MFA not working in Outlook 2016

Question

Hello!

When I in Word 2016 login in with a federated user that has MultiFactorAuthentication enabled (via Azure MFA), I get the ADAL/Modern Authentication prompt and I can enter my OneTimePassword that I get via SMS, just as exptected.

But when I try to login in Outlook 2016 (i.e. add an email account) with the same user account, I only get the standard Window Security prompt after a while. I guess my MFA AppPassword would work here, but I'd rather use native MFA.

In this video (at 2:15) you can see how it should work:
https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Mechanics/Office-2016-security-updates-demo-DLP-MFA--sharing-from-Outlook

But I get the Windows Security prompt, just like this example:
https://its.broad.msu.edu/files/2013/09/outlook2013-8.png

Anyone has a solution or explanation for this behavior?

Answer 1

I presume that you are using Office 365 to login into, in which case the reason for Outlook to still use the old authentication methods is that Exchange Online is not yet enabled for ADAL and Modern Authentication - for more information see https://blogs.office.com/2015/11/19/updated-office-365-modern-authentication-public-preview/.

You can, however, enable Modern Authentication on Exchange Online by following the instructions here => http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/32711.exchange-online-how-to-enable-your-tenant-for-modern-authentication.aspx.

Cheers,
Kimmo

Answer 2

Ahh, it was a server side configuration issue!

Great answer and thank you for the link to enable it!