Entourage "loses" email passwords whenever I update Office

[salionrick]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel
Email Client: pop

So Irritating! When I upgraded to Office 2008, and then when I installed the 12.1.0 and 12.1.0, I was subsequently asked to reenter ALL of my email passwords in Entourage. 1) why can't the update be "smart" enough to sve my passwords, and 2) where can I find one if I can't remember it?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

So Irritating! When I upgraded to Office 2008, and then when I installed
the 12.1.0 and 12.1.0, I was subsequently asked to reenter ALL of my
email passwords in Entourage. 1) why can't the update be "smart" enough
to sve my passwords, and 2) where can I find one if I can't remember it?

That sounds like a Keychain issue. You shoudl launch the Keychain access
applciation and use the Keychain first aid feature to repair your
keychain.
All you should see is a request to authorise the new version of
Entourage to use your keychain-stored passwords.

If you can't remember your password and it is not in your Keychain, then
I fear no one can help you with that. You;ll have to contact whoever
administrates the e-mail account.

Corentin

 

[salionrick]

thank you. I launched Keychain repair and it did not restore the passwords. Also, this problem has happened each time I have updated Office; thus my assumption that it is Office that is not retrieving my passwords as it installs new version. Any other suggestions?

 

[William Smith]

thank you. I launched Keychain repair and it did not restore the
passwords. Also, this problem has happened each time I have updated
Office; thus my assumption that it is Office that is not retrieving
my passwords as it installs new version. Any other suggestions?

I too have this same problem.

The only solution I can offer is to open Keychain Access and view the
password stored in each account. In Entourage you'll need to re-enter
the password. I just copy/paste.

Please be sure to let Microsoft know you're having this problem by using
the Help --> Send Feedback mechanism in any Office application.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>

 

[salionrick]

Thanks for your assistance, Bill and Correntin.

 

[Diane Ross]

Thanks for your assistance, Bill and Correntin.

Usually, just selecting to use them again works.

When you updated, did you close all running applications? Did you restart
after updating? Did your run Repair Permissions after updating?

 

[Joe Gardill]

I had the same problem after updating to 12.1.1. As it turns out, I had to do both the KeyChain repair and a Permissions Repair. Apparently the upgrade trashed the ports used by Entourage for email access. Why I have no idea, but these fixes worked. I will say that the process took a few hours to complete which is nonsense.

At a minimum, Microsoft should advise users that they will likely have to or they recommend that all users run Utility A & B after the install. Then again, considering that there are millions of lines of code in the update, why not do it for us? Is that really too much to ask?

Another day wasted to Microsoft. Don't you just love computers?

Joe

 

[Joe Gardill]

So Irritating! When I upgraded to Office 2008, and then when I installed the 12.1.0 and 12.1.0, I was subsequently asked to reenter ALL of my email passwords in Entourage. 1) why can't the update be "smart" enough to sve my passwords, and 2) where can I find one if I can't remember it?

After the first time this happened I did two things. First, I bought 1Password and I use it for every website that requires one. It is a great product and dirt cheap considering the value. Second, I created an encrypted Excel workbook which only contains my router and email account information. When something like this happens I open it and copy and paste the passwords into the account settings. It works great.

Hope this helps. Have a refreshing cold beverage, relax, and realize that there are probably at least a million people who had a much worse day than you did today.

Surf Safe!

 

[Diane Ross]

I had the same problem after updating to 12.1.1. As it turns out, I had to do
both the KeyChain repair and a Permissions Repair. Apparently the upgrade
trashed the ports used by Entourage for email access. Why I have no idea, but
these fixes worked. I will say that the process took a few hours to complete
which is nonsense.

At a minimum, Microsoft should advise users that they will likely have to or
they recommend that all users run Utility A & B after the install. Then again,
considering that there are millions of lines of code in the update, why not do
it for us? Is that really too much to ask?

I don't know why but all updaters seem to be somewhat problematic. I've
resorted to using this method for updating major applications like any
Apple, Adobe or Microsoft update.

