POP3 SPA authentication

[Guest]

Since installing Vista RC, I have been unable to authenticate to my POP3
server using SPA. I have seen several other posts about this issue in a few
locations but no real fix. I have seen a few fixes if just POP3 was the
issue but not POP3 using SPA. Has anyone been able to get POP3 SPA working
on Vista?

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Since installing Vista RC, I have been unable to authenticate to my POP3
server using SPA. I have seen several other posts about this issue in a
few
locations but no real fix. I have seen a few fixes if just POP3 was the
issue but not POP3 using SPA. Has anyone been able to get POP3 SPA
working
on Vista?

Very few POP3 servers use SPA. Are you sure yours does?

 

[Jim Pickering]

I'd agree with Frank. I've never seen a Verizon user who needed SPA. And
your IP address indicates you have a Verizon account that you post from.

 

[Lori Olsen]

Yes Frank, I am sure it uses SPA. I still have an older system running
Windows XP and Office 2003, I have confirmed that the settings are correct
in my Vista install (tried Outlook 2003 on Vista and Outlook 2007) same
issue with both versions of Office. I work fine with Windows XP, but
nothing works with Vista. Any other help?

 

[Lori Olsen]

I am using Verizon as my ISP, but still maintain a MSN email (I need dial up
a few times a year when I travel and never bothered migrating from MSN,so I
maintain dial-up through them.) as I said in my post to Frank, MSN does
require SPA. There are several reasons why I do not want to change my
primary email from MSN to use Verizon or any of the free solutions. Any
other help?

 

[Jim Pickering]

See if this MSN webcast helps identity any problem areas:

Support WebCast: What to Do If You Cannot Receive Your MSN E-mail in Outlook
or Outlook Express:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=325232

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Authentication fails when you use Outlook or Outlook Express to try to log
on to a HTTP-based mail server if you use Internet Explorer version 7.0:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/904942

 

[Lori Olsen]

Using POP3 not HTTP, please see the origional subject line of the post.
MSN supports POP3 with SPA authentication in addition to HTTP. The issue is
POP3 SPA authentication on Vista. The same configuration works just fine on
Windows XP, I am sure the firewall is configured correctly, have tried
disabling anti-virus to see if that resolved but no luck. Same results
using Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007, have also tried Windows Mail on Vista
and have the same issue. Any other help?

 

[Lori Olsen]

Jim, thanks for trying but no luck. This is a different problem, I cannot
send mail (the SMTP server requires authentication before it will send) or
receive mail as the POP3 with SPA authentication keeps failing. The
configuration in the email client is correct, I have double and tripple
checked it and compared it to a working install on Windows XP. It does not
matter if I use Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007 or Windows Mail on the Vista
system.

 

[Jim Pickering]

All I can then suggest is to open a Support ticket with MSN Help, and based
on past experience, I've not found them very helpful; which is why I've not
used any mail service from MSN for the past 7-8 years.

 

[Lori Olsen]

Out of frustration I have already tried that. In standard MS tradition, are
you ready for this... MSN does not at this time support Vista according to
their help guys. They were kind enough to keep me tied up on chat for about
30 minutes before they used that as their out.

Thanks for trying anyway.

Lori

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM]

Using POP3 not HTTP, please see the origional subject line of the post.
MSN supports POP3 with SPA authentication in addition to HTTP. The issue
is POP3 SPA authentication on Vista. The same configuration works just
fine on Windows XP, I am sure the firewall is configured correctly, have
tried disabling anti-virus to see if that resolved but no luck. Same
results using Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007, have also tried Windows Mail
on Vista and have the same issue. Any other help?

I was afraid that wouldn't help, but grasping at straws.

Sorry. I don't have any way to experiment with SPA. None of my servers use
it.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Lori

I run into to the same problem as you. I have a legacy POP email account from MSN dating back to 95. The problem is not as much MSN but Vista. If you happen to be using a Ethernet card and also possibly trying to use a dial up modem the latter will not work within Vista. If you disconnect the Ethernet the dial up modem will then work. This is not the case on Windows 2003 (I do not know about XP) but in Vista this is definatly and issue. Try connecting through your Ethernet to the MSN Pop server and it will work. I tested this and that is the result that I arrived at. I have sent this issue via a report to the Vista team last year before I was taken sick and I do not know if they have acted on it. I cannot tell at present.

 

[Lori Olsen]

Peter, Thanks for trying but that no longer seems to be the case. Guess
they fixed that portion in the RTM editon. I am driving myself nuts, I have
tried everything logical and even a few things that make no sense like
removing IPv6 from the network adapters. If you have any other ideas for me
to try please let me know.
I hope the new year finds you in better health.

Lori

Lori

I run into to the same problem as you. I have a legacy POP email account
from MSN dating back to 95. The problem is not as much MSN but Vista. If you
happen to be using a Ethernet card and also possibly trying to use a dial up
modem the latter will not work within Vista. If you disconnect the Ethernet
the dial up modem will then work. This is not the case on Windows 2003 (I do
not know about XP) but in Vista this is definatly and issue. Try connecting
through your Ethernet to the MSN Pop server and it will work. I tested this
and that is the result that I arrived at. I have sent this issue via a
report to the Vista team last year before I was taken sick and I do not know
if they have acted on it. I cannot tell at present.

 

[Billusa]

Lori... this issue has been bugged and bugged all thru beta. It has been
ID'ed by many with the gold code. MS has stayed silent.

I have a legacy, free MSN POP3 acct too and have been waiting and waiting.
The fact IS that it works on XP and that Vista breaks it. And we still
don't know if it's the WinMail app that is part of the issue -- as you can
no longer set up an acct using the wizard for MSN or Hotmail accts in
WinMail. You have to set up with a dummy email address and then go back and
change it to MSN.

