Forum Discussion

Daniel Schmidt's avatar
Daniel Schmidt
Brass Contributor
May 13, 2019

Outlook 2016 blank MFA screen for some users

I have a Conditional Access rule so that when someone connects from outside a trusted IP it requires MFA, I have a few users that get the "Requires password" message come up, they get a window and type in their username and click next, then the window disappears without prompting for MFA and it's back to where they were.

Same thing if they go to File->Accounts if they are signed out and try to sign in they get asked for Email and then it just closes and they are still signed out.

It's not for all users and everyone is using the same Office 365/2016 installation, monthly channel 1903, we use ADFS

Authentication
microsoft 365 apps
multi-factor authentication
outlook

1 Reply

  • oliwer_sundgren's avatar
    oliwer_sundgren
    Steel Contributor
    Apr 08, 2026

    Hi! Some things that can be worth checking and to test 

    On users client:

    • Does it help to clear credential manager on the device?
    • Since you are on quite an old version of Outlook (1903). Confirm that the following Registry key exists. Without this, the Modern Authentication flow is not presented correctly. 
      • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Identity
        • EnableADAL = 1  (DWORD)
        • Version = 1  (DWORD)
    • If possible, try and update a pilot users Outlook to a more modern version 

    On the ADFS server config: 

    • is "MSOFFICE" added as a WIA user-agent? This can cause issues if the user when sitting externally is on a VPN for example.

     

    If its not like this for everyone when working outside the corporate network, my best bet would be either stale credentials in credential manager or that the REgistry key for Modern Authentication is missing on those specific users. 

     

    I would also highly advice you to upgrade Outlook / Office from build 1903 since this was released in 2019. A lot of these modern auth related bugs have been fixed in later builds 

     

    If this helps you feel free to mark my reply as a solution. Or let me know If I can assist further

     

    Kind Regards

    Oliwer