Outlook Keeps Asking for Password? How to Fix It

You type your password, the box disappears, and a minute later it's back. Outlook's status bar says "Need Password", or you see a "Windows Security" or "Sign in to your account" prompt asking for your Microsoft 365 credentials again and again. Sometimes it accepts the password and still keeps asking. Meanwhile, email isn't arriving and you can't get on with your day.

This is one of the most common Microsoft 365 problems in small offices. It's almost always caused by stale saved credentials, a broken sign-in component in Windows, or a security policy that's doing exactly what it was told. Here's how to work through it.

Why This Happens

Modern Outlook doesn't really use your password directly. It signs in with modern authentication, gets a token from Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), and uses that token until it expires. On Windows, a component called the Web Account Manager (WAM) handles those tokens for all your Microsoft 365 apps.

The loop starts when that chain breaks. Common causes are:

• A recently changed password, with the old one still cached in Windows Credential Manager.
• Corrupted tokens or a broken WAM component, often after a Windows update or a profile migration.
• Signed in to Office with the wrong account, such as a personal Microsoft account alongside your work one.
• A damaged Outlook profile, especially one carried over from years of upgrades.
• Policy changes, such as new MFA requirements or a Conditional Access policy with a short sign-in frequency.

Fix 1: Check the Basics

1. Sign in to outlook.office.com in a browser with the same account. If that fails too, the problem is your account or password, not Outlook. See our guide to Microsoft 365 sign-in errors.
2. Check the date and time on your PC are correct. Token sign-ins fail if the clock is out.
3. If you've just changed your password, restart the PC before trying again so every app picks up the change.

Fix 2: Clear Saved Credentials

1. Close Outlook, Teams and any other Office apps.
2. Open the Start menu, type Credential Manager and open it.
3. Choose Windows Credentials.
4. Under Generic Credentials, remove entries that begin with MicrosoftOffice, MicrosoftOffice16_Data or mention Outlook or your email address. Click each entry and choose Remove.
5. Restart the PC, open Outlook and sign in once when prompted.

Fix 3: Sign Out of Office and Check Your Work Account

1. In Outlook (or Word), go to File > Office Account and click Sign out under User Information. Sign out of any personal accounts listed too.
2. Close all Office apps.
3. Open Settings > Accounts > Access work or school. Your work account should be listed. If it's missing or showing an error, click it and choose Disconnect, restart, then add it back with Connect. If the account says it's managed by your organisation and you can't disconnect it, leave it alone and ask your admin.
4. Reopen Outlook and sign in with your work account only.

Fix 4: Repair the Windows Sign-In Component

If the sign-in box flashes up blank, closes immediately, or the loop survives everything above, the Entra sign-in broker that WAM relies on may be damaged. Microsoft's documented fix is to re-register it. Open Windows PowerShell as the signed-in user (not as administrator) and run:

Add-AppxPackage -Register "$env:windir\SystemApps\Microsoft.AAD.BrokerPlugin_cw5n1h2txyewy\Appxmanifest.xml" -DisableDevelopmentMode -ForceApplicationShutdown

Restart and try Outlook again.

Fix 5: Create a New Outlook Profile

A damaged profile can keep asking for credentials however clean everything else is. With classic Outlook closed:

1. Open Control Panel, switch to small icons and choose Mail (Microsoft Outlook).
2. Click Show Profiles > Add, give it a name and add your work email. Autodiscover should set it up automatically.
3. Select Always use this profile, choose the new one and click OK.

Your email lives in Exchange Online, so a new profile simply downloads it again. Local PST files (old archives) need re-attaching manually.

For Your Microsoft 365 Admin

• Check the sign-in logs. In the Entra admin centre, open the user and look for Sign-in logs. Failures show an error code and, under the Conditional Access tab, which policy applied. A string of interrupted sign-ins usually points at MFA or Conditional Access rather than the PC.
• Review sign-in frequency. A Conditional Access policy with a short sign-in frequency session control forces regular re-authentication. That's sometimes intended, but an aggressive value on managed devices produces constant prompts.
• Check MFA registration. If the user hasn't completed MFA setup, Outlook may keep prompting. Look under the user's Authentication methods.
• Check the device state. On the PC, dsregcmd /status shows whether it's Entra joined or registered and whether it holds a valid primary refresh token (AzureAdPrt : YES). A missing token explains repeated prompts across all Office apps.
• Confirm the client is current. Very old Office builds, or Office 2013 and earlier, don't handle modern authentication properly against Exchange Online.

How to Stop It Happening Again

Password loops mostly happen on PCs that drift: half-joined to Entra, a mix of personal and work accounts, years-old profiles and inconsistent security policies. Devices that are joined to Entra ID and enrolled in Intune, kept on a supported Microsoft 365 Apps update channel, and covered by sensible Conditional Access policies give users single sign-on that just works. Moving to passwordless sign-in with Windows Hello for Business removes most password prompts altogether.

When to Call in Help

If the prompts affect several people, appeared after a policy change, or the steps above didn't stick, the cause is probably in your tenant configuration rather than the PC. Our IT support team can fix it remotely, and our managed IT service keeps devices and policies consistent so it doesn't keep coming back. Get in touch to talk it through.

Related Reading

• Outlook Disconnected or Trying to Connect? Fix It
• Microsoft 365 Sign-In Errors Explained
• Microsoft 365 Setup Guide for Small Teams