Getting an error attempting to access forums normally

Question

When I try to open forums I'm getting a red message

Something went wrong and we can't sign you in right now. Please try again later.

The Microsoft account login server has detected too many repeated authentication attempts. Please wait a moment and try again.

The only way for me to access the forums is to start from Incognito Window and then login which is very inconvenient.

I emailed to fissues, no answer yet. What should I do? I re-started my laptop as well.

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Answer 1

Not really a forums application issue. You can chat or email support using the links at page bottom.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12429/microsoft-account-sign-in-cant

 Chrome and IE throw the same error here. Only Edge browser is working for me. Seems something server-side is jacked up.

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 2

Oh, really? So you do have the same error as I do? I'm replying using Incognito Window right now and then login back.

Can you please also notify fissues of that problem? I sent them email and got 'Can not reproduce on our end' response. So, if more users complain, there is a chance it will be looked into.

Chrome is my browser and I don't want to use something else.

---

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Answer 3

I emailed microsoft account support but no reply as yet. I'd suggest you do the same. The error comes from microsoft account authentication server which forums use for authentication.

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 4

Moe info I think I can see what looks like browser making six or more quick attempts at logon before throwing error which may be the reason for "too many repeated" In my windows profile (on affected machine) I cannot access forums "signed out" If I logon to same machine as a different user then no problem, so the solution may be to sign out of all Microsoft accounts, clear out all browser caches, try again.

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
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Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 5

I get the same problem using Firefox 56.0.2 (64-bit) 

All of the "Continue" activity occurs automatically with no interaction from me.

Also with Chrome 66.0.3359.139 (Official Build) (64-bit):

But no problems (yet) with normal login when I use Avast Secure Browser Version
64.0.388.186 (Official Build) (32-bit).

I have tried clearing browser caches and even deleting the Live cookies
to force manual login but same issue returns.

- Wayne

Answer 6

I get the same result on my android phone that uses a chrome browser. I also tried deleting the microsoft account completely from the phone but it did not help. It looks like there's six or seven logon attempts that cause the error. Still no issues on my surface pro that uses my microsoft account for windows logon. I'd try emailing microsoft account support as well but may be a challenge to reach anyone that has a clue.

Use the links at page bottom.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12429/microsoft-account-sign-in-cant

 edit: I also emailed fissues since I do not have any problem logging on to;

https://outlook.live.com/owa/

 

https://account.microsoft.com/profile/

 

https://app.vsaex.visualstudio.com/me?mkt=en-US&campaign=o~msft~vscom~signin

 

edit: engineering team will report back

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 7

Hi

I have been using Firefox forever, and until past three days or so, no issues.

When opening the link to the forums (link is correct), usually, I never see the 'Continue' page tab, but now, I get the 'Continue' tab alternating with a 'Live' tab - it seems that the login is failing somehow.

I have been through a lot of trials to ensure it is not at my end, such as starting Firefox with no extensions, flush DNS, cleared out cache, cleared out cookies etc but no difference - still can't get past that Continue web page.

Firefox itself did not update close to the start of this issue (last was in March).

Has anyone else who uses Firefox had anything similar? Has MSDN login been changed in some way?

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Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Answer 8

Appears something may be broken with microsoft authentication servers or forums app. Engineering is looking into it.

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/3d8265ad-8e3e-4f98-92c4-a8eac112f3a9/getting-an-error-attempting-to-access-forums-normally?forum=reportabug

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 9

Has anyone else who uses Firefox had anything similar? 

I've been getting it in the VC++, VC# and VB forums. See the other thread in 
this forum:

Getting an error attempting to access forums normally
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/3d8265ad-8e3e-4f98-92c4-a8eac112f3a9/getting-an-error-attempting-to-access-forums-normally?forum=reportabug

- Wayne

Answer 10

Hi

Thanks to all for the information. I will just have to be more patient.

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Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Answer 11

I also logon to my Windows 10 tablet using my Microsoft account, and use the Edge browser. But I have not experienced a single failure in the last week. The MSA and browser seem to make a difference.

Edit: However, I was just able to logon and reply here using FireFox.

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Richard Mueller - MVP Enterprise Mobility (Identity and Access)

Answer 12

I reported this problem. They opened the case and closed right away (I was not checking my computer up till now as it was Shabbath) and I still have the exact same problem. 

I had to log in incognito first to open this thread. I will have to do the same with my other thread.

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Answer 13

Hi Dave,

Do you think we'll get an answer directly in this thread?

