I can't connect my campus email to outlook using IMAP

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I can't connect my campus email to outlook using IMAP

He Miao 20

I can't connect the campus email to Outlook Windows using IMAP.

However, I can use IMAP to connect my QQ email to Outlook Windows, and my Android version of Outlook can also connect to the campus email normally.

When connecting to the campus email, I have already opened the advanced configuration, confirmed that the names and interfaces of the IMAP server and SMTP server are all correct, and used the dedicated password generated by the campus email. (As shown in the picture)

I have tried various methods, including but not limited to: deleting the %appdata%\Microsoft\SystemCertificates folder, changing the computer's Wifi, connecting or disconnecting the VPN, but none of them worked.

Please help me solve it! Thank you very much.

Error message {"SessionId":"[Moderator note: personal info removed]","Timestamp":1764648491049,"Error":"INVALIDCREDENTIALS INTERACTIONREQUIRED"}

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Answer 1

Vivian-HT 9,090 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Dear @He Miao,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I truly appreciate the detailed information you shared about the IMAP setup. In this case, some security tools and VPNs insert a TLS inspection certificate that IMAP/SMTP won’t accept.

A quick question to help us narrow this down: have you tried adding the account in Classic Outlook for Windows? If yes, does it work there? For instruction, please refer to Add an email account to Outlook for Windows

Step 1: Verify Account Settings

The first step is to ensure that your account settings are correct. If you need to look up your settings, see the POP and IMAP account settings topic. Enter your incoming and outgoing server settings and then select Next

1/ Incoming mail server (IMAP): Check with your email provider for the correct server address and port number. Common settings include:

Address: imap.yourprovider.com
Port: Usually 993 for IMAP (SSL required)

2/ Outgoing mail server (SMTP): Similar to above, the SMTP address should be accurate.

Address: smtp.yourprovider.com
Port: Typically, 587 (or 465 with SSL)
Double-check the username (often your full email address) and password for accuracy.

Step 2: Check Your Internet Connection

Try to access the web using a browser. If the internet is working, proceed to the next steps.
If you’re using Wi-Fi, consider switching to a wired connection to avoid potential issues related to connectivity.

Step 3: Disable Firewall and Antivirus Temporarily
For testing purposes, disable your firewall and antivirus software to see if they are causing the issue.

Disable Windows Firewall: Go to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Defender Firewall. > Select "Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off."

Disable Antivirus Software: Open your antivirus program > Find the option to disable it temporarily. Once disabled, attempt to connect to your IMAP server again. If successful, consider configuring your firewall or antivirus to allow Outlook through its settings.

Step 4: Create New Outlook Profile

If the above troubleshooting steps haven’t resolved the issue, consider creating a new Outlook profile. Close Outlook > Open Control Panel and go to “Mail” (or “Mail (Microsoft Outlook)”) > Click “Show Profiles” and then “Add.” > Follow the prompts to set up a new email account. After creating the profile, open Outlook and see if you can connect to the IMAP server.

Step 5: Repair Outlook
Repairing the Outlook program can help resolve persistent issues. For detailed instruction, please follow the Microsoft Official Guide here: Repair an Office application

Right-click the Start button (lower-left corner) and select Installed apps on the pop-up menu > Select Outlook application > click the ellipses, and select Advanced option > Repair

IMAP in the New Outlook for Windows is relatively new and, in some cases, may have not interoperate consistently with some third‑party email providers. Therefore, I recommend you try using Classic Outlook as Classic Outlook’s manual setup can avoid those issues.

If the above methods still don’t resolve the problem, since your account is an education (school) account, the fastest and most reliable way to resolve this is to involve your school’s IT helpdesk. They can:

Verify whether IMAP/SMTP access is fully enabled for desktop clients.
Check if any special authentication policies apply to Windows Outlook.

Moreover, your school’s IT support can also create a support ticket with Microsoft Support or your school’s email service provider to review server-side policies (auth method, app password scope, TLS requirements) and logs. Visit https://service.mail.qq.com/ and https://support.microsoft.com/contactus

Note: Please understand that as forum moderators, our primary goal is to provide helpful guidance and support through general troubleshooting steps. While we don’t have access to internal systems or administrative tools required to resolve account-specific or backend issues, we truly appreciate your understanding of these limitations. We genuinely hope the information we share helps guide you in the right direction, and we're always here to assist as much as we can within our scope.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. If I misunderstand anything, please feel free to reach out.

Please understand that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward for your reply.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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He Miao 20 Reputation points

2025-12-02T12:15:34.1066667+00:00

Hello! I have confirmed the account Settings (sending and receiving addresses, ports) and ensured good network conditions (the firewall and antivirus software have been turned off, and a 300M broadband connection has been used). But the error was still reported as before.

1.After testing, it was found that my campus account can be successfully added using Outlook(Classic).

2.I used the "Fix" function, but it didn't solve the problem.

3.The attempt to create a new outlook configuration file failed.

My configuration information is shown in Figures 1 and 2. Among them, the receiving server, the recipient server, the port number, etc. are all correct. (I'm not sure if you can understand Chinese, but it shouldn't affect it, and you can also have the AI translate lol)

A warning was reported in the middle, as shown in Figure 3, "The security certificate of the server you are connected to cannot be verified". I chose "Yes" in "Continue using this server" (this warning also appeared when using Outlook(Classic), and I think it might have no impact).

