Forum Discussion

Andrew Reynolds's avatar
Andrew Reynolds
Copper Contributor
Jan 17, 2018

Outlook error when doing a search

when doing a search "in current mailbox" or other I get an error   "Something went wrong and your search couldn't be completed" It looks like there's a problem with your network connection Le...
exchange
woonks's avatar
woonks
Copper Contributor
May 11, 2020

JanShim

 

I found out the root cause for my environment.....

 

Outlook 2016/2019 resolve search via Office365 instead (gasp!!), bypassing on-premise servers.

This is due to auto-discover feature of recent version of Outlook 2016/2019, resolve office365 first prior to on-premise server.

 

I had to dns block outlook autodiscover from connecting to outlook.office365.com, forcing it to use on-prem servers instead. Worked like charm.

 

 

 

AlexRomain's avatar
AlexRomain
Copper Contributor
May 13, 2020

woonks 
hi !

What do you mean by DNS block ? Did you redirect 'outlook.office365.com' to your local server using DNS ?

Thanks a lot for your answer !

  • Semyonoff's avatar
    Semyonoff
    MCT
    May 27, 2020

    AlexRomain If you are saying about registry fix

    DisableServerAssistedSearch

    Make sure to copy its name without trailing space. Restart outlook then. 

  • dztek79's avatar
    dztek79
    Copper Contributor
    May 15, 2020
    Hi,
    don't know why, but some clients apply these settings fast, some other very slow.
    After the gpo/registry is set, it takes some time while outlook is open until it recognize the change.
    Seems there must run the autodiscover procedure once...
  • AlexRomain's avatar
    AlexRomain
    Copper Contributor
    May 15, 2020
    Hi,

    Doesn't seem to work here 😞
  • dztek79's avatar
    dztek79
    Copper Contributor
    May 14, 2020

    Hey,
    use AutoDiscovery paramter ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint instead blocking via DNS.
    Either via GPO (newest admx templates) -> User Template Outlook 2016 -> Account -> Exchange -> Disable Autodiscover (Subtype O365 Autodiscovery)
    Or Registry:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover or
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover
    DWORD:ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint = 1

    This also resolve the the acutal search problem since Version 2004 😉

  • woonks's avatar
    woonks
    Copper Contributor
    May 13, 2020

    AlexRomain 

     

    I blocked my internal DNS servers from resolving outlook.office365.com.

    Various ways to do this, easiest is create an empty DNS authoritative zone outlook.office365.com to blackhole the dns requests.

     

    Be warned, this may break some Outlook365 webmail functions. The download attachments function couldnt work due to unable to resolve attachment.outlook.live.net, which actually just a CNAME to outlook.office365.com.

     

    But at least, your office outlook users will stop the persistent calls for support......

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • BlakeThoennes's avatar
    BlakeThoennes
    Copper Contributor
    May 13, 2020

    This is a good thread. 

    To add to the details:

     

    On-Prem 2013 and 2019 effected simultaneously behind different networks

    All clients onsite and offsite are effected. OWA works fine.

    Patching manually won't work across 50 businesses some without DCs and well over 1000 endpoints.

    Will wait for Microsoft to fix 😞 

    Glad to have smart people keeping the heat on Microsoft so they can't shirk the responsibility off on "potential environmental and client side settings". 

     

    Since O365 started forcing autodiscover with their servers (first) we have had a lot of trouble. Certainly isn't making on-prem life sustainable. I see a trend. Boo Microsoft. Boo. We rely on providing IT support for our jobs in the US... quit forcing everyone to the cloud.