Forum Discussion
iCloud for Outlook Incorrect Username or Password
NEW UPDATE FOR AUGUST 2022
In July this above fix stopped working due to an update and the only way I found to fix it at the time was to completely uninstall and reinstall iCloud, starting with manually removing the iCloud outlook add-in. But that takes hours, removes all iCloud data from the system, and then re-syncs. And I had to do it three times. Way too much effort.
Then this past week iCloud forgot its password for outlook synchronizing again, and I wasn't willing to uninstall and reinstall again, so I kept fiddling around until a new set of steps revealed itself. This one is just five minutes, and hopefully it will work moving forward. That may sound overly optimistic, but looking at the steps in hindsight, they now make sense.
- Run iCloud setup as the logged-in iCloud user
- Un-check the "Contacts and Calendars with Outlook" option, apply and close.
- Run Outlook, go to File / Options / Add-ins / Manage COM Add-ins / Go...
- Disable the iCloud Outlook addin, close Outlook
- Run Outlook as administrator, disable iCloud addin as per 3&4 above
- Now /remove/ the iCloud addin, still as Administrator.
- Close Outlook (may need to reboot -- feel free to try both ways)
- Run iCloud setup as the logged-in iCloud user
- Check the "Contacts and Calendars with Outlook" option, apply and close.
- Run Outlook as administrator, go to File / Options / Add-ins / Manage COM Add-ins / Go...
- Manually add the iCloud Outlook Add-in from the file in %ProgramData%, typically: C:\ProgramData\Apple Inc\iCloud\Outlook\aplzod32.dll
- Close options.
- The iCloud outlook add-in toolbar icon will say "wrong password" instead of "refresh". This is fine because Outlook was started as administrator and is using the wrong credential cache
- Close outlook
- Re-open Outlook as the logged-in user and it should now be happy and show "refresh"
jmcrawf unfortunately I followed your latest instructions and reboot as well, and when trying to Pitchounette contacts & calendars, iCloud says: incorrect username and password :(((
- I wish I knew what to say. I just had to go through the process again this past week, likely because Apple changed something (had to re-sign-in to both my iPhone and iPad, then when I booted up the computer it had the good old password issue). Now I'm down to under three minutes...
If it were me, I'd try the above again, making sure that the add-in is first disabled from both the current user and from when starting Outlook as admin, and then removed as admin, and then reboot. And then do another install of iCloud as admin, then signing in when running iCloud as a normal user, before installing the add-in again.
Yes, I just completely repeated myself, but that's what I'd do (with the assumption that I missed something along the way). Since you've already done that, I don't know if you'd want to bother with doing it all again.
The other option is to completely get rid of iCloud, reboot, and then do a fresh install. That's a royal pain because it means deleting and then re-syncing all of your iCloud documents and photos. But it works.
After that the above steps should work again. Or at least they do for me and everyone I've explained it to at work.- Thank you so much for your very quick reply Jmcrawf. I will try again in the next few days…as now here it is getting late, but FYI, I also remove completely iCloud and re-installed it. I must admit, this quite frustrating. I was all afternoon on this, and for the first time , think that I started to think of going with a mac, with all the problems I have had with Microsoft. Still at least all my phone, IPad and computer would be on the same platform. In any case, I will give another shot. Cheers, and many thanks again for very clear explanation you provided.
You're welcome.
One more set of tips before you/we giveup:
a) Open an elevated command prompt (run-as administrator), then running the command "DISM /online /cleanup-image /restoreHealth" and then when that is done, "SFC /scannow". Then reboot. This will find and fix any operating system files that need to be udpated or are corrupted.
b) Do a full online repair for Microsoft Office. Then reboot.
c) And then remove/replace the outlook add-in as per the 15 steps above.
That will make sure all of your Windows and MSOffice files are up to date and properly configured before you remove and replace the Outlook add-in. It may fix the issue. Or, if it doesn't fix it, at least you'll know that the problem isn't Windows or Office.
It's definitely frustrating. Even moreso because it's just this one add-in / .dll for outlook that is losing its credentials -- everything else in iCloud for windows works fine for me without any intervention.
Personally, I like Windows more than OS X. But... I do look on with envy as my friend with a Mac has everything work seamlessly, including contacts, photos, iMessage chat, facetime, and even copy/paste between devices. It's astounding to watch.
Good luck.