Log out/in with shift key down.
Run installer
Restart
Repair Permissions

For the small drag and drop, I don't bother. I also have a clone that I can
easily revert to if thing go belly up. I use SuperDuper! It's great backup
software. SuperDuper! Is $27.95. I¹m not affiliated with the product. Just a
satisfied user. <http://www.shirt-pocket.com/> Dave Nanian is the author
and makes a great product and offers great support. I have never had to pay
for an upgrade.

 

[Barry Wainwright]

I don't know why but all updaters seem to be somewhat problematic. I've
resorted to using this method for updating major applications like any
Apple, Adobe or Microsoft update.

Log out/in with shift key down.
Run installer
Restart
Repair Permissions

For the small drag and drop, I don't bother. I also have a clone that I can
easily revert to if thing go belly up. I use SuperDuper! It's great backup
software. SuperDuper! Is $27.95. I¹m not affiliated with the product. Just a
satisfied user. <http://www.shirt-pocket.com/> Dave Nanian is the author
and makes a great product and offers great support. I have never had to pay
for an upgrade.

If the passwords are stored in the Keychain, then you should just get a
single dialog after upgrading Office asking you if you wan the new
version to access the stored passwords.

However, the keychain has always been a little flakey and prone to loose
it's connection with various apps (not just Entourage). Opening Keychain
Access and using the Repair function may solve his problem. If it
doesn't, delete those entries from Keychain and let Entourage re-create
new ones.

 

[HCRX]

If the passwords are stored in the Keychain, then you should just get a
single dialog after upgrading Office asking you if you wan the new
version to access the stored passwords.

However, the keychain has always been a little flakey and prone to loose
it's connection with various apps (not just Entourage). Opening Keychain
Access and using the Repair function may solve his problem. If it
doesn't, delete those entries from Keychain and let Entourage re-create
new ones.

Thanks guys. I always backup prior to doing any upgrade. That was a
very hard lesson learned twice I'm ashamed to say. I used Super Duper
prior to Leopard, but it went a bit flakey on me so I started just
using Time Machine. I just received an update to Super Duper and it
purportedly works well in Leopard so I will probably try again.

I have never seen any dialogue with respect to KeyChain or
Permissions. I purchased Spring Cleaning a few months ago and have
been using Onyx as well. They do seem to help keep things in good
shape, but neither were able to resolve the KeyChain problem.

In the meantime I now have a new problem that did not exist prior to
the 10.5.4 Mac OS/X upgrade. When Onyx runs a S.M.A.R.T. disk
verification on my primary volume it is telling me that I have an
error requiring repair. I run Tech Tool Deluxe including a surface
scan and Disk Utility and they did not report any errors. I then ran
the Permissions Repair routine and it found a problem with "cups".

What are "cups" and is there anything I could or should do to keep
this from repeating?

Joe

 

[Diane Ross]

I have never seen any dialogue with respect to KeyChain or
Permissions. I purchased Spring Cleaning a few months ago and have
been using Onyx as well. They do seem to help keep things in good
shape, but neither were able to resolve the KeyChain problem.

I do not recommend using applications like Spring Cleaning. It can do
disastrous things.

In the meantime I now have a new problem that did not exist prior to
the 10.5.4 Mac OS/X upgrade. When Onyx runs a S.M.A.R.T. disk
verification on my primary volume it is telling me that I have an
error requiring repair. I run Tech Tool Deluxe including a surface
scan and Disk Utility and they did not report any errors. I then ran
the Permissions Repair routine and it found a problem with "cups".

Did you try to run Repair Permissions from Disk Utility on your boot drive?

What are "cups" and is there anything I could or should do to keep
this from repeating?

Not familiar with that. It sounds like you are running a lot of utilities
and are not sure what they are doing. Sometimes less is better.

 

[Barry Wainwright]

What are "cups" and is there anything I could or should do to keep
this from repeating?

Not familiar with that.[/QUOTE]

CUPS is the "Common UNIX Printing System" used by OS X (after 10.3,
IIRC) for its print management system.