

Yeah..that's the very first thing I did....thanks anyway Brian.

Have you yet tried disabling e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program? It
will delay the commands sent between your e-mail client and the mail server?
Do you have any other proxies sitting between your e-mail client and mail
server, like an anti-spam program?

Have you tried rebooting into Safe Mode for Windows?

Have you tried loading Outlook in safe mode ("outlook.exe /safe")?

Have you enabled the transport log in Outlook, configured Outlook to poll
only one account (if you have multiple accounts), exit Outlook, delete the
opmlog.log file, and start Outlook to perform a mail poll, get the login
prompt, kill it and exit Outlook, and then look in the logfile? If you are
connecting to Exchange, there really isn't sufficient info in the logfile to
figure out problems when using Exchange. But for POP3/SMTP, look for the
called functions that have "POP" and "SMTP" as the prefix in the string to
see what commands got sent by Outlook and what the mail server sent back.

Have you check for too many lost packets? The more packets that are lost in
a lossy connection the more that need to be resent so the longer the delay.
Do the following:

ping -n 100 <hostname>

where <hostname> is your mail server (if it responds to pings) or somewhere
else, like www.yahoo.com. The default of 4 pings is way too small a sample
size to know how much loss you have, if any. See how many packets are lost.
I'll notice abnormal e-mail behaviors at just 4% loss and often cannot
connect once it gets over 10%. Browsers are far less finicky and will wait
but not Outlook. You can call your ISP to test the line but they just check
signal strength. They cannot measure packet loss, so you have to report it
to them.

 

[Spediteur]

See my posts going back to August in the Outlook General Questions board. I
have the same problem. I also tried nearly everything in the past 2 months.
Nothing fixes it. The problem seems more related to the Window registry and
Outlook than to protected storage per se. Otherwise, we should have the same
problems using Outlook Express, which all of us who tested it do not have.
Obviously, there needs to be something in the registry that prevents this
problem and Microsoft should darn well know what it is and could conceivably
write a patch to recreate a proper protect storage registry key. There are
dozens of us with this problem on these boards and nothing is being done by
Microsoft. The last Office SP didn't change anything - I had the problem
since early August - started out of nowhere.

 

[Flyer]

I am a having the same problem, and have tried all options in this
string. My problem started with install of office 2003, and after
discovering this problem my shell registery explorer.exe was
obliterated, paid microsoft to help me resolve shell explorer register
but I am still having the same problem you are with outlook 2003. I'm
still on a crusade to find an answer also, I'll post here. I'm
resisting another $36 help from MS:{

 

[Flyer]

I am a having the same problem, and have tried all options in this
string. My problem started with install of office 2003, and after
discovering this problem my shell registery explorer.exe was
obliterated, paid microsoft to help me resolve shell explorer register
but I am still having the same problem you are with outlook 2003. I'm
still on a crusade to find an answer also, I'll post here. I'm
resisting another $36 help from MS:{

 

[Flyer]

Spediteur-
I finally was able to work through this problem with microsoft, turns
out that a couple of things are going on.
1. the install of Office 2003 somehow corrupted my user profile, this
corruption prevented any passwords from sticking in Outlook 2003.
-- Solution: create a new user profile, export your PST file from
your old profile to c: and import it into outlook on your new profile.
2. You'll have to re-enter all your email accounts but you'll have your
mail carried over from the old profile. DO NOT click the test button on
the email setup seams to be a bug in it that could cause an in accurate
fault. Instead send yourself a mail to check, another cool way to check
send and receive mail is to send a test message to (e-mail address removed)
you'll receive an autoreply back in a couple of minutes.
3. This should resolve your issues as it did mine, this comes after
about 12 hours of research and telephone calls. Good luck!

 

[Flyer]

the email test pasted wrong above
it's (e-mail address removed)

 

[Flyer]

Spediteur-
I finally was able to work through this problem with microsoft, turns
out that a couple of things are going on.
1. the install of Office 2003 somehow corrupted my user profile, this
corruption prevented any passwords from sticking in Outlook 2003.
-- Solution: create a new user profile, export your PST file from
your old profile to c: and import it into outlook on your new profile.
2. You'll have to re-enter all your email accounts but you'll have your
mail carried over from the old profile. DO NOT click the test button on
the email setup seams to be a bug in it that could cause an in accurate
fault. Instead send yourself a mail to check, another cool way to check
send and receive mail is to send a test message to (e-mail address removed)
you'll receive an autoreply back in a couple of minutes.
3. This should resolve your issues as it did mine, this comes after
about 12 hours of research and telephone calls. Good luck!

- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

 

[Spediteur]

The problem for me is that I did not install Outlook 2003 - it came
preinstalled on my new laptop from Dell. The save password function worked
fine and then just stopped working for no apparent reason.

Obviously, creating a new Windows User account will create a new registry
entry for Protected Storage for Outlook under that new user account,
presumably one that gets properly created. But then you can't go back to
your old Windows user account and have to import all your other documents and
settings. It may be simple if you are using XP Home, but in XP Pro there are
networking and system naming issues to consider. I'll check it out though.
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Brian Tillman]

1. the install of Office 2003 somehow corrupted my user profile, this
corruption prevented any passwords from sticking in Outlook 2003.
-- Solution: create a new user profile, export your PST file from
your old profile to c: and import it into outlook on your new profile.

Never export to and import from a PST unless you like losing data. There's
never a reason.

 

[SeymourP]

Hi. I have the same problem. Have left several msgs in this and other forums,
no success. Now, my problem has gotten much worse. BEFORE today, when I got
home from work, the network password dialog box popped up every now and then.
BUT now, I cannot connect at all to one of my accounts (which I could do this
morning) via Outlook 2003. Now, when I hit OK on the dialog box, it just pops
up again. This is becoming a VERY BAD thing. There are many queries like this
on this forum. Surely, Microsoft has some idea what is wrong, or some idea
how to approach this. For me, now, it's every time, but just with one
account, only (my roadrunner account at nyc.rr.com). The other e-mail
accounts are just fine. I've deleted the account and re-added it in, nothing.
Someone has to have some idea. Now, my Outlook (which is a brand new
installation on my brand new XP Pro machine) is become disfunctional.

SP

 

[Spediteur]

Thanks, Flyer. I did what you did and it worked -- at a price! After
copying all my old user settings and documents (see MS article 811151) I
found that there are many failures which took me many hours to resolve, all
for the price of saving Outlook passwords. For example:
- most applications opened in the new profile did so as if the first time,
reverting to startup options and preferences
- applications which required entry of a registration code all had to have
the code reinstalled or have the program reinstalled (to offer the
registration option)
- I had to reinstall all 3 of my Palm PDA synching applications, in order,
recreating my PDA identity and regenerating the conduit settings
- windows appearance settings and sounds reverted to first use state
- Outlook Express had to be completely reinstalled with manual copy of the
old mailbox folders, windows address book, and reinstall of all newsgroups
- Outlook, everything defaults to first run condition, column headings,
contact lists, etc. Re-installing the mail accounts is easy enough, but time
consumig as is copy the old outlook.pst file.
- in almost every application, buttons and settings will have to be
re-tweaked the way you liked them before.

If you need to go through this, I recommend backing up the old settings file
and not deleting the old account for a few weeks. You may have to back to
the other user account to retrieve some settings and examine configurations
that worked.

Depending on the number of applications and the amount of customization you
had done, allow several hours to restore the system the way you liked it.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks, Flyer. I did what you did and it worked -- at a price! After
copying all my old user settings and documents (see MS article
811151) I found that there are many failures which took me many hours
to resolve, all for the price of saving Outlook passwords.

I think that Flyer meant "mail profile" when s/he said "user profile", but
perhaps not. An entire new Windows user profile seems excessive to me.

Many of the difficulties you encountered after creating the new WIndows
login could have been resolved by copying the contents of C:\Documents and
Settings\olduser to
C:\Documents and Settings\newuser.

 

[Spediteur]

No, the solution is to recreate a new user profile which has a new protected
storage system branch in the registry for Outlook. In fact, I did copy my old
user settings to my new user settings per MS 811151 and did have all the
resulting problems. Yes, it's overkill and I would have been happier if
Microsoft could have provided a registry patch to fix the original problem.