"Access Denied" error, or user is repeatedly prompted for credentials when trying to connect to Office 365 by using a rich client application

Applies to: Office 365 User and Domain Management

PROBLEM

When users try to access a Microsoft Office 365 resource from a rich client application such as Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Lync, one of the following symptoms occurs:
  • Users are repeatedly prompted to enter their credentials.
  • Users receive the following error message:
    Access Denied

SOLUTION

To fix this problem, reset the user's password. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Open a web browser, browse to the Office 365 portal (https://portal.office.com), and then sign in by using the user's expired credentials.
  2. When you're prompted, enter a new Office 365 password for the user. Make sure that the password meets the criteria for Office 365.

REFERENCES

For information about related issues, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base articles: 
  • 2637629  How to troubleshoot non-browser apps that can’t sign in to Office 365, Azure, or Intune 
  • 2461628  A federated user is repeatedly prompted for credentials during sign-in to Office 365, Azure, or Intune  
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