Hello,

I have come across an issue where a user has an O365 account, but has accidentally setup a Microsoft Account with the same alias as their O365 work account.  For their desktop machines this has not caused any problems, however for their mobile device (Samsung S4) the Outlook App cannot connect to the users O365 account.  What happens is, I install the Outlook App on to the Samsung, go to setup a new account, select 'Exchange' and enter the user's O365 credentials.  The credentials appear to get accepted, but then it takes me to a 're-enter your password' screen, and it is on this screen that it demands Microsoft Account credentials to proceed.  When I entered the user's MSAccount creds the Outlook App connects to the outlook.com mailbox as opposed to the user's O365 work account - Which is not what we want, we want to connect to the user's O365 work mailbox.

As part of my troubleshooting I have changed the alias for the MSAccount to no longer be the same as the user's O365 email address, but that made no difference.  I have now gone so far as to remove the user's Microsoft Account, but still when I try to setup the user on their Samsung with the Outlook App it demands I also enter the MSAccount creds to proceed.  I have tried this on a different phone to confirm it's a behaviour of the account and not something strange on the phone.

Note that if I setup the user on the native mail client for Android, it successfully connects to the O365 account and does not get confused by any MSAccount; it is only in the Outlook App for Android that I get the unexpected prompt for MSAccount creds.  Unfortunately, company policy requires users to have the Outlook App and not to use the email native client.

Any help would be great! Regards, nel05

Hi,

For test purpose, please try to configure another user's Office 365 mailbox on this phone, check if the problem persists.

Moreover, you may try to remove the app from the phone and clear the cache completely, then re-install this app to try again.

Based on the description, the account seems ok - it works on the native mail client with no issue. I can't tell what the issue is with this app since I don't use it. If possible please also try to configure this user's account on another user's phone, check if this account can be configured on the same app while on a different device.

These steps above may narrow down the issue scope and we may find some hints via them.

Regards,

Melon Chen
TechNet Community Su

Hi Melon,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.  As well as re-installing the app and clearing the cache, I have since tried a completely different phone which has never seen this account before and still get presented with the 're enter your password' screen, a screen which will only accept credentials for a Microsoft Account, provides no way for me to "ignore" or "skip" the step, and provides no way for me to prefer the O365 account over the MSAccount.

My concern is this: The Microsoft Account that was setup by accident has some sort of precedence over the O365 one in terms of how the Outlook App selects which account to configure for the user.  Also, the Microsoft Account apparently must sit in a 'pending deletion' state for 60 days after I chose to deactivate it, where the account-owner has the opportunity to re-activate it if they want; I also imagine the account name remains in-use and is recognized by the Outlook App when it searches for accounts by that name to be setup (and seems to pick a deactivated MSAccount over a licensed O365 account). 

Perhaps I need to pursue a faster deletion of the Microsoft Account to see if that resolves the issue.

Thanks again, and please don't hesitate to respond if you have suggestions.

Regards, nel05

Hi Melon,

Furthermore, I have also tried setting up a different user's O365 account on the initial phone and confirmed the 're-enter your password' screen did not appear for them... it only appears for one O365 user, and that user recently had a Microsoft Account with the same alias as their O365 account (which I'm almost certain is the problem).

Cheers, nel05

Just an update: I have since tested this account on a different mobile platform (iPhone) and confirmed the issue still occurs here. When I select either Exchange or O365 as the account type, and enter the user's O365 credentials, I get the message "Please select Outlook.com as the account type". Of course, we don't want to use the Outlook.com account associated with the MSAccount, we want to use the Exchange mailbox associated with the O365 account. Any help here would be great!

Regards, nel05