Hotmail suddenly stopped working through Outlook XP

[S. Graham]

I have been using two different Hotmail accounts through Outlook-XP for the
past four years without problem. Suddenly (as of Sunday September 21, 2008)
both accounts have stopped working. Every send/receive operation generates
a string of

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The server
does not support the required HTTP methods.'"
error messages - one error message for each folder, for each account.

I have reviewed/reconfigured the setup of each account. This failure only
plagues the Hotmail HTTP accounts. My POP3/SMTP and IMAP accounts all work
without problem. I can access both accounts through Internet Explorer
without any difficulty; the problem only appears in Outlook.
No changes were made to my system between the time it worked and the time it
stopped working. I am running Windows-XP Pro SP3 with Office-XP Pro
(Outlook), also SP3. Microsoft Update reports everything is up-to-date.
Anti-virus scans find nothing. Windows Defender scans also find nothing. I
have tried searching Hotmail/Windows Live Help Central, Microsoft's Support
Knowledgebase, and even done a Live Search web search on this error - all
without success.

Any help in resolving this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Signed,
Exasperated and Losing Patience.

 

[VanguardLH]

I have been using two different Hotmail accounts through Outlook-XP for the
past four years without problem. Suddenly (as of Sunday September 21, 2008)
both accounts have stopped working. Every send/receive operation generates
a string of

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The server
does not support the required HTTP methods.'"
error messages - one error message for each folder, for each account.

Purge all cookies. Retest. If still fails, configure cookie management
in IE to allow all cookies and retest. If that works, go back to the
original cookie settings and try adding domains to the Allow list for
cookies, like hotmail.com, live.com, passport.net, microsoft.com.

Is this for a free or paid Hotmail account?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

They are ending HTTP support - it was supposed to end in June but was
delayed. The error message

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The
server does not support the required HTTP methods.'"

seems to indicate that http support has ended for your account.

The new method is the outlook connector but it doesn't work with 2002.

Did you log in online and convert your acct to the new live servers
recently?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

 

[S. Graham]

1) These are free Hotmail accounts, not paid/subscription accounts.

2) I have purged all cookies and then added in the cookies VanguardLH
mentioned as "Always Allow", without success.

3) Yes, I updated my accounts to "Windows Live" accounts and
downloaded/installed recommended Windows Live software - without success.
I had received notices (through Hotmail - from "The Windows Live Team")
about how Microsoft was upgrading "Hotmail" into "Windows Live Mail" and
would be offering all sorts of new features and goodies for me to consider,
but somehow the fine print indicating that Outlook 2002 compatibility would
be removed was lost under all the advertisements and hype. Accessing my
Hotmail accounts through IE is much slower and quite cumbersome - and there
is little integration with Office.

Is there anything else to try?

SG

They are ending HTTP support - it was supposed to end in June but was
delayed. The error message

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The
server does not support the required HTTP methods.'"

seems to indicate that http support has ended for your account.

The new method is the outlook connector but it doesn't work with 2002.

Did you log in online and convert your acct to the new live servers
recently?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

I have been using two different Hotmail accounts through Outlook-XP for
the past four years without problem. Suddenly (as of Sunday September
21, 2008) both accounts have stopped working. Every send/receive
operation generates a string of

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The
server does not support the required HTTP methods.'"
error messages - one error message for each folder, for each account.

I have reviewed/reconfigured the setup of each account. This failure
only plagues the Hotmail HTTP accounts. My POP3/SMTP and IMAP accounts
all work without problem. I can access both accounts through Internet
Explorer without any difficulty; the problem only appears in Outlook.
No changes were made to my system between the time it worked and the time
it stopped working. I am running Windows-XP Pro SP3 with Office-XP Pro
(Outlook), also SP3. Microsoft Update reports everything is up-to-date.
Anti-virus scans find nothing. Windows Defender scans also find nothing.
I have tried searching Hotmail/Windows Live Help Central, Microsoft's
Support Knowledgebase, and even done a Live Search web search on this
error - all without success.

Any help in resolving this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Signed,
Exasperated and Losing Patience.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Accessing my Hotmail accounts through IE is much slower and quite
cumbersome - and there is little integration with Office.

Is there anything else to try?

Barring an upgrade in your Office suite, only the free Windows Live Mail
download that MS offers (it looks like Outlook Express or Windows Mail), but
again, there's no Office integration.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

You can rule out outlook as the problem by trying the account in OE. But
once HTTP access ends, the ability to use Outlook 2002 will end and you'll
need to upgrade to 2003 or 2007, or the new Live Mail client.

