Microsoft Outlook’s Exchange Online mailbox issues will be fixed… eventually

Outlook’s latest in a string of bugs and crashes

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Microsofthas acknowledged a known issue that’s preventing some users from configuring theirExchange Onlinemailboxes in Outlook for Windows - but has given no timeline for a fix.

As reported byBleepingComputer, Microsoft hasshareda manual fix for IT admins until a code fix is issued. The company also said that the issue with Outlook, its hostedemail servicefor businesses, stems from Error 603 codes after the configuration process fails during the Outlook Connectivity Test.

A variety of Outlook clients are affected, including Outlook 2021, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, and Outlook forMicrosoft 365.

Microsoft Outlook bugs

Microsoft’s Exchange Online mailboxes are an organization-wide email system similar to the service offered byGoogle Workspace. Though not the only thing Microsoft relies upon for its revenue, the fact that it brings in any money at all may be why Microsoft are keen to provide a fix.

Microsoft claims that the root of the problem is that “Get-Mailbox will point the SharingPolicy to a deleted object.” Although this is a serious problem that would benefit from an urgent fix, Outlook has had more than its fair share of important bug fixes in recent weeks for issues known since August.

Earlier in October 2022, Microsoft rolled out a fix for Outlook for Microsoft 365, after it would freeze and crash post-launch. In early August, a bug that was crashing Outlook email clients when reading emails containing tables (notably Uber receipts) was also patched.

However, Microsoft isn’t always so keen to patch bugs in its software.

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Check out our list of the best office software right now>More Microsoft Exchange zero-days exploited in the wild>LockBit ransomware is spreading from compromised Microsoft Exchange servers

In the same month, it was left to micro patching service0patchtorelease an unofficial fixfor an issue that allowed cyberattackers to bypass Windows’ Mark of the Web (MotW) security mechanism, while one researcher accused Microsoft of “gaslighting '' the security community after ignoring his efforts to disclose the issue.

While Microsoft are staying on top of Outlook’s issues, providing no ETA for a code fix may engender similar sentiments from IT admins.

Luke Hughes holds the role of Staff Writer at TechRadar Pro, producing news, features and deals content across topics ranging from computing to cloud services, cybersecurity, data privacy and business software.

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