# Outlook 2007 doesn't retain password



## The_WIKI (Mar 2, 2010)

I recently ran across the problem of Outlook 2007 not retaining my password on an Exchange account. I found this fix at another website.

"If you are encountering an infuriating problem where Outlook constantly asks you for your password even though you check the Remember my password box every single time, then you are in luck because reader Malcolm wrote in with this tip on how to fix the problem.

This fix should theoretically help with Windows Mail as well, but I havent been able to verify that yet.








Before you do anything else, close Outlook. You should also note that well be modifying system generated files here, so proceed with caution or not at all.

Open up windows explorer window and then paste the following text into the address bar, which should bring you to a folder with a single folder inside with a really long name.
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Protect​








What youll need to do is just rename that folder to something else (I suggest appending -old onto the end of it so that you could easily rename it back if things go wrong)








Now re-open Outlook, and then type in your password hopefully for the last time, making sure to check the box to remember it. You should now see that the original folder was re-created again.








At this point Outlook should remember your passwords, but you can close Outlook and reopen it to make sure. If you encounter problems with this, you can remove the new folder and then rename the -old folder back to the original name to put everything back the way it was.

Note: Im hearing from some readers that this doesnt always solve the problem for them, so your mileage may vary."


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## fast586 (Jan 31, 2005)

I'm not sure you're going to be able to get it to work either. If your Exchange admin requires that you enter a password for security reasons you probably can't get past this requirement because it may have been implemented as a group policy which is part of active directory.

I'll give you an example; I have a client who pays annually to use a virtual Exchange 2007 server. They are of course using Outlook 2007 and you are required to enter a password for security reasons. You can not get past having to enter a password each time you open up Outlook. It really makes sense since they are coming in over a virtual connection to the Exchange server. If I was the Exchange admin, I would do the same thing. Certain security measures must be taken to help protect access to email and password protecting accounts is one way to do that.

Now on the flipside, I use Outlook 2007 on my personal computer to connect to email via my ISP. I have a POP3 account with them and because of the way POP3 accounts work, I'm able to have Outlook save my password so that I don't need to enter it each time. When you're working with anything concerning active directory, you're in a whole other environment and the added security comes into play; that's the way it works.

fast586


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## The_WIKI (Mar 2, 2010)

Yes - in that case it won't help. In my environment, however, we authenticate with our Active Directory credentials to log on to our PCs. We aren't required to re-enter those credentials to access our MS Exchange accounts since they are the same. In my case, I was logging in at home via our VPN. Once again, to log in to the VPN requires one's AD credentials and hence no second sign-on is require when opening Outlook. 

BTW - I actually had to use this trick twice before it worked. It's Micro$oft after all.


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## mwtilton (Apr 28, 2010)

How can I tell if my the Admin just changed my settings to not allow Outlook to remember my password? I work for the government and was thinking that might have been what happened. 

I have Outlook 2007 running in Vista with three email accounts: Exchange, gmail (pop) and an army.mil account (pop also). I can get my Exchange without password re-entry once I'm logged into the computer. Until yesterday my two pop accounts were working smoothly, too. Suddenly I have to type the password in and the option to "save the password" is greyed out. In account settings, the option to type in the password is also greyed out.


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## fast586 (Jan 31, 2005)

mwtilton said:


> How can I tell if my the Admin just changed my settings to not allow Outlook to remember my password? I work for the government and was thinking that might have been what happened.
> 
> I have Outlook 2007 running in Vista with three email accounts: Exchange, gmail (pop) and an army.mil account (pop also). I can get my Exchange without password re-entry once I'm logged into the computer. Until yesterday my two pop accounts were working smoothly, too. Suddenly I have to type the password in and the option to "save the password" is greyed out. In account settings, the option to type in the password is also greyed out.


You're not going to be able to tell that by anything from your end. Like I said in an earlier post; it may have been implemented by the admin per instructions from the CIO or someone at that level in the organization by using a group policy which to you is invisible but happens almost immediately after the admin implements it and without a reboot. You don't really think the government is going to reveal such things to users do you? LOL.


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## mwtilton (Apr 28, 2010)

I asked my IT help today and they confirmed that the ability to retain a password in POP3 accounts was restricted by a security update. 

It's ironic now that it is easier to download my exchange email than my Gmail account.


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