Outlook profile corruption

Question

Outlook profile corruption

Marc 0

Hello,

I initially had issues to refresh my new e-mails on my Outlook Mobile App on IOS, as well as the Outlook Classic App on PC.

The only place where I still have normal access to my hotmail account is when I login from a website browser instead of an app.

I've tried to follow all of the advice I could find on the internet by resetting my account, re-installing the apps, deleting all the cache, etc.

The last things I tried after failing to Repair the account was to Delete the .ost file of my account completely and then re-Add my account, but now I am completely locked out from being to re-add my account on both IOS and PC through the apps because I keep getting an error message when I try.

This problem is clearly associated with my specific e-mail address because I have tried to create a different e-mail address and connect through it with the apps, and there was no issue with the connection.

I don't know what else to try anymore, I am not even sure if the problem is something I can fix on my end, I feel like there is something preventing my specific account from being able to login to Microsoft's server.

Please help

Hornblower409 15,520 Reputation points

2026-01-11T11:48:39.8466667+00:00

@Marc

What is the version of your Outlook Classic for Windows?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-version-of-outlook-do-i-have-b3a9568c-edb5-42b9-9825-d48d82b2257c

What is the domain (the part after the "@") of the email account that is causing problems? (Do NOT reply with your full email address).

Have you tried to create a new Outlook profile in Outlook Classic for Windows and then attempt to add the email account? Do you see any error messages?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/overview-of-outlook-email-profiles-9073a8ac-c3d6-421d-b5b9-fcedff7642fc
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-11T19:50:00.96+00:00

delete
Deleted

This comment has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The comment was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-11T19:57:35.9866667+00:00

@Hornblower409

My Outlook Classic version is: Microsoft Outlook 2021 MSO (Version 2511 Build 16.0.19426.20218) 64-bit

My domain is hotmail.com

I did attempt to create a new profile under my e-mail account but I got a "Something went wrong" error message that said "Something went wrong and Outlook couldn't set up your account. Please try again. If the problem continues, contact your email administrator."

As I said in my initial post, this problem isn't strictly occurring with Outlook Classic on the PC but also with my Microsoft Outlook mobile app on IOS, which is up to date at version 5.2552.1
Hornblower409 15,520 Reputation points

2026-01-11T23:29:31.82+00:00

1 -- Do I understand correctly?

You have a Microsoft hotmail account that you can access fine using Outlook Web (https://outlook.live.com/) but you can not add this account to either Classic Outlook for Windows 2021 or Outlook for iOS?

2 -- You said "I initially had issues to refresh my new e-mails".

You can't have created a new hotmail account recently, so that means that the problem account was working OK at some point in the past? When did it stop working? e.g. Office or Windows update? New PC?

3 -- When you attempt to add the problem child to Classic Outlook: You are just entering the email address and password, you let Outlook do everything else? Or are you trying to add and configure the account manually? (e.g. selecting the email type as IMAP and providing server settings?)

Outlook 2021 should be able to "auto discover" a hotmail account. All you should have to do is give it the basics and it does the rest.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-an-email-account-to-outlook-for-windows-6e27792a-9267-4aa4-8bb6-c84ef146101b#picktab=classic_outlook
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-12T02:21:59.5533333+00:00

delete
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-12T02:47:56.7466667+00:00

1 -- My hotmail account was and has always been accessible through Classic Outlook on PC and iOS Outlook for the past 15+ years

2 -- I used to always just look at my e-mails through my phone when getting notifications, at some point these notifications stopped coming in and when inside the app, I realized that the account wasn't able to refresh new e-mails and so I went through some troubleshooting attempts to fix it but to no avail. This started happening 2-3 days ago and it wasn't due to any updating reasons or change in hardware/location. There was nothing special that should have changed my settings or how my account operates when it stopped being able to connect itself to servers.

3 -- I did not attempt anything with IMAP, I am at a stage where my e-mail account is completely locked out of being able to reconnect itself from either the PC or Mobile app after I removed it in an attempt to re-add it, which it isn't allowing me to do.

In Outlook 2021 when I go in File > Account Settings > New > my hotmail address always go straight to the "Something went wrong.." error prompt when trying to Add it, whether I do it manually or not, no difference.
Hornblower409 15,520 Reputation points

2026-01-12T02:59:53.6033333+00:00

Marc

If it's a problem with your hotmail tenant on the Microsoft email servers, not your Outlook clients, you'll need to bring in Microsoft Support.

If you are a MS 365 subscriber, try that route first

MS 365 - User Support
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/support

If they say they can't help because it's a free hotmail account, all I can suggest is Chat Support.

