401 error on signing

Shahin Zibaee 20 Reputation points
2026-07-08T17:21:26.07+00:00

Duration of problem: approximate the last 1-3 days (can't remember for certain).

What I do: Sign into my email via Google Chrome browser on my Mac. (And I use the the passkey (fingerprint) instead of typing in the password).

What happens: I get the attached ("This page isn't working. If the problem persists, contact the site owner. HTTP ERROR 401").

What I do next: If I click on my shortcut URL to the log in page which is: https://login.live.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=173&ct=1742385468&rver=7.5.2211.0&wp=MBI_SSL&wreply=https%3a%2f%2foutlook.live.com%2fowa%2f%3fnlp%3d1%26cobrandid%3dab0455a0-8d03-46b9-b18b-df2f57b9e44c%26RpsCsrfState%3d8d764b33-c2cc-d9b0-f229-79e6525064a1&id=292841&aadredir=1&CBCXT=out&lw=1&fl=dob%2cflname%2cwld&cobrandid=ab0455a0-8d03-46b9-b18b-df2f57b9e44c

it takes me from the aforementioned 401 error msg page, to my email account, i.e. I am still able to log in, albeit in this weird roundabout way.

I am also experiencing different behaviour recently when I try to log in to this same outlook email via my phone (Safari browser). I have the password saved on my phone for this site, but it has stopped being recognised, so I have to now manually enter my password, whereas before my phone would offer for me to use my saved password for this outlook email account (via finger print).

Outlook | MacOS | New Outlook for Mac | For home
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Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2026-07-09T01:28:24.9333333+00:00

Hi Shahin Zibaee

I understand how confusing it can be when sign-in behavior suddenly changes, especially when you have been using passkeys and saved credentials without any issues before.

To help narrow this down further, could you confirm:

  • Does the HTTP 401 error occur in an Incognito/Private Browsing session as well?
  • If you temporarily choose "Use password instead" rather than the passkey, does the sign-in complete without showing the 401 error?

If you are accessing Outlook.com via Chrome on macOS, please try these steps:

1, Open a Chrome Incognito window and sign in to Outlook.com directly from https://outlook.live.com/.

2, If sign-in works normally there, clear the saved site data for:

  • login.live.com
  • outlook.live.com

3, Remove and re-create the saved passkey for your Microsoft account if you are using one:

4, Ensure Chrome and macOS are fully updated, then test the sign-in flow again.

Since you also mentioned similar changes in Safari on your iPhone, knowing whether the issue only occurs when using the passkey will help determine whether this is related to the passkey authentication method or the browser's stored sign-in data.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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  1. Shahin Zibaee 20 Reputation points
    2026-07-14T09:48:14.0433333+00:00

    Good day Winnie-B

    • Does the HTTP 401 error occur in an Incognito/Private Browsing session as well? Yes
    • If you temporarily choose "Use password instead" rather than the passkey, does the sign-in complete without showing the 401 error? Yes
    • Open a Chrome Incognito window and sign in to Outlook.com directly from https://outlook.live.com/. I can log in via this URL, without 401 error. I have therefore deleted my previous bookmarked URL for the login page and saved the new one.
    • Remove and re-create the saved passkey for your Microsoft account if you are using one. Not necessary, for now, as the above has sufficed.

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