Outlook 2016 is part of the new version of Microsoft’s Office application collection, and you may find that it causes some issues when adding your mail account.
This is due to your Autodiscover not being configured correctly. This can range from the CNAME for Autodiscover.yourdomainname not being present, or using a prefix that Outlook doesn’t pick up correctly. Whatever the reason on your PC, we have found a method that is relatively easy and can get your Outlook up and running in no time.
STEP 1
Confirm that your companies Autodiscover URL works is setup correctly.
All you need to know for this step in the OWA URL for your company and the below URL. (Ensure you replace the domain name with your own.)
If it’s setup correctly, you should be prompted for credentials. Once authenticated, you should see the following:
Once this is confirmed, we can move onto step 2.
STEP 2
Let’s create a local XML redirect file. This file will contain your company’s domain information that Outlook will use to pick up the correct Autodiscover information.
**Please remember to replace ‘mail.companyname.com’ with your company’s OWA URL**
Once you’ve edited the file, please save the file to a known location (Such as C:\Autodiscover or C:\TEMP) and name the file Autodiscover.xml
If you now navigate to that location, you should see your Autodiscover file like below:
STEP 3
Now we need to go into the ‘Registry’ for the final piece of the puzzle. I will put all steps required below so if you’re not comfortable with Registry, don’t worry!
First, click on your start menu and search ‘Regedit’
Click on the application and select yes once prompted OR enter ‘Administrator’ credentials.
Now by clicking on the arrow to the left of each box, select the following folders:
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER
- SOFTWARE
- Microsoft
- Office
- 16.0
- Outlook
- AutoDiscover
You should then click on the ‘Autodiscover’ folder and navigate to the next step.
Once you’re in the ‘Autodiscover’ folder, Right click in an empty white space and select ‘New’ > ‘String Value’
Now enter your company’s domain name when prompted to name the key:
Once this has been done, double click on your newly created key and enter the full path to the XML file we created earlier:
You should now see all relevant information showing as you’ve entered it:
STEP 4
Now we’ve created all relevant keys so Outlook should now be able to successfully resolve your domain via ‘Autodiscover’ with the help of our XML redirect file.
Congratulations. Outlook 2016 should be setup and ready to go!