Open a browser to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact

Tell us your problem -> "Hotmail account can not be added to Classic Outlook"

[Get Help], {Scroll down to the bottom of the page}, [Sign in to contact Support]

Sign in with any Microsoft account.

Products and services -> "Microsoft 365 and Office" -> "Outlook", [Confirm]

Choose a support option -> "Chat with a support agent in your web browser"

Good luck and please post back here any solution you find.

Your answer

Hornblower409 15,520 Reputation points

2026-01-11T11:48:39.8466667+00:00

@Marc

What is the version of your Outlook Classic for Windows?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/what-version-of-outlook-do-i-have-b3a9568c-edb5-42b9-9825-d48d82b2257c

What is the domain (the part after the "@") of the email account that is causing problems? (Do NOT reply with your full email address).

Have you tried to create a new Outlook profile in Outlook Classic for Windows and then attempt to add the email account? Do you see any error messages?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/overview-of-outlook-email-profiles-9073a8ac-c3d6-421d-b5b9-fcedff7642fc
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-11T19:50:00.96+00:00

delete
Deleted

This comment has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The comment was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-11T19:57:35.9866667+00:00

@Hornblower409

My Outlook Classic version is: Microsoft Outlook 2021 MSO (Version 2511 Build 16.0.19426.20218) 64-bit

My domain is hotmail.com

I did attempt to create a new profile under my e-mail account but I got a "Something went wrong" error message that said "Something went wrong and Outlook couldn't set up your account. Please try again. If the problem continues, contact your email administrator."

As I said in my initial post, this problem isn't strictly occurring with Outlook Classic on the PC but also with my Microsoft Outlook mobile app on IOS, which is up to date at version 5.2552.1
Hornblower409 15,520 Reputation points

2026-01-11T23:29:31.82+00:00

1 -- Do I understand correctly?

You have a Microsoft hotmail account that you can access fine using Outlook Web (https://outlook.live.com/) but you can not add this account to either Classic Outlook for Windows 2021 or Outlook for iOS?

2 -- You said "I initially had issues to refresh my new e-mails".

You can't have created a new hotmail account recently, so that means that the problem account was working OK at some point in the past? When did it stop working? e.g. Office or Windows update? New PC?

3 -- When you attempt to add the problem child to Classic Outlook: You are just entering the email address and password, you let Outlook do everything else? Or are you trying to add and configure the account manually? (e.g. selecting the email type as IMAP and providing server settings?)

Outlook 2021 should be able to "auto discover" a hotmail account. All you should have to do is give it the basics and it does the rest.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/add-an-email-account-to-outlook-for-windows-6e27792a-9267-4aa4-8bb6-c84ef146101b#picktab=classic_outlook
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-12T02:21:59.5533333+00:00

delete
Marc 0 Reputation points

2026-01-12T02:47:56.7466667+00:00

1 -- My hotmail account was and has always been accessible through Classic Outlook on PC and iOS Outlook for the past 15+ years

2 -- I used to always just look at my e-mails through my phone when getting notifications, at some point these notifications stopped coming in and when inside the app, I realized that the account wasn't able to refresh new e-mails and so I went through some troubleshooting attempts to fix it but to no avail. This started happening 2-3 days ago and it wasn't due to any updating reasons or change in hardware/location. There was nothing special that should have changed my settings or how my account operates when it stopped being able to connect itself to servers.

3 -- I did not attempt anything with IMAP, I am at a stage where my e-mail account is completely locked out of being able to reconnect itself from either the PC or Mobile app after I removed it in an attempt to re-add it, which it isn't allowing me to do.

In Outlook 2021 when I go in File > Account Settings > New > my hotmail address always go straight to the "Something went wrong.." error prompt when trying to Add it, whether I do it manually or not, no difference.
Hornblower409 15,520 Reputation points

2026-01-12T02:59:53.6033333+00:00

Marc

If it's a problem with your hotmail tenant on the Microsoft email servers, not your Outlook clients, you'll need to bring in Microsoft Support.

If you are a MS 365 subscriber, try that route first

MS 365 - User Support
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/support

If they say they can't help because it's a free hotmail account, all I can suggest is Chat Support.

Open a browser to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact

Tell us your problem -> "Hotmail account can not be added to Classic Outlook"

[Get Help], {Scroll down to the bottom of the page}, [Sign in to contact Support]

Sign in with any Microsoft account.

Products and services -> "Microsoft 365 and Office" -> "Outlook", [Confirm]

Choose a support option -> "Chat with a support agent in your web browser"

Good luck and please post back here any solution you find.