"The Connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable" when adding second Exchange account to Outlook 2013

I have a problem that I've found to be typical, just haven't found anything that describes my exact problem.

I'm having trouble adding a second Exchange 2010 server account to Outlook 2013 in one of the computers of the domain. Outlook 2013 will complain with "The Connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action".

I've Googled and found many threads with the same error... however most of those seem to be either a problem with the server, or the Global Catalog in Active Directory, or the "connection method" (I've tried all found solutions to no avail).

This is not the case, since the first account is added with absolutely no problem. It can send and receive and I can delete the outlook profile and recreate it and it'll give no problems. I have this problem only when adding a second account.

This is a fresh Windows 8.1 install with an up-to-date Outlook 2013. I have other computers in the same domain and network, with the same setup (Win 8.1 + Outlook 2013) configured with two exchange accounts with no problem.

There are no connectivity problems, I can access that same account through OWA and in other computers on the network... the Global Catalog seems to be fine (shows two active DCs, which is correct).

I've tried deleting and recreating the outlook profiles, repairing the outlook installation, even deleting all outlook files in AppData and letting it recreate them, with no success.

Any hints of what could be goi

March 9th, 2015 3:42am
while adding 2nd account could you please configured it manually rather than automatically , and try though IP of the exchange server instead of name .
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March 9th, 2015 3:45am

Hi,

Would you please clarify the following questions so that we can resolve the issue more efficiently?

Is the second Exchange account enabled for Outlook anywhere access? 

If we create a separate mail profile for the second account, will it connect to the server correctly?

How did you add the second Exchange account in Outlook? Did you add it manually or via Auto Mapping feature?

Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

March 10th, 2015 2:35am
It didn't work, same error.
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March 10th, 2015 2:38am

I will check in 30 minutes and let you know (not at the office right now). I added the account manually.

I must say that I have personally configured this second account in many computers in this domain, with the same setup (Win 8.1 + Outlook 2013). Always as a secondary account (it's a shared "customer support" email address, which always gets configured as secondary).

It's currently working in all other computers, and the one where it's giving problems can connect to the exchange server with absolutely no problem (so at the very least, the Outlook message is misleading).

I'll try to "reverse" the configuration and configure this account as the primary on a new outlook profile and let you know the result

March 10th, 2015 2:46am

Hi Javier,

Any update on this issue? Please don't hesitate to post back.

Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

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March 12th, 2015 2:34am
Steve, sorry, last two days at work have been pretty hellish. I'll test in a few minutes and report back
March 12th, 2015 8:53am

Uhm... for some reason now it won't let me set up even the first one. It says the name is not resolved. I tried by IP instead of the FQDN and it says it's "unavailable".

I even tried on a new fresh Win 8.1 user and it won't let me either on that precise computer.

I've tried it on two other computers and everything works ok. All computers are in the same subnet, same OS, connected to the same DC (%LOGONSERVER% is the same) and using the same DNS server, and all of them can resolve the FQDN properly.

Also, OWA works just fine, it's Outlook desktop client I'm having problems with only

Any

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March 12th, 2015 9:07am

Ok, now for something REALLY weird.

I GOT IT TO WORK

How did I do it? Instead of using the FQDN of the mail server, I used the FQDN of the Domain Controller... and it worked.

Now for the weird part... my DC server is "DC01.mydomain.local", and the mail server is "EXCHANGE.mydomain.local". Well, when I wrote the DC server in the manual configuration field, it actually changed it to "EXCHANGE.mydomain.local" (with an underline and in bold), and then it didn't complain.

The Outlook UI for this seems to be seriously screwed, and it's rather uninformative.

I'd still want to know why this happens... but the fact that I could fix it is a relief, and will use it if any other computer in the domain gives the same problem.

If you have any ideas or want me to try something, I'm all ears.

Thanks

March 12th, 2015 9:44am

Glad to hear that you have found the solution. Since it's a server side method that fixed the problem, if you want to know why it happens, I'd recommend you post a new question in the Exchange forum:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/home?category=exchangeserver

The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other partners who read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us. Thank you for your understanding.

Steve Fan

Forum Support

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March 15th, 2015 10:02pm
I don't think it was a "server side method that fixed the problem". The only client that had a problem is Outlook, and the way I fixed it involves filling weird (it's weird that when Outlook asks me for the exchange server FQDN it doesn't work if I put that data, but it works if I put my DC's FQDN) data in the Outlook UI.

So I think it's a problem in how Outlook resolves the servers and how it thinks it's "available or not". And I believe the output error message ("The Connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action") is both wrong and misleading: and that's an Outlook problem, not an Exchange problem at all.

