Windows Server Essentials Experience Error Reports Emails
I’ve been getting emails from Microsoft warning me that pretty soon, Outlook.com will require “Modern Authentication Methods.”
I could not figure out why I was getting that warning because I use the current version of Outlook on my desktops. But now I know why….
Up until a few days ago, I used the Microsoft Outlook.com server to send me WSE Health reports everyday. Prior to that, I used my own email account with my ISP but they started rejecting emails from my “Home” server emails many years ago. Now Microsoft is doing the same. Apparently I need OAuth2 authentication option which does not seem to exist in WSE. I am wondering what people are doing. I am running your WSE under Windows Server 2019. Thanks for any ideas.
- ArtinNC asked 7 months ago
- last edited 7 months ago
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Okay, I’m just about to release OAuth2 support for Microsoft 365 / Outlook.com accounts when emailing Health Reports from Windows Server Essentials. See: How to set up the Health Report Outlook Mailer
BTW, this was insanely hard to accomplish. I had to completely rewrite and extend the existing Health Report add-in and jump through a whole bunch of hoops to make this work. I should probably be charging something extra for this functionality, but I’ve decided to just include it as part of the WSEE Installer.
- Mike answered 1 month ago
- last edited 1 week ago
- Mike thanks for the efforts with email health reports. Followed your instructions but receive this message – We’re unable to complete your request invalid_request: The provided value for the input parameter ‘redirect_uri’ is not valid. The expected value is a URI which matches a redirect URI registered for this client application. Any clues? Charlie ponchard
- Hmm… That’s strange as it’s working just fine for me here. Are you using a free Outlook.com (etc.) account for your Microsoft account, or do you have a paid Microsoft 365 account? Can you try signing in to https://portal.azure.com (with your Microsoft account; i.e., with the same account you’re using as your ‘From email’ address in health report settings), go to “App registrations”, click on the “All applications” tab (or click on the “View all applications in the directory” button), click on your “Health Report Outlook Mailer” application (or whatever you named it), click on the “Authentication” item (that’s listed under the “Management” drop-down section over in the left-hand list of items), click the “Add URI” link, and type in https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/nativeclient (if it’s not already in the list). Once you’ve added the URI, make sure that its checkbox is checked, make sure that your supported account types is “Accounts in any organizational directory (Any Microsoft Entra ID tenant – Multitenant) and personal Microsoft accounts (e.g. Skype, Xbox)”, and then click the “Save” button to save your changes. Does that resolve the error for you?
- Okay, I’ve just updated the documentation to include entering in the nativeclient Redirect URI. Hopefully that resolves the issue, but if not, then please do let me know.
- Thankyou Mike. All working here! I had missed a step. Thankyou again. Charlie Ponchard
- That’s terrific news! Thank you for letting me know that adding the URI fixed the issue for you. Sorry for the oversite on my part. Take care and enjoy being able to send health reports from your Microsoft account. ; -)
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Well, that’s unfortunate, but I guess it doesn’t surprise me too much (i.e. I can’t really blame Microsoft for wanting to make connections to their email accounts more secure).
Since the Windows Server Essentials Experience (WSEE) is getting pretty long in the tooth now (Microsoft ends support for it on January 12, 2027), I highly doubt that they will ever update the Health Report Add-In to support modern authentication methods (such as OAuth2; which use token based authentication over the older and less secure password based authentication methods).
Thus, you’ll most likely need to source an email provider that still allows basic authentication methods when using their SMTP service in order to continue being able to email health reports to yourself. I’m quite sure that there are plenty of email providers like that still out there, but I myself don’t have any suggestions to offer you at this time I’m afraid. Hopefully someone else will jump in with one that works. And please do let us know if you happen to come across one that ends up working well for you.
- Mike answered 7 months ago
- last edited 7 months ago
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