You have discovered that Outlook 2003 does not work either.

Here's what I have done on one PC that works -- download FreePOPS and set it
up for the POP3 part. http://sourceforge.net/projects/freepops/

It works with WinMail. The SMTP part is weird. I was able to use MSN's
SMTP to send my mail like I always did for the past umpteen years -- using
secure.smtp.email.msn.com. It only worked for 2 hours, then stopped and
errored again.

So, since this is a work PC, I send my SMTP mail, for the MSN acct, via our
office ISP-hosted email server and log in using my office email ID for SMTP.
I tried to do it using GMail but it would not accept a connection with a
GMail ID/pswd.

So, that is my suggestion -- use FreePOPs to get your MSN mail and send it
via another SMTP server IF you can. I have still kept my XP machine at home
because of this -- a free Ultimate sits waiting that I will not use unless
this fixed.

I think that MS is going to get even MORE slammed on this once Vista is RTM
in the consumer channel. There are THOUSANDS of paid and free MSN true POP3
accts that are going to be affected by this massive (intentional?) screw-up.

....Bill

 

[Lori Olsen]

Bill, thanks for making me so happy about Vista RTM. At least I am as
certain as I can be that it is not just something silly that I have missed.
I have ruled out WinMail, Outlook 2003, and Outlook 2007 RTM since none of
them work. As you said MS is staying silent, how unlike them. Any way,
Happy New Year and thanks for your input.

Lori

 

[Lori Olsen]

Thanks to all who tried, I have accepted that this is not something that I
can fix. Guess I have to wait for MS to addresss it. I did however comeup
with a very low-tech work around. I installed VPC 2007 RC1 (works well so
far) and transfered my XP setup to VPC on Vista. I can use MSN's POP3
server just fine in VPC running Windows XP. Hey, what can I say ; it is
better than nothing for now.

Lori

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, Lori.

My complaint starts off like Billusa's and so many others, but then it gets
different - and ends up in just about the same place: no MSN email in
Windows Mail. :>(

I also have a legacy account ([email protected]) dating from the MSN beta back
in '95. (My son wore out the anvil-dropping-on-a-bug T-shirt they sent us
when MSN went gold, along with Win95.) It worked at first, but has been
sporadic ever since. I'm one guy with one computer and no net but the
Internet. I've used dial-up, then ADSL and now cable broadband. I started
with the first TRS-80 in 1977 and worked my way through MS-DOS and just
about every Windows version since 1.0, including the Vista betas, now
running Ultimate x64 RTM. I've used every version of Outlook Express and
now Windows Mail. I've tried Outlook several times, but never stuck with it
for long; OE/WM are all I need and the rest of OL is useless overhead for
me.

With that background, let me repeat that I've had sporadic success with MSN
POP3 email. There have been periods when it worked for me for months at a
time. There have been a few years when I could receive MSN email but not
send it, so I stopped using it, although I kept the account (still paying
$6.95 per month for it - I don't know why). My lack of success was not from
lack of trying. I've tried many times over the years to get MSN working
with OE. I've started and participated in lots of threads in these MS
newsgroups and received many promising-sounding tips from MVPs and others -
none of which proved helpful more than momentarily. I've spent hours with
MS and MSN tech support and tried all the tips they offered - with NO
success. For a year or so, I received MSN mail in OE by using the HTTP
workaround. And, every now and then I would use Web2Mail.com to see if
there was anything important in my MSN inbox; there seldom was. This has
been the most long-running frustration of my computer experience!

Now, with Vista, I've found that I can receive and send email using Outlook
2007! By now, of course, the only correspondents who still use that address
are MS and spammers.

But I STILL get an error message in Windows Mail when trying to receive
email from MSN.com! I've followed instructions to the letter, including the
so-hopefully-titled reference that Frank pointed out above. The error
message changes, depending on which boxes I check in Tools | Accounts, but
the bottom line is that no combination of settings gets me any MSN mail in
WM. :>(

Thanks for letting me vent my frustrations - again.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail 7.0 in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[Billusa]

RC... sorry to hear your pain!

You brought back memories. I got my MSN email back when it was beta and not
even Internet-based, like you! I also ended up using that t-shirt to
death... ;-) My account is a 'valued account' so I do not pay for it.

I have never had any issues with POP3 save for minor stuff where their
servers were having issues for a day or so.

NOte that you can us 'secure.smtp.email.msn.com' and you can then send MSN
email from *any* ISP. I have done it for years on Win95/98/W2K/XP.

Did you know that around 2001, if you started/migrated to using Outlook
Express and HTTP email with MSN, that migration forever killed your POP3
access in future?

You say: "Now, with Vista, I've found that I can receive and send email
using Outlook 2007! "

Are you using the standard POP3 (pop3.email.msn.com) and SMTP
(smtp.email.msn.com) server settings with it -- I may upgrade if it really
works. Do you have the ability to go to another ISP and try it with
secure.smtp.email.msn.com instead of from the MSN ISP?

Thanks!
Bill
Dallas, TX

 

[Lori Olsen]

Bill, I am very happy with MSN's POP3 and SMTP service. I have had very few
problems with it until I installed Vista. Vista seems to break the POP3 SPA
authentication that MSN requires. As my last post indicated I am using VPC
for now running XP to allow access to my mail. I setup my pst file as a
shared folder between the XP VPC and the Vista host so when the issue is
finally resolved with Vista I can just pickup with a current pst file where
I left off in XP.