So far my communication was not successful in resolving the issue. Also tried deleting MS cookies and the issue still persists.

I don't want to use Edge as I normally use Chrome.

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Answer 14

In this thread? No I don't think forums admins read here any more, but I have a case open with microsoft account support and also raised the issue with forums engineering. Given that at this point there are four users affected I wouldn't hold much hope. I run a network capture and can see eight 302 redirects and logon attempts inside of about 1 second that causes the "too many repeated authentication attempts" message.

Yes, clearing out the browser cache does not help. The microsoft account info seems to be cached elsewhere. I even deleted the microsoft account completely from my android phone but the problem persists on the phone so I may have to eventually wipe it. If I logon to affected windows pc as a different user I don't have the problem so it is a profile-specific rather than a machine-specific problem. So a rather drastic solution for your windows pc is to copy anything meaningful from user profile, then logon as local admin and delete your profile. When you next logon again a new profile would be created from \default user

 

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 15

That sounds complicated and I would not attempt it tonight. BTW, I got that same issue on my new laptop after I tried to sign out (as was suggested in Facebook thread on that same topic). For now I just shut down my new laptop.

I'll make one more try to log normally using a link to this thread from my email. UPDATE. Same issue.

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Answer 16

Not really, it is very simple to do. Similar here.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14039/windows-7-fix-corrupted-user-profile

 The down-side is this is a work-around. The original microsoft account problem could return at any time.

 

  

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 17

BTW, another interesting thing. I opened MSDN forums just fine in Edge, but when I tried to reply to this same thread and clicked on 'Reply' button, nothing happened - no new window appeared to write the reply. I tried two or three times when closed Edge and returned back here in Chrome.

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Answer 18

Doesn't look simple to me. I don't want to change my account on my laptop.

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Answer 19

Besides, I seem to have this same problem on 2 laptops now. One is a brand new.

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Answer 20

 I don't want to change my account on my laptop.

It is simply a method to replace the profile, not the account.

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 21

I think I found the fix. You'll need to stop Skype, OneDrive, office or any other Microsoft services, then go in to Control Panel\User Accounts\Credential Manager and remove any credentials associated with your Microsoft account and or services, then clear out browser cache reboot. Then navigate to https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home and sign on. Do not use saved shortcuts.

 

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 22

>Given that at this point there are four users affected I wouldn't hold 
>much hope 

I don't think that's necessarily a reliable indicator of how many people
are affected by this issue. Bearing in mind that one has to be logged in
in order to post to a thread, and the issue here is that it is often
impossible to log in, the small number of posters in this forum reporting
the problem could be at least partially a result of the inability to post
to *any* forums. While some of us have found a browser to use that isn't
affected, there is no guarantee that everyone affected has found a way
around the problem.

Consider for example users such as me, who are running Win7. For us, Edge
is not an option. Further, not all posters to the various forums are going
to be aware of the existence of this forum as a place to visit and see if
there is an ongoing issue that is being investigated. I don't think any
conclusions can be made reliably about the number of account holders who
are affected.

>I think I found the fix.

While your suggested "fix" by using the Credential Manager may hold some
promise (I haven't tried it yet), it does not explain what went wrong
nor does it give any assurance that the same problem won't return.

(My auto-logon credentials are empty in the Windows and Certificate-Based
sections. There is one entry in the Generic section.)

Considering that some of us who are affected have been posting using an MS 
account for a decade or more without issues, and no changes were made to 
our systems before the problem appeared, it's highly unlikely that it has
been caused by anything that we did.

IMO those who are responsible (or supposed to be) for maintaining this
service need to take the issue seriously and not lapse into denial or
minimalizing.

Thanks for your personal efforts to resolve this and your feedback.

- Wayne

Answer 23

I also encountered the login problem several days ago.  Numerous attempts to logoff and then log back in resulted in the re-occurrence of the login problem,  I finally found that if I deleted all live.com cookies and other cookies related to forum use and then went to the forums home page that it displayed correctly.   From there I was able to successfully log in and and use various forums. But without any official feedback about the status of the issue I'm not ready to declare victory.

Answer 24

I think I found the fix. You'll need to stop Skype, OneDrive, office or any other Microsoft services, then go in to Control Panel\User Accounts\Credential Manager and remove any credentials associated with your Microsoft account and or services, then clear out browser cache reboot. Then navigate to https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home and sign on. Do not use saved shortcuts.

