Point Outlook to Exchange Server

When Microsoft Outlook tries to retrieve Autodiscover information from a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server, you may experience unexpected results if you are using one or more of the available registry values that can be used to control Autodiscover.

When Outlook tries to contact the Autodiscover service on the Exchange server with the Client Access Server (CAS) role, it can use several different methods to reach the service, depending on the client-server topology. The currently implemented methods used by Outlook are as follows:

• SCP lookup
• HTTPS root domain query
• HTTPS Autodiscover domain query
• Local XML file
• HTTP redirect method
• SRV record query
• Cached URL in the Outlook profile (new for Outlook 2010 version 14.0.7140.5001 and later versions)
• Direct Connect to Office 365 (new for Outlook 2016 version 16.0.6741.2017 and later versions)

By default, Outlook will try one or more of these methods if it is unable to reach Autodiscover. For example, in a scenario with a machine not joined to a domain Outlook will try to connect to the predefined URLs (for example, https://autodiscover.contoso.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml) by using DNS. If that fails, Outlook will try the HTTP redirect method and, failing that, Outlook will try to use the SRV record lookup method. If all lookup methods fail, Outlook will be unable to obtain Outlook Anywhere configuration and URL settings.

To resolve, please review the Autodiscover-related registry data you may have on your Outlook client to ensure the data is configured correctly. Also, if you are unsure if the registry data is needed, consider changing the data for any of these registry values to zero (0) and then test Outlook to see if you experience a difference in Autodiscover.

• Start Registry Editor and Locate and then select the following registry subkey:

  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover

  Note

  x.0 in this registry path corresponds to the Outlook version (16.0 = Outlook 2016, 15.0 = Outlook 2013, 14.0 = Outlook 2010, 12.0 = Outlook 2007).

• Review the following possible DWORD values that may be located under the \Autodiscover subkey.

  • PreferLocalXML
  • ExcludeHttpRedirect
  • ExcludeHttpsAutoDiscoverDomain
  • ExcludeHttpsRootDomain
  • ExcludeScpLookup
  • ExcludeSrvRecord
  • ExcludeLastKnownGoodURL (only applies to Outlook 2010 version 14.0.7140.5001 and later versions)
  • ExcludeExplicitO365Endpoint (only applies to Outlook 2016 version 16.0.6741.2017 and later versions)