Outlook Autodiscover Protocol Updated? (or broken?)

Question

I have set up email autodiscovery on a non-Exchange email server per [this technet article][1], and when testing with Outlook 2015, it does not work.

Outlook hits the server multiple times, retrieving autodiscover.xml from example.com, autodiscover.example.com as well as the same but with passing the user's credentials via HTTP AUTH headers. So it seems to be retrieving the xml file but does not like the contents thereof.

I also used the [Microsoft testing tool][2] and passed the "Outlook Autodiscover" test, but not the "Outlook Connectivity" test, which may also indicate that my xml is bad, but the latter may only work if you point to an Exchange server, which is not the case here.

I followed the [instructions][1] carefully, so I am wondering if Microsoft has updated Outlook's autoconfiguration protocol or broken it somehow with non-Exchange servers?

Answer 1

I'm not aware of "outlook autodiscovery" working at all without the "proper" DNS TXT and SRV records in your domain. But these are non-standard and may differ depending on how you, your ISP, or your hosting provider have configured your email SERVER and which server it is.

here are some samples of ISP, Microsfot , and tech help blogs showing the variety this solution can take to resolve ....

ISP SPecific http://www.rackspace.com/apps/support/portal/1218 http://kb.intermedia.net/article/1306

http://www.virtuworks.com/how-to-setup-outlook-autodiscovery-for-your-domain/

Microsoft https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/940881 http://blogs.technet.com/b/rmilne/archive/2014/10/02/how-to-check-exchange-autodiscover-srv-record-using-nslookup.aspx

3rd party Blogs https://acbrownit.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/internal-dns-and-exchange-autodiscover/