 

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Hi

That 'fix' didn't fix anything for me. Still just the repeated login attempts.

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Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Answer 25

Les,

Try deleting the browser's cookies before attempting to login again.

Answer 26

Les,

Try deleting the browser's cookies before attempting to login again.

Hi

Nope, no difference, still the same repeated login attempts.

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Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Answer 27

IMO those who are responsible (or supposed to be) for maintaining this
service need to take the issue seriously and not lapse into denial or
minimalizing.

You can use the links here to report under;

TechNet Web Site Support and Feedback

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cc512759.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

and also the links here to report under;

Need more help?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12429

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 28

IMO those who are responsible (or supposed to be) for maintaining this
service need to take the issue seriously and not lapse into denial or
minimalizing.

You can use the links here to report under;

TechNet Web Site Support and Feedback

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cc512759.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

and also the links here to report under;

Need more help?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12429

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Hi

OK, I have registered the issue at the TechNet site.

I can't find a way to view my submission (I wanted to post the link here)

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Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Answer 29

OK, I have registered the issue at the TechNet site.

I can't find a way to view my submission (I wanted to post the link here)

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Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Correspondence for both would be via email.

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 30

I am having the same problem every time I try to access any MS forum using Chrome. I had to use Edge to place this message.

Answer 31

I am having the same problem every time I try to access any MS forum using Chrome. I had to use Edge to place this message.

You can try the methods I posted or also start your own case here.

Use the links here to report under;

TechNet Web Site Support and Feedback

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/cc512759.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

and also the links here to report under;

Need more help?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12429

 

 

---

Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 32

Hi

That 'fix' didn't fix anything for me. Still just the repeated login attempts.

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Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

The 'fix' worked for me with IE11 on Win7x64. It did not fix the issue with chrome, for that I had to resort to a more drastic approach of uninstalling chrome, reboot and reinstall it.  I still have yet to work out a fix for the phone browser. YMMV

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 33

That didn't work for me either. I uninstalled chrome, reboot the computer and reinstalled it, but I'm still in the same situation: can't access MS sites using Chrome.

Answer 34

That didn't work for me either. I uninstalled chrome, reboot the computer and reinstalled it, but I'm still in the same situation: can't access MS sites using Chrome.

You'll likely need to perform all the steps I mentioned. (get things working with IE before moving on)

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 35

The MS account team doesn't help in this matter. Do you know if anyone from forum's team is working on the problem?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi,

 

Thanks for coming back to Microsoft account Support Team.

 

I am glad to hear that you are able to access your account through the link provided by the previous moderator. I see that you still have issue in accessing your MSDN due to an error. As per advised, our department is specially design for sign in and sign up of Microsoft. I know you are looking for a solution to this matter, if you are able to access your account via https://account.microsoft.com and does not have issues with it, it would be best if you get in touch with our MSDN support who are equipped with the necessary tools to accomplish your request.

 

https://msdn.microsoft.com/hh361695

 

If you have other concerns about your Microsoft account aside from the topic above, please let us know.

 

Thank you,

Mishelle

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Answer 36

 Do you know if anyone from forum's team is working on the problem?

Regardless of what caused the problem the solution is to purge all remnants of the now corrupt microsoft account credentials from the user profile on affected pc. 

A simple test to check it is profile specific is to create a new windows users and logon to pc with new account for a test.

You'll need to stop Skype, OneDrive, office, email or any other Microsoft services, then go in to Control Panel\User Accounts\Credential Manager and remove any credentials associated with your Microsoft account and or services, then clear out browser cache reboot. Then navigate to https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home and sign on. Do not use saved shortcuts.

This worked for me with IE11 on Win7x64. Once it is working again for internet explorer you can move on to fix for other browsers. If you're using another browser then I'd uninstall it, reboot, and reinstall it.

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 37

Hi

Thanks to all for the information. I will just have to be more patient.

---

Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Having the same issue.  I use Firefox.

---

"Those who use Application.DoEvents() have no idea what it does and those who know what it does never use it."

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Answer 38

This is a lot of work to just to test if it will fix the issue or not :( I don't want to go through this complicated route. I want the team to fix whatever they broke that caused the problem for so many users.

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Answer 39

This is a lot of work to just to test if it will fix the issue or not :( I don't want to go through this complicated route. I want the team to fix whatever they broke that caused the problem for so many users.

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Then you'll likely just have to live with it or create a new windows user account on your pc. The corrupt microsoft account credential is in your windows profile on your pc.