It's also possible it's a fleeting problem and it'll work again in a couple
of days - we've seen that happen a lot over the summer, but with different
errors. Knowing HTTP is being removed, I suspect this might not be a
fleeting problem that will eventually fix itself.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

1) These are free Hotmail accounts, not paid/subscription accounts.

2) I have purged all cookies and then added in the cookies VanguardLH
mentioned as "Always Allow", without success.

3) Yes, I updated my accounts to "Windows Live" accounts and
downloaded/installed recommended Windows Live software - without success.
I had received notices (through Hotmail - from "The Windows Live Team")
about how Microsoft was upgrading "Hotmail" into "Windows Live Mail" and
would be offering all sorts of new features and goodies for me to
consider, but somehow the fine print indicating that Outlook 2002
compatibility would be removed was lost under all the advertisements and
hype. Accessing my Hotmail accounts through IE is much slower and quite
cumbersome - and there is little integration with Office.

Is there anything else to try?

SG

They are ending HTTP support - it was supposed to end in June but was
delayed. The error message

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The
server does not support the required HTTP methods.'"

seems to indicate that http support has ended for your account.

The new method is the outlook connector but it doesn't work with 2002.

Did you log in online and convert your acct to the new live servers
recently?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

I have been using two different Hotmail accounts through Outlook-XP for
the past four years without problem. Suddenly (as of Sunday September
21, 2008) both accounts have stopped working. Every send/receive
operation generates a string of

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The
server does not support the required HTTP methods.'"
error messages - one error message for each folder, for each account.

I have reviewed/reconfigured the setup of each account. This failure
only plagues the Hotmail HTTP accounts. My POP3/SMTP and IMAP accounts
all work without problem. I can access both accounts through Internet
Explorer without any difficulty; the problem only appears in Outlook.
No changes were made to my system between the time it worked and the
time it stopped working. I am running Windows-XP Pro SP3 with Office-XP
Pro (Outlook), also SP3. Microsoft Update reports everything is
up-to-date. Anti-virus scans find nothing. Windows Defender scans also
find nothing. I have tried searching Hotmail/Windows Live Help Central,
Microsoft's Support Knowledgebase, and even done a Live Search web
search on this error - all without success.

Any help in resolving this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Signed,
Exasperated and Losing Patience.

 

[S. Graham]

Diane,

I too have seen Hotmail problems appear and vanish (through Outlook),
apparently at random in the past. I waited a few days before posting
anything to see if that was the situation this time.

I tried one of my Hotmail accounts in OE but received the very same failure.
It appears as if HTTP support has been removed.

Regarding an upgrade to a newer version of the Office Suite - I am content
with most of the features presently available. I cannot justify the expense
of purchasing an upgrade at this time, and certainly not just to maintain
Outlook connectivity to two Hotmail accounts. I'll probably try the Windows
Live Mail client for a time to see how well it (and Hotmail) fits my needs.
It may be time to discontinue use of Hotmail.

SG

You can rule out outlook as the problem by trying the account in OE. But
once HTTP access ends, the ability to use Outlook 2002 will end and you'll
need to upgrade to 2003 or 2007, or the new Live Mail client.

It's also possible it's a fleeting problem and it'll work again in a
couple of days - we've seen that happen a lot over the summer, but with
different errors. Knowing HTTP is being removed, I suspect this might not
be a fleeting problem that will eventually fix itself.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point your
newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.

1) These are free Hotmail accounts, not paid/subscription accounts.

2) I have purged all cookies and then added in the cookies VanguardLH
mentioned as "Always Allow", without success.

3) Yes, I updated my accounts to "Windows Live" accounts and
downloaded/installed recommended Windows Live software - without success.
I had received notices (through Hotmail - from "The Windows Live Team")
about how Microsoft was upgrading "Hotmail" into "Windows Live Mail" and
would be offering all sorts of new features and goodies for me to
consider, but somehow the fine print indicating that Outlook 2002
compatibility would be removed was lost under all the advertisements and
hype. Accessing my Hotmail accounts through IE is much slower and quite
cumbersome - and there is little integration with Office.

Is there anything else to try?

SG

They are ending HTTP support - it was supposed to end in June but was
delayed. The error message
"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The
server does not support the required HTTP methods.'"
seems to indicate that http support has ended for your account.

The new method is the outlook connector but it doesn't work with 2002.

Did you log in online and convert your acct to the new live servers
recently?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
(e-mail address removed)

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)

You can access this newsgroup by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx or point
your newsreader to msnews.microsoft.com.


I have been using two different Hotmail accounts through Outlook-XP for
the past four years without problem. Suddenly (as of Sunday September
21, 2008) both accounts have stopped working. Every send/receive
operation generates a string of

"(folder): Synchronizing headers.' reported error (0x800CCC3E) : 'The
server does not support the required HTTP methods.'"
error messages - one error message for each folder, for each account.