When "Next" is clicked, an error occurs (as shown in Figures 4 and 5), and the error reads as follows: "Error occurred when conducting the next test" "Send test email message: This email cannot be sent." "Please verify your email address in the account properties. Response server: 553 Authentication is required"

4.I tried to contact the campus email administrator today, but didn't get a reply. If you need help from the campus email administrator, please let me know.

If possible, I still want to use Outlook(new). Please help me further investigate the problem. Thank you!
He Miao 20 Reputation points

2025-12-04T02:18:20.1033333+00:00

Why are you ignoring me /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
Vivian-HT 9,090 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-04T05:11:05.7366667+00:00
Dear @He Miao,

I’m really sorry if it felt like I was ignoring your message that was never my intention. I truly appreciate you sharing all the detailed information and screenshots; they are extremely helpful.

I understand you’ve tried multiple steps and confirmed that Classic Outlook works for IMAP but not for SMTP, while New Outlook still fails.

When Windows says “目标主要名称不正确” it means the server certificate’s Common Name (CN) or SAN does not include the hostname you’re connecting to. New Outlook enforces stricter TLS checks than Classic Outlook, so a mismatch can lead to failures during account add or auth.

Moreover, New Outlook enforces stricter TLS and modern auth requirements, so if the server isn’t aligned with those standards, the client will keep failing even if settings look correct. Therefore, if no published hostname matches, this is a server-side certificate configuration issue. New Outlook will keep failing until the school fixes the cert (or enables an alias with a matching cert).

In this case, since you’re using a school-issued education account, the most effective next step is to involve your campus IT administrator/helpdesk directly. Your IT team can:

Verify the correct IMAP/SMTP hostnames and update the certificate.

Confirm SMTP AUTH is enabled for your account and supports STARTTLS or SSL/TLS.

Escalate to Microsoft or the email service provider if needed.

Since the issue with New Outlook appears to be related to server-side configuration (certificate and SMTP authentication), and you’ve already verified that Classic Outlook works for IMAP, I recommend using Classic Outlook as a temporary solution while waiting for your school’s IT team to review and fix the underlying settings.

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If not, we can work together to resolve this. If I misunderstand anything, please feel free to reach out.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.
He Miao 20 Reputation points

2025-12-04T08:37:23.94+00:00

@Vivian-HT I see. I'll contact them. Thank you /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~
Vivian-HT 9,090 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-04T09:34:04.54+00:00

Dear @He Miao,

Thank you for your update. I'm glad that my suggestion help you found a way to find a solution.

In the meantime, if you see my reply, bring helpful information, please kindly accept it as an answer and vote it up by your original account, which raised this question. Once marked, it will automatically be pinned to top. As other users will also search for information in this community, your valuable vote up will definitely also help other users who have similar queries easily to find the correct channel and useful information more quickly.

Again, I truly appreciate your patience and understanding. If you have any further questions or update anything, please feel free to reach out.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
He Miao 20 Reputation points

2025-12-05T15:06:26.25+00:00

@Vivian-HT

Hello! I tested it again and found that I could successfully create a new Outlook configuration file in the Control panel. Whether SSL is enabled or not, or whether my network connection is wired or on campus.

But at this time, if I directly add the account in Outlook(new), the error will still occur as before.

Does this help solve the problem? What should be done next?

Hope to reply as soon as possible. Thank you!
Vivian-HT 9,090 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-06T07:26:49.2333333+00:00

Dear @He Miao,

Thank you for sharing the latest test results and screenshot.

The reason New Outlook still fails is that it uses a different connection flow than Classic Outlook. New Outlook enforces stricter certificate validation and often tries modern authentication (OAuth) when it detects an academic domain. If your campus email system only supports password-based IMAP/SMTP, this mismatch causes the error you’re seeing.

Have you already contacted your school IT administrator/helpdesk and shared the certificate warning and the New Outlook error?

Until your school's IT support fixes this issue, please continue using Classic Outlook so your mail isn’t blocked while the fix is underway.

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.
He Miao 20 Reputation points

2025-12-06T08:18:52.7333333+00:00

@Vivian-HT Thank you for your help! I’ve already reached out to the school’s IT administrator and shared the issues I’ve been experiencing. Now I’m just waiting to hear back from them and see how things go.

By the way, I was wondering—does Outlook (Classic) require a paid subscription? From what I understand, Outlook (New) seems to be the updated version of the original "Mail" app, and it's free to use. Since I haven’t signed up for a paid plan, does that mean I’ll continue using Outlook (New) for now? Just wanted to check.
Vivian-HT 9,090 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-12-07T23:47:14.1233333+00:00

Dear @He Miao,

Thank you for your update. I'm glad that you can reach out to the school's IT administrator.

Regarding the differences between the Classic Outlook and New Outlook, Outlook (Classic) is the traditional desktop app that comes with Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 subscriptions, so it does require a paid plan to use all its features.

On the other hand, Outlook (New) is the updated version of the old Windows Mail app. The New Outlook is built on the same foundation as Outlook on the web, so it’s lightweight and integrates well with services like Microsoft To Do and Calendar.

Since you haven’t signed up for a paid plan, you can continue using Outlook (New) with the basic features. However, some advanced features may require a Microsoft 365 license. Here's the Feature comparison between new Outlook and classic Outlook, please refer to this Microsoft article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/feature-comparison-between-new-outlook-and-classic-outlook-de453583-1e76-48bf-975a-2e9cd2ee16dd

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

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I can't connect my campus email to outlook using IMAP

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