Outlook 2013 Mail Setup Add Account crashes with Rundll32 error and will not connect to Exchange in Windows 8.1

I got a new Acer laptop with Windows 8.1 over 3 weeks ago, and installed Office Professional Plus 2013.  I have an Office365 E1 subscription, but this Office 2013 is not associated with the subscription.

When I go to setup any email account using the automatic mode (primary will be Exchange Online with my 365 account, but I've tested POP email accounts with the same result), the Mail Setup crashes once the email address and password is entered and Next is pressed.  This error message is displayed:

"Windows host process (Rundll32) has stopped working

A problem caused the program to stop working correctly.  Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available."

The step displayed as in process when the crash occurs is the "Searching for [email address] settings".  The first step "Establishing network connection" is checked complete.

I've run an Office Repair, and there's no change.  I've run a clean boot, and even uninstalled/reinstalled with the same error still appearing.

If I use the manual setup mode and input the server outlook.office365.com, both the Check Name function and the Next button result in the error message:

"The action cannot be completed. The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable.  Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action."  The folks in the Office365 support community have told me that Office365 ExchangeOnline servers have to be configured with the auto-setup and cannot be setup manually.

I've done both a system refresh and a system reset, and I'm still getting the Rundll32 error.  I tried to run a reset from a disk, but the laptop does not want to run it from the external DVD drive (giving error messages), so that doesn't appear to be an option.

I've searched extensively, and there doesn't seem to be any existing threads where anything like this problem is discussed. 

Can you offer any ideas or solutions?

After THREE WEEKS of troubleshooting this, and some significant delays in getting help from support, I'm really close to returning this laptop.

I need an answer on this ASAP to see if you've got an insights before I return the laptop for a new one.

Thanks,

Jason

January 20th, 2015 3:55am
This did work for me. Thanks!
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April 10th, 2015 8:42am

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