I have just installed my first Exchange 2013 deployment.  Small single server install, no Edge Server.  Things seem to have gone pretty well.  I haven't enabled external mail yet but just wanted to do a bit of testing.  I can send test messages and log in via OWA just fine.

However, when I try to connect an Outlook client I get the message: "Outlook cannot log on.  Verify you are connected to the network.  The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable."  I have an internal DNS record for autodiscover and the internal urls in Exchange.

Before I go much further, I will also add that I have not yet installed the cert.  So I do get the certificate error when setting up Outlook.  I think I read that without a valid cert install, Outlook will not connect to Exchange 2013.  Is that true?  I will be finishing things up and installing the cert soon.  Once I do that, do you suspect the above error message will go away?

Also, after the error above, the dialog box appears that lists the server name.  Instead of what I would consider a valid server name, the name shows up as 505ef3b4-5d84-458e-b084-53d45c532bf0@domain.com.  Is that normal?

Thanks for any clarification

• Edited by Glen B. _ Wednesday, January 28, 2015 2:55 AM

Hi Glen,

You don't need an internal DNS record for Autodiscover unless the clients are on the LAN who are NOT members of the domain.

In internal, when the client connects to Active Directory, the client looks for the SCP object created during Setup. In deployments that include multiple Client Access servers, an Autodiscover SCP object is created for each Client Access server. The SCP object contains the ServiceBindingInfo attribute with the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Client Access server in the form https://CAS01/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml, where CAS01 is the FQDN for the Client Access server. Using the user credentials, the Outlook 2007,  Outlook 2010, or Outlook 2013 client authenticates to Active Directory and searches for the Autodiscover SCP objects. After the client obtains and enumerates the instances of the Autodiscover service, the client connects to the first Client Access server in the enumerated list and obtains the profile information in the form of XML data that's needed to connect to the user's mailbox and available Exchange features.

Best re

Niko, thank you for the reply but I'm not sure it answers my question.

Thank you for informing me that I don't need an audodiscover record internally, but having one won't hurt anything, will it?

Also, is the error that I'm getting: "Outlook cannot log on.  Verify you are connected to the network.  The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable." due to the fact that I do not yet have a valid certificate installed?  If I install the certificate, would you expect the error to go away.  In other words, is a certificate required for Outlook clients to connect to Exchange 2013?

Also, after the error above, the dialog box appears that lists the server name.  Instead of what I would consider a valid server name, the name shows up as 505ef3b4-5d84-458e-b084-53d45c532bf0@domain.com.  Is that normal?

Thank you again.

Hi Glen B,

According to the description, I know that you cannot connect to Outlook client.

Answers to your questions:

1. You are working internally only now, right? And only have self-sign certificate without certificate which issued from Public CA.

Make sure the self-sign certificate is valid (unexpired and trusted) first.

Since you are using self-sign certificate, so we should install the certificate into all PCs you want to use.

When the Outlook prompt to install the certificate, just install it.

2. About the GUID@domain.com, based on my knowledge, Exchange 2013 is different from previous version of Exchange server. When we configure account in Outlook manually, we should input the GUID@domain.com format instead of servername@domain.com .

My suggestions:

1. Since you are working internally only, I suggest install self-sign certificate if Outlook prompt certificate installation.

2. Please make sure you are not using Proxy Server, please try to check this via following steps:

IE -> Tools -> Internet options -> Connections -> LAN Settings -> uncheck Proxy Server.

3. Please try to configure Account on Outlook manually and input Exchange server as GUID@domain.com format.

To get the GUID, please run "Get-Mailbox -Identity Mavis | FL *GUID*", get "ExchangeGUID".

4. Please check the Outlook Anywhere configuration on Outlook. Steps as below:

Account Settings -> Connections -> Outlook Anywhere -> Check "Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP Exchange Proxy Settings.." -> input proxy server url -> select NTLM authentication -> OK.

 

Thanks

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact tnmff@microsoft.com

Hi Glen B,

Any update

 

Thanks

Yes, I do have an update.  As soon as I installed a valid certificate on the Exchange server, Outlook connected up just fine. 

I had always planned on using a trusted external certificate, I was just expecting that I could still test Outlook connectivity prior to getting the certificate installation completed.  That appears to not be the case.

Outlook will not connect without seeing a valid certificate.

Thank you.