Microsoft Account login to CompanyB SharePoint site prevents logging into my company SharePoint site

[Jim Rice]

Hello,

One of my users regularly logs into a vendor's SharePoint site using his Microsoft Live account.  After closing and logging out of the vendor's site, any time afterward that he tries to log into our company SharePoint or O365 site at portal.office.com, he receives an "incorrect login" message.  We use Office 2016 Pro 32-bit desktop apps, and have E3 O365 subscriptions, OneDrive for Business and Sharepoint Online. We also use Multi-Factor authentication for all our accounts.

The problem appears to be related to Office 365 single sign on:  The credentials dialog URL changes to Live.com instead of remaining on the expected portal.office.com site.  I can confirm the sites by URL address:  He uses portal.office.com or company.sharepoint.com and the URL is correct until the credentials login appears, then it switches to the Live.com URL. 

I was able to temporarily able to fix this by clearing his browser cache, but as soon as he logs into the vendor's site, the problem reoccurs.   Another work around is to use two web browsers, but we do not want that as a permanent fix.

I've gone into Credential manager on his machine.  There do not appear any stored Web credentials, but there are lots of Windows credentials, except none of them appear to be related to the websites.

Anyone have this problem, or can suggest additional troubleshooting ideas?  Thank you!

[#2]

The problem is he's probably using chrome, and the little chrome systray icon will stay open, keeping browser cache alive. You need to tell chrome not to stay open or allow those by right clicking that systray icon, then when you close the browser it'll clear that login out.

Another option I've been using lately is Chrome Profiles. You can easily setup another profile that will keep it's own login saved, so you can switch between them or have seperate windows open for each session.

And lastly. Have that other tenant, add your tenant user to the SharePoint sites etc. That way you have access via your tenant account instead of having to switch over. Also it could save them a license.

[#3]

Thanks for your reply, Chris!

He definitely is using Chrome as his primary web browser.  He doesn't have a chrome icon in the  notification tray. (And neither do I.)  Is there an option within the Chrome browser settings that should be selected/deselected?

Thank you!

[#4]

Check the Advanced settings at the bottom, in system section should be a "Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed" option. This will usually keep browser cache.

[#5]

Try having him log in to sites--yours or others'--in a private (incognito) setting. It eliminates the need to clear the cache.

[#6]

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@Chris Webb wrote:
Have that other tenant, add your tenant user to the SharePoint sites etc. That way you have access via your tenant account instead of having to switch over. Also it could save them a license.

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Could you explain this further, please? If Jane logs in to a vendor site, presumably she already has some sort of permission within the vendor site. How would she be able to access a separate tenant (the vendor) while logged in to her own employer site without having to log in to that separate tenant's site?

[#7]

Using B2B or just simple SharePoint sharing and azureAD, when you invite an e-mail that is from another tenant, you can access resources using you're already logged in account, you don't have to have an account setup on the other tenant for them to access.

[#8]

For example I just did it. If you go to your SharePoint site, click Cog > Site Permissions. Then Invite People, (if it's group connected choose Share Site Only option after), then type in the users 365 e-mail address. It will add that user to the site. The person you invite, just needs to access your site URL and they can access it, easy does it.

[#9]

Thanks. That probably explains why I never see logins from collaborators who have accessed shared files!

[#10]

That's from people using the "Share" button on document libraries themselves. If they use Anyone links or org links you won't see them. Specific people will thou etc.

[#11]

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@Joseph Nierenberg wrote:
Try having him log in to sites--yours or others'--in a private (incognito) setting. It eliminates the need to clear the cache.

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Incognito mode definitely does the trick.  However, my user doesn't want to remember to do anything outside his workflow.  He's in sales, so anything that takes time away from selling or his routine is to be stoically avoided.  I'm trying to find a permanent fix rather than a workaround that forces him to change his routine.