Outlook Repeatedly Asks For Yahoo Mail Password

Question

Outlook Repeatedly Asks For Yahoo Mail Password

Tom Womack 5

Outlook repeatedly / randomly asks for my Yahoo Mail password multiple times each day although I'm already logged in. It is becoming completely disruptive.

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3 answers

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Answer 1

For Yahoo Mail in classic Outlook for Windows, the most common fixes are:

In Outlook account setup or account settings, make sure Require logon using Secure Password Authentication (SPA) is unchecked.
Confirm the username is the full Yahoo email address.
If the password was changed on Yahoo’s side, change it on the Yahoo website first, then reopen Outlook and enter the updated password when prompted.
If Outlook never properly prompts for the password or keeps looping, re-add the account from Control Panel:
- Press the Windows key, type Control Panel, and open it.
- Select Mail.
- Select Email Accounts...
- On the Email tab, select New.
- Enter the name, full Yahoo email address, and password in Password and Retype Password.
- Select Next and complete setup.
- If prompted again, enter the password one more time, then select Finish.
If Outlook keeps asking for credentials after setup, check these common causes:
- Caps Lock is on.
- The username is not the full email address.
- The Yahoo password was changed and Outlook still has the old one stored.

If the issue continues, verify the account settings against the POP/IMAP server settings reference from Microsoft Support.

References:

Answer 2

Hornblower409 16,050

@Tom Womack said

Outlook repeatedly / randomly asks for my Yahoo Mail password multiple times each day

See some other recent cases where a Yahoo account will suddenly start losing authentication. Seems to be a Yahoo issue since users with multiple Yahoo accounts on the same Outlook client only have the problem with one account.

If you're using a Yahoo App Password, try generating a new one and updating Outlook to the new password.

If that doesn't help, come back here and we'll talk about creating a new profile and using OAuth instead of a password.

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Answer 3

Bill Mano 0

I have tried resetting with a new Yahoo app password, but the problem persists. In addition, I had to add the yahoo account with the app password using control panel, because adding via classic outlook prompted me for my regular password which it claimed was incorrect - it was not.

Hornblower409 16,050 Reputation points

2026-10-03T00:09:53.5733333+00:00

@Bill Mano said

I have tried resetting with a new Yahoo app password, but the problem persists

As already noted, this may not be a problem you can fix from your end. I've seen other reports that clearly indicate it's a Yahoo problem. e.g. User has two Yahoo accounts in the same Classic Outlook Profile, one works flawlessly, the other constantly prompts for credentials.

If you want to try, the only other setup I can think of would be:

Create a new Outlook Profile.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/create-an-outlook-profile

For that Profile, add your Yahoo account using OAuth (not an app password).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/support/known-issues/how-to-add-a-yahoo-imap-account-to-outlook-desktop-without-an-app-password

With OAuth support, no App Password is needed to add the Yahoo account to Outlook Desktop. When you add the account, you use your regular password.

Switch to that Profile and see if you still get prompted. (It will be the OAuth prompt, not an App Password prompt).

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/outlook/turn-outlook-profile-prompt-on-or-off
Tom Womack 5 Reputation points

2026-10-03T14:01:56.7566667+00:00

I called MS tech support and they actually got back to me really quickly. The tech remoted into my laptop and (as best I can tell) deleted and rebuilt my entire Outlook profile. It took him around 30 minutes. He said that would solve the problem and that it wouldn't come back. That fix lasted about a week and now the password prompt has returned. But it much less frequent and only asks every 2-3 days although it still asks repeated when it does appear.