IMAP is not working correctly on Outlook Office365. Error: "User is authenticated but not connected"

Anonymous
2019-04-01T17:16:04+00:00

Hello

Since a couple of weeks I get the problem that IMAP services are not working correctly.

Problem:

I have a GMail client on an Android phone, and a Thunderbird client. Both using IMAP to reach my emails.

From time to time the IMAP service responds with the error "User is authenticated but not connected" and denies the synchronization of the emails, for around 15-30 minutes. In this time I can not access nor answer my emails from the clients.

I have tried from mobilenet and from fix wifi, but I get the same results. So it is independent from the connection.

I have found some hints that this is due to the "chatty client policy" of the cloud.

However this is not an excuse. I need my two clients for work, and I have a business package.

How can I overcome this problem?

Thank you in advance.

r

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-04-22T08:18:19+00:00

    Hello Robert,

    Sorry for the late reply due to off duty. Regarding to this problem, I need to consult our related team so that I can help you better. Once there is any update, I will post back in the forum in 3 days. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation. 

    Regards,

    Rick

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-04-18T09:45:40+00:00

    Hello Rick,

    Yes I do. Please help to solve the problem that is caused by the cloud.

    I have stress tested the test accounts, and loaded them with around 200-300 test emails, and 7-10 IMAP folders.

    In this situation the problem did occurred in every account. That means that your test account also produces this problem.

    I have checked the Thunderbird logs, and found everything OK from client side.

    I have tested the IMAP interface without the client, based on the RFC 3501 standard.

    I managed to get a working connection:

    > openssl s_client -connect outlook.office365.com:993 -crlf -quiet


    depth=2 C = US, O = DigiCert Inc, OU = www.digicert.com, CN = DigiCert Global Root CA

    verify return:1

    depth=1 C = US, O = DigiCert Inc, CN = DigiCert Cloud Services CA-1

    verify return:1

    depth=0 C = US, ST = Washington, L = Redmond, O = Microsoft Corporation, CN = outlook.com

    verify return:1

    * OK The Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service is ready. [VgBJADEAUAAxADkANQBDAEEAMAAwADcAOQAuAEUAVQBSAFAAMQA5ADUALgBQAFIATwBEAC4ATwBVAFQATABPAE8ASwAuAEMATwBNAA==]

    1 capability

    * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=XOAUTH2 SASL-IR UIDPLUS ID UNSELECT CHILDREN IDLE NAMESPACE LITERAL+

    1 OK CAPABILITY completed.

    2 authenticate PLAIN

    + 

    <base64stringwithauthenticationdata>

    2 OK AUTHENTICATE completed.

    3 namespace

    * NAMESPACE (("" "/")) NIL NIL

    3 OK NAMESPACE completed.

    And also to reproduce the given problem with the same commands:

    openssl s_client -connect outlook.office365.com:993 -crlf -quiet


    depth=2 C = US, O = DigiCert Inc, OU = www.digicert.com, CN = DigiCert Global Root CA

    verify return:1

    depth=1 C = US, O = DigiCert Inc, CN = DigiCert Cloud Services CA-1

    verify return:1

    depth=0 C = US, ST = Washington, L = Redmond, O = Microsoft Corporation, CN = outlook.com

    verify return:1

    * OK The Microsoft Exchange IMAP4 service is ready. [VgBJADEAUABSADAAOQBDAEEAMAAwADgANQAuAGUAdQByAHAAcgBkADAAOQAuAHAAcgBvAGQALgBvAHUAdABsAG8AbwBrAC4AYwBvAG0A]

    1 capability

    * CAPABILITY IMAP4 IMAP4rev1 AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=XOAUTH2 SASL-IR UIDPLUS ID UNSELECT CHILDREN IDLE NAMESPACE LITERAL+

    1 OK CAPABILITY completed.

    2 authenticate PLAIN

    + 

    <base64stringwithauthenticationdata>

    2 OK AUTHENTICATE completed.

    3 namespace

    3 BAD User is authenticated but not connected.

    3 namespace

    3 BAD User is authenticated but not connected.

    * BYE Connection closed. 14

    read:errno=0

    As you can see the cloud is sometimes answering correctly and sometimes returning "User is authenticated but not connected".

    Could you please resolve the problem in the IMAP interface, or at least tell me why this is happening to avoid the problem?

    My guess is that the cloud does puts me on some kind of a black list if a connection is broken, or I do connect too often in a certain time period. (The "chatty client" case)

    Can you confirm or add any information about the mechanism run in the cloud that produces this problem for me?

    Thank you in advance.

    Regards,

    Robert

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-04-18T09:25:39+00:00

    Hello Galambos,

    May I know if you need more help on our side? 

    Regards,

    Rick

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-04-16T15:19:14+00:00

    Hello Galamobs,

    Based on my experience, the white/black lists or rules will not affect it. Under this circumstance, it is recommended to remove the affected account and re-add it to Thunderbird so that the affected account will re-connect to the IMAP server. Note: Remember to backup the data to prevent data loss.

    Regards,

    Rick

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-04-15T16:24:09+00:00

    Hello Rick,

    I am using a provided service of Office365 which is the IMAP interface. I am using this interface because it suits my needs the best, across platforms and operating systems.

    As we already seen the test accounts are working fine. So the client can handle the IMAP protocol correctly.

    My account was working fine at the beginning, and never encountered this problem.

    However since the Offce365 blackout it behaves this way. (this is correlation and might not causality)

    Because the client side settings did not changed, and are the same as they are on the test accounts, the only place for difference is the cloud.

    Are there any differences between handling accounts?

    Some kind of white lists, black lists, different rule sets for different account?

    Anything that can be different?

    Regards,

    Robert

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