 

 

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Regards, Dave Patrick ....
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows Server] Datacenter Management

Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees, and confers no rights.

Answer 40

I don't think that Credentials are necessarily the problem.  I experienced the same issues when running Firefox on Linux!

Answer 41

tracking this issue on the Win10 forum as well....

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/a5bc9e6a-7cd1-4912-81a7-59f8d695803b/microsoft-sign-in-something-went-wrong-and-we-cant-sign-you-in-right-now-please-try-again-later?forum=win10itprogeneral#badca04f-d985-4790-b37e-8874708842f9

I've been able to successfully authenticate to various microsoft sites that have 'rejected' my login for the last week and half.

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Tim Magnuson | MCTS, MCITP | MCCA 2011 |
Ok, so I changed my name...you can still call me Tom if you like. It's a...jump...to conclusions...mat.
My Blog Site: http://tmagnuson.wordpress.com

Answer 42

Finally I used (from right corner vertical ...) >> more tools >>Clear browsing data ( Time range All time)

After clear the browser data and close Chrome and restart Chrome and log in again. And it is finally worked.

I has been doing this for a few days and it is working now.

Answer 43

Its not just chrome Issue. Its more like cookie issue, i tried in two of my machines

After My chrome browser started throwing this error and didn't want to clear cache and cookies , so I tried using Internet explorer and it worked for some time and then I started getting the same error there.

Once I cleared cookies and cache , able to login to forums without any trouble ( for now :)  ).

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Answer 44

tracking this issue on the Win10 forum as well....

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/a5bc9e6a-7cd1-4912-81a7-59f8d695803b/microsoft-sign-in-something-went-wrong-and-we-cant-sign-you-in-right-now-please-try-again-later?forum=win10itprogeneral#badca04f-d985-4790-b37e-8874708842f9

I've been able to successfully authenticate to various microsoft sites that have 'rejected' my login for the last week and half.

---

Tim Magnuson | MCTS, MCITP | MCCA 2011 |
Ok, so I changed my name...you can still call me Tom if you like. It's a...jump...to conclusions...mat.
My Blog Site: http://tmagnuson.wordpress.com

Hi

The process mentioned in the above post failed in my case, however, what seems to have worked for me:

------------------------------------------------------

Firefox on Win 10 64bit.

OK, have had some success (for now at least).

Having tried all sorts of things, cookies, cache, firewall and everything I could think of short of uninstall/reinstall Firefox - with no difference to the looping login I was getting.

*

What seems to have worked (tentative) was to use CCleaner - a free utility - and set it to clear everything (except saved passwords) resulted in the Forum login working fine.

*

I hope it continues to work OK.

---

Regards Les, Livingston, Scotland

Answer 45

I'm wondering how many of you sent an email to fissues? The more people complain, the more chances it will get fixed. Honestly, I have lots of work to do and spending valuable time on trying to fix broken login is not something I should be spending time on. It is obviously something the developers of the forum have broken recently - they need to troubleshoot and fix.

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Answer 46

I ran CCCleaner and was able to log in (for now) into forums too.

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Answer 47

I did the same with respect to CCleaner. Everything seems to be working now.

Answer 48

The link you provided shows a set of instructions that are impossible to do.

The first step says to click Local Users.  In the left pane there is nothing.  Is there anything that MS does that is remotely correct??  

Can't add the snap in that is to be used on this version of windows.  What a poor company MS is.  Pretty much everything they have done around this problem is not fixable unless some one at MS actually takes time to fix it (and it wasn't broken before).

---

Lloyd Sheen

Answer 49

Hi Lloyd,

While the forum's team re-addressed the issue to yet another team (I received some communication from fissues this morning), you can google for CCleaner utility. I installed a free trial and so far back in business along with few others.

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Answer 50

Sandra Aldana, forums Program Manager @Microsoft, reports (in Facebook, TechNetWikiNinja group) that they are working on the issue, and will announce what they know, suggest workarounds, estimate time to fix, etc.

Edit: Announcement:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/206824a4-2faa-490d-9283-778d49a3b411/sign-on-issues-with-forums-sites?forum=reportabug

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Richard Mueller - MVP Enterprise Mobility (Identity and Access)

Answer 51

Rather than deleting all your cookies, here is a simple fix that worked for me:

Go to Control Panel and click Internet Options and in General tab click Settings under Browsing History. Then click on View Files and do a search for Microsoft (type Microsoft in the search box) and delete all the Microsoft cookies found (Ctrl+A then Del).