Microsoft Sign In - Tell us the account you want to use to open autodiscover.xml

carmen617

Well-Known Member
Reaction score
720
Location
Boston, MA
OK, i've spent too much time on this already. Clean install, used FABS to move over data and settings. Last step is installing Office 365 and setting up several email accounts in Outlook. Client was set up with a local account when i started.

Every time I open Word I get the same damned Microsoft sign-in screen with the message Tell us the account you want to use to open autodiscover.xml. It has the account name in there, when i click "next" it just refreshes the screen. If I do it 3 times, it goes away for a moment or two, then comes back. I cannot open Outlook at all.

Things I have already tried? The steps in this Microsoft bbs article
  1. Open an Office application like Word and sign out.
  2. Exit all Office applications including OneDrive for Business.
  3. Remove all the stored credentials in the credentials manager (Control Panel > User Accounts > Credential Manager > Windows Credentials). (NOTE: This will remove your stored passwords.)
  4. Run regedit as an administrator.
  5. From Registry Editor, browse to:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity
  6. Delete the Identity folder.
  7. Open Word and sign in.
  8. Check whether it works now.
I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling office. Logging out of Microsoft from EVERY place i can find. The one thing I don't want to try is another clean install, as i charge a flat rate for this stuff and I'm already hours into this one. Does anybody know how to make this damned thing go away?
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure if this is relevant to your predicament but Microsoft continously looks for Office 365 exchange at every possible moment. You can adjust the registry to tame it somewhat.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover]
"PreferLocalXML"=dword:00000000
"ExcludeHttpsAutoDiscoverDomain"=dword:00000001
"ExcludeHTTPRedirect"=dword:00000000
"ExcludeHttpsRootDomain"=dword:00000001
"ExcludeScpLookup"=dword:00000001
"ExcludeSrvLookup"=dword:00000001
"ExcludeSrvRecord"=dword:00000001
"ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint"=dword:00000001
 
Buy a Mac? LOL!!! Couldn't resist.

I'd create a new user account on the machine and then see if it goes away. But don't FABS it yet. Test the O365 first. Sounds like FABS grabbed something that was corrupted.
Can I give you 6 likes??? That did the trick, thanks - why didn't I think of it myself?? Now I just need to move his stuff over to the new profile and delete the frustrating one!
 
Can I give you 6 likes??? That did the trick, thanks - why didn't I think of it myself?? Now I just need to move his stuff over to the new profile and delete the frustrating one!

Thanks! Great to hear. I wouldn't FABS it over. I'm sure whatever it brought over would still impact the new account. Just do it the old fashioned way.
 
Back
Top