I haven't changed -anything- in the server, and the server is working just fine, and no other client (mobile clients, OWA, even other Outlook installs) but this particular Outlook installation is co
March 16th, 2015 1:44am

Hi Javier,

Thank you for the update.

I have tested on my lab and get following result.

Lab: Exchange 2010, CAS Array (CAS01+CAS02), MBX01, DC

Type Server Field

Check name result

Changed Server Field

CAS01.domain.com

Yes

CASArray.domain.com

CASArray.domain.com

Yes

CASArray.domain.com

DC.domain.com

Yes

CASArray.domain.com

MBX01.domain.com

No

"The Connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable"

Based on my knowledge, the reason why inputing DC FQDN in the Server Field fixes this issue is that Outlook performs AD Lookup and finds the account configuration from AD, then back the CAS Array FQDN in the Server Field  instead of DC FQDN.

Exchange 2010 is different from Exchange 2013, if you are using Exchange 2013, we need to input MailboxServerGUID.domain.com into Server Field.

If there is anything Ive misunderstood, please dont hesitate to let me know.

Thanks,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

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March 17th, 2015 2:55am

Hi Steve. I understand why it works... but I don't understand why inputting the direct FQDN of the exchange server doesn't work. Maybe something wrong in my DNS?

I don't have a CAS array, I have a single server (address "DELTA.mydomain.local") and this is Exchange 2010 (with Outlook 2013). This is the almost the most basic installation of an exchange server I've ever found.

All DNS records seem to be fine to my knowledge. Is there any DNS record or AD entry I may not be aware of that could define that "DELTA.mydomain.local" is indeed the mail server on the AD?

The thing is... the AD lookup works since inputting the DC server correctly returns the CAS/Exchange server FQDN (that's what outlook shows), but inputting the Exchange server FQDN directly doesn't work: so this seems like an obvious Outlook flaw to me.

Let's think about the UI presented to me... it's just two text boxes (let's not take into account the "cached/not cached"), one for the server name (the FQDN as I understand), and the username... the data that is written in the two text boxes, before clicking "next" in the wizard, is -identical- (with the difference that the "looked-up" one is underlined, and if I input it directly, it's not), and one works and the other doesn't... 

To put it in images:

This one (manual input of the data) doesn't work, and gives me the "The connection is unavailable blabla":



Whereas this one (inputting the DC server's FQDN and clicking "check name", notice the underline) works:


I understand there could be differences in how those two are stored... but the fact is, from a user point of view, both text fields (which is the whole UI that I can change) contain identical data, where one works and one doesn't. That points a big flaw in Outlook to me (at least in its UI).

Now as to why it doesn't resolve with the FQDN of the exchange server (and it works doing an AD lookup), that's a mistery to me (the name resolves right to the IP in the DNS)... and if that was consistent, ok, but it only happened on this precise computer.

All other clients in the domain, with identical software and almost identical hardware -save for time differences-, connected to the same domain and subnet, work just fine. It also works fine on mobile clients (both Android and iOS). OWA works, autodiscover works, there's no enabled antivirus or firewall... everything seems to work just fine, except this computer...

And it's obvsiouly not a problem of communication with the exchange server, since OWA works in that computer, and even Outlook... just that I have to do an AD lookup using the DC's FQDN, instead of inputting the exchange server FQDN, in Outlook (-just- in Outlook, other clients work fine).

And I can't explain it, and not being able to explain it is getting on my nerves :-(

Just in case I hadn't said it before, thanks for all your help and efforts on this matter, by the way

March 17th, 2015 3:41am
Hah! I had to come up early this morning to install a few Windows security updates to this server where Exchange is on (completely unrelated to Exchange), so I had to reboot it (the server had not been rebooted in several weeks... I could say months)

And now everything works!!

Guess I'll never know what actually happened unless it happens again.

Before I rebooted, I checked that all exchange services (including the system attendant, which some googling told it could be the culprit) were running, and they were (admiteddly I didn't try to restart them).

Now that Outlook that was failing resolves correctly using the FQDN of the exchange server.

I'll be upgrading to Exchange 2013 after we move offices... wish me luck :-)

Again, thanks for all the help, and sorry the "fix" was "so simple" (if rebooting a server is something "simple", which IMO, should never be the solution to any problem)
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March 18th, 2015 3:14am

Glad to hear that you've found the solution, Javier! That's really a "simple" solution :)

Have a nice day.

Steve Fan

Forum Support

March 18th, 2015 9:45pm

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