OneNote 2010 can't connect to Windows Live

Anonymous
2011-02-03T05:25:54+00:00

I have Office 2010 which is updated on my Windows 7 {64bit} on my computer. The OS is updated too.

I bought a Windows 7 phone {Samsung Focus} and I created a Windows Live account plus I installed Live Essentials on my computer. If I'm correct, I need to use Skydrive to sync OneNote between my computer and phone.

The problem is that OneNote can't connect to Live. I've been trying for days. I have 6 notebooks in OneNote. I choose to share on the web, the web location is Windows Live. After the pop up of contacting server comes up I get the message " Unable to connect to Windows live. Below this there is just the icon "Share Notebook" which is grayed out.  I've tried this with all of the notebooks. I have tried this while my Live account is open on the browser. As I understand a login window should pop up, however this never pops up. OneNote on its own is deciding to locate and log on with the credentials.

I'm going crazy over this, any help is appreciated!

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneNote | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2014-04-02T15:07:51+00:00

I have figured this out, after trying all the things above.  It came down to one thing, two-factor authentication.  If you have this enabled, to sign into OneNote on your PC you have to use your App Password, not your actual password to your Live account.  So log into your Live account, Click on Security Info, and then click create a new app password.  It will then display the current, or new, app password.  Now use that password that it gives you in OneNote and everything should sign right in.  Now I am able to sync all my files from OneNote to my phone without any issues, without messing with IE settings, and all that other stuff.

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Anonymous
2011-09-04T00:42:34+00:00

Hi There,

Not sure if you have resolved this issue yet!

I recently had the same issue on my Windows 7 64-bit pc, when I tried to connect to my Sky Drive account through One Note I was experiencing 'Can't Connect Error', Tried restarting WebClient and cached credentials this did'nt work, found out this was not related to any services but related to IE settings, by performing a reset of all settings and advanced settings this corrected the issue, I am now able to connect Sky Drive via One Note with out any problems

Martin

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-01-17T13:19:28+00:00

    To further Clarify....  for the "Unable to connect to Windows Live" error.

    Not to bash the provider of the first solution which did in fact steer me to the fix. I wanted to provide a little clearer description of the answer. Microsoft doesn't explain it as simple as they should.

    The previous post made me think that was for only smartphones connecting to onedrive. However it applies to all devices.

    I was trying to connect my work laptop (With onenote 2010 installed) to Onedrive via the web share feature and then to my other laptop at home. 

    1. Two Factor authentication must be turned on, it would not work without it. Log into Onedrive.com and in options enable it. Log out, Log back in and in the Security or Security info section look for "Create a new app password" It took a few login/log outs for the "Create new app password" section to appear. It produces a security code inside the browser window.

    2. Open Microsoft Office Onenote 2010

    1. Click File, Click the "Settings" box next to each Notebook that you want to share.
    2. It will prompt for the Windows Live email and password. The email is your onedrive email, the password is the SECURITY CODE generated by onedrive.com "Create a new app password" section.
    3. If you have more than 1 notebook you must share them individually from what I see. It will show a box with Folders you don't want to share, and folders you share at the bottom. Click the Share button. Done.

    Linking your notebooks via the invite link works only with the https://d.docs.live link not the https://onedrive.live.com link

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-12-08T17:28:06+00:00

    This was it for me.

    I saw the stored password for OneNote in the list...but lo-and-behold! It had cached-and-failed-to-update to the passwords I *repeatedly* typed in.  When I modified the stored password (double-click entry, and modify field)...JOY

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