Windows 11 and Connecting to Outlook to Free-online account

[#1]

Hi,

Today I upgraded a laptop to Win11 with a clean install.  Now trying to connect Outlook (classic or new) by creating a new account and entering the Free-online credentials.

Incoming   imap.free-online.net, port 993,  SSL /TLS 

Outgoing relay.free-online.net   port 587, (tried also 25).

I have no success.

Would really appreciate your help,  thanks

Big K.

[#2]

SMTP outgoing should be port 587.

New outlook is a pig to configure. By “classic” do you mean proper outlook as ships with one of the office products or the Win10 freebie?

Take a look at the email server diagnostic guide - link below.  That should clarify if you have credentials issues or something else.

[#3]

@BigKlincs 

I would suggest using Thunderbird email client as it does not impose the predefined settings Microsoft think you need for free-online email outbound/inbound connections.

If you have Office 365 then use the bundled Outlook 365 which I found more configurable.

[#4]

Dear @Townman, Thank you for your reply.  I ran through the diagnostics as suggested and have the following response.  I have sanitised the domains, but left the dynamic IP in...

I am not sure what this tells me, but would appreciate your insight!

__________________________________________

PS C:\Users\keab> curl.exe -v imaps://imap.free-online.net -u ???????

Enter host password for user '???????': ????

* Host imap.free-online.net:993 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: 91.204.208.193

*   Trying 91.204.208.193:993...

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

* Connected to imap.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 993

< * OK IMAP4 ready

> A001 CAPABILITY

< * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 UIDPLUS AUTH=PLAIN

< A001 OK completed

> A002 AUTHENTICATE PLAIN

< +

> <Redacted>

< A002 NO Login failed.

* closing connection #0

curl: (67) Login denied

PS C:\Users\keab> curl.exe -v pop3s://mail.free-online.net -u ???????

Enter host password for user '???????':??????

* Host mail.free-online.net:995 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: 91.204.208.193

*   Trying 91.204.208.193:995...

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

* Connected to mail.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 995

< +OK POP3 ready <71711543.1752223511@mail.enmail.co>

> CAPA

< +OK Capability list follows

< TOP

< USER

< UIDL

< SASL PLAIN LOGIN

< .

> AUTH PLAIN

< +

> <Redacted>

< +OK logged in.

> LIST

< +OK POP3 clients that break here, they violate STD53.

1 82108

2 28968

3 59682

4 47059

5 81465

6 72481

7 75084

8 98033

9 82002

10 81328

11 134023

12 331754

13 102426

14 95888

15 159533

16 193113

17 4607

18 6271

19 6086

20 6612

21 13858

22 12535

23 17314

24 147443

25 23197

26 10213

27 70019

28 165514

29 191423

30 4673

31 193158

32 70162

33 89534

34 86610

35 78571

36 75984

37 89788

38 133985

39 40258

40 111566

41 193116

42 90235

43 192233

44 102624

45 94106

46 90352

47 330963

48 29607

49 37154

50 54712

51 37850

52 29695

53 98024

54 23197

55 12920

56 103158

57 113750

58 444822

59 124670

60 102391

61 103991

62 58290

63 74635

64 10217

65 12980

66 14465

67 10213

68 24278

69 30138

70 104236

71 26012

72 81792

73 47746

* Connection #0 to host mail.free-online.net left intact

PS C:\Users\keab> curl.exe -v smtp://relay.free-online.net:587 -u ????????? --ssl-reqd

Moderator's note:
Personal information removed from the public forum 

[#5]

@Dan_the_Van Thanks for the hint re Thunderbird.  I keep that in my pocket for now, and see if can resolve Outlook first 🙂

[#6]

@BigKlincs 

That affirms that there are no issues with the POP3 (incoming) server connection.

I suspect that you did not hit enter to the SMPT (outgoing) server test.

[#7]

Dear @Townman 

You are quite correct, i did not press 'enter'.  Here is the remainder response, sanitised.  The lines suggesting to contact the Postmaster are intriguing...

Regards Kenton.

Host relay.free-online.net:587 was resolved.

* IPv6: (none)

* IPv4: 91.204.208.193

*   Trying 91.204.208.193:587...

* Connected to relay.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 587

< 220 mail.enmail.co ESMTP ready

> EHLO ??????DellPC

< 250-mail.enmail.co

< 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

< 250 STARTTLS

> STARTTLS

< 220 2.0.0 Start TLS

* schannel: disabled automatic use of client certificate

* Connected to relay.free-online.net (91.204.208.193) port 587

> EHLO ???????DellPC

< 250-mail.enmail.co

< 250 AUTH PLAIN LOGIN

> AUTH PLAIN

< 334

> AGJld2hvbWUAYmV3MDIwNA==

< 235 2.0.0 OK

> HELP

< 214-This is smtp ESMTP service help

214-This is smtp ESMTP service help

< 214-To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@plus.com.

214-To contact postmaster send email to postmaster@plus.com.

< 214-For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.

214-For local information send email to Postmaster at your site.

< 214 end of HELP info

214 end of HELP info

* Connection #0 to host relay.free-online.net left intact

[#8]

That confirms that you have the right credentials and that the servers are responding as expected - there is no black mark against your IP address.

That leaves the difficulty of ensuring that you have the exact same settings configured in Outlook.  Free Outlook is a pain to configure - each time you attempt to correct a setting value, it resets EVERYTHING back to what it thinks it should be.

Microsoft365 Outlook (the subscription) version does exactly what it is told to do.

Just to be clear, you are referring to Outlook on your PC, not Outlook.com via a web browser?

[#9]

Dear @Townman 

I have tried both version of Outlook, and yes with the old 'freebie' I had to re-type the fill credentials each time.  Swapping to the o365 version, again retyping the original credentials' in my OP brings no success.  Somewhere, MS does not like split domains (after the @ and user.free-online, or Plusnet does not like W11, or I am making a fundemental error.

BUt, many thanks for your tenacity in this issue and your patience with me.  

I shall migrate to a web-based email and contact all senders to migrate to my address.  Pity.

Thanks once again, Kenton.

[#10]

@BigKlincs 

I did try yesterday to setup Outlook on Windows 10, basically I gave up.

IMAP for free-online is not imap.plus.net SSL/TLS port 993

SMTP for free-online is not mail.free-online.co.uk StartTLS port 25

That's what the setting kept being changed back to after attempting to login.