Just wondering if anyone else is running into this. I've been running some tests through on Zorin 18.1, and I cannot add my old Hotmail (Microsoft) account to the Online Accounts section in settings. I am able to add my Google account fine (as I always have) and all previous versions that had this functionality I also could (including 18). However, I get to the login screen, click confirm, and nothing happens after that point.
I've tried three browsers at this point, and of those I've also tried multiple package formats, but it always just leads to nothing happening.
So. Is this just me? And yes I know, ugh Microsoft. But it's an old account I keep around mostly for junk, and the odd thing here or there I might need once in a blue moon.
Thought I would see what Brave would come up with:
" Issues with Hotmail or Outlook.com on Linux generally stem from authentication methods or browser compatibility , rather than the operating system itself.
- Modern Authentication : Microsoft has deprecated Basic Auth (username/password only), requiring Modern Authentication (OAuth2) for login. Older email clients like early versions of Thunderbird or Evolution may fail because they lack support for this method.
- Browser User-Agent Strings : Historically, some Linux-specific browsers (like IceWeasel) used user-agent strings that Microsoft's servers did not recognize, causing login failures or blank pages. This is often resolved by using a standard browser like Firefox or Chrome, or by using a User Agent Switcher extension.
- DNS and Cookies : In some cases, connectivity issues on Linux are caused by DNS resolution problems or corrupted browser cookies. Setting manual DNS servers (e.g., 8.8.8.8) or clearing Microsoft-related cookies in the browser can resolve access issues.
To ensure compatibility, use a modern email client that supports OAuth2, such as Evolution 3.52.3 or Thunderbird with IMAP/OAuth2 enabled, or access the web interface via a standard browser like Firefox or Chromium.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts."
[IceWeasel is now IceCat]
I always get the popup once I sign in through whichever browser I select, which is the "Open link with Gnome Oauth insert everything here that I can't recall right now" and then just... nothing. And like I said, I know this worked on version 16 and 17, and I'm fairly certain this worked on 18 (not 18.1) as well, though I'll have to boot up an 18 image and double check to make sure. It's also the same popup that the Google account brings up, but it goes through normally as it should.
Part of me was hoping this was just me having this issue, and the other part is hoping others are having the same problems. Depends on how I'm feeling at any particular moment.
I just use my hotmail with the browser much simplier and no real setup/money needed either...lol
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The main reason is I like to test out as much as possible so that I can help out around here a little better. So if, as Zorin 18 has, a built-in way of managing accounts a user might have, I like to try to test them as well as I can. And I know that in the future the Google account management in this area is going to be removed (I think version 50 of Gnome?), I'm just wondering if something was happening on the M$ side at the same time here.
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Incidentally, there has been an issue in past week caused by MS, that impacts Thunderbird users that sync their MS Calendar via the TbSync add-on. There is a fix for that particular error here: Cryptic "status.Settings.138" error · Issue #781 · jobisoft/TbSync · GitHub
MS trying to make life difficult for 3rd party apps?
Hmm ok. I am seeing that M$ is changing their ActiveSync versions, I don't know if that might be causing the issue here or not. Has anyone else tried (on a fresh install of 18.1) to add a M$ account (not an O365 or an exchange one even, just a base account)?
I would wager if someone's account was already setup, and this is indeed the issue, it MIGHT be ok for them? But I'm still not sure if this is the same or not, but it's very recent and sounds like a similar problem.
Just wanting to update this, I decided to load up both version 18 and 17.3 of Core, as those two versions I 100% had my M$ account setup and functioning on those versions, and they no longer work as well. So something has most likely changed on the M$ end, as maybe was indicated earlier in this thread.
I feel fairly confident in this at this point, so I'm going to ping @AZorin and @zorink and see if they know about this or if there's any potential information on it that we can find. I mainly just don't like that it's something that SHOULD be working, and doesn't appear to be currently.
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