I have reviewed/reconfigured the setup of each account. This failure
only plagues the Hotmail HTTP accounts. My POP3/SMTP and IMAP accounts
all work without problem. I can access both accounts through Internet
Explorer without any difficulty; the problem only appears in Outlook.
No changes were made to my system between the time it worked and the
time it stopped working. I am running Windows-XP Pro SP3 with
Office-XP Pro (Outlook), also SP3. Microsoft Update reports everything
is up-to-date. Anti-virus scans find nothing. Windows Defender scans
also find nothing. I have tried searching Hotmail/Windows Live Help
Central, Microsoft's Support Knowledgebase, and even done a Live Search
web search on this error - all without success.

Any help in resolving this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Signed,
Exasperated and Losing Patience.

 

[VanguardLH]

These are free Hotmail accounts, not paid/subscription accounts.

Yes, I updated my accounts to "Windows Live" accounts and
downloaded/installed recommended Windows Live software - without success.

Microsoft is dropping the old HTTP/WebDAV protocol to move to their new
HTTP/Deltasync protocol. None of Microsoft e-mail clients (and no one
else's, either) understand the new Deltasync protocol except for
Microsoft's Windows Live Mail (WLM) client, the replacement for Outlook
Express. If you had versions 2003 or 2007 of Outlook, you could install
Microsoft's Outlook Connector add-on to add Deltasync support to those
versions of Outlook. The add-on won't work with prior versions of
Outlook. There will be no fix for Outlook Express since support for it
died in 2002.

Deltasync is for the benefit of Microsoft, not for real benefit to
Hotmail users as Microsoft claims (other than security might've been
improved). Microsoft had planned to completely switch from WebDAV to
Deltasync at the end of June 2008 but there was such a big stink that
they delayed the switch over. I don't know when or how they intend to
deploy Deltasync or it what manner but it will happen. Read the
following:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscent...s_off_hotmail_access_via_outlook_express.html
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Microsoft-Oulook-Express-Access-to-Hotmail-Not-Dead-Yet-84895.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeltaSync

Found an interesting blog that mentions a meeting with Omar Shahine who
discusses the changeover to Deltasync:
http://www.liveside.net/blogs/interview/default.aspx
which has a link to the recorded meeting (audio only), a copy of which
is also at:
http://www.liveside.net/files/folders/5578/download.aspx

Your choices are:

- Abandon your Hotmail account. Give up on using Microsoft proprietary
formats. There has been an average of at least one major change to the
Hotmail service each year since Microsoft acquired it. Instead use an
account that uses the RFC standard protocols of POP (or IMAP) and SMTP.
- Give up using a local e-mail client and use the webmail interface to
Hotmail.
- Upgrade to a later version of Outlook and install the add-on that adds
Deltasync support to Outlook.
- Pay for a Windows Live Hotmail PLUS account which gives you access to
their POP/SMTP mail hosts (which got re-add back in Nov 2007).
- Switch to the Windows Live Mail (WLM) client. You will lose the
journaling, notes, and calendaring and to-do lists from Outlook. The
beta version of WLM adds a calendar and to-do lists but don't bother
with beta versions unless you are drawn to incurring further
frustrations. You can combine EssentialPIM (free version) to regain
most of the PIM functions lost by leaving Outlook (except journaling)
with using WLM for e-mail/newsgroup functions. Of course, if you need
the enterprise features of Outlook in a corporate environment then you
are stuck using Outlook; however, for a business, you would be provided
a later version of Outlook in which you could use the add-on, but
businesses don't use Hotmail accounts (free or paid). If you use
Hotmail, it is likely not for business use which means you don't need
nor can use the enterprise features in Outlook.
- Use a screen/URL scraper utility that can navigate the web pages for
the webmail interface to your Hotmail account. These run as a local
POP-to-HTTP proxy: you connect any POP client to it and it connects to
the webmail service via HTTP. Thunderbird has its webmail add-on that
tries to support Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and some other webmail-based
e-mail services. FreePOPs supposedly supports Hotmail.com but I
couldn't get it to work with live.com as the Hotmail domain. The
problem with screen-scrape utilities is that a small change in the web
pages or the URLs to navigate between them means that the screen-scraper
stops working and you must wait until the POP-to-HTTP proxy author gets
around to repairing and synchronizing their program to those changes.
I've used YahooPOPs, another POP-to-HTTP proxy, to access my freebie
Yahoo Mail account for years but there are times when it stops working
and I have to wait until it gets fixed during which I have to resort to
using the webmail interface to my Yahoo account.

 

[S. Graham]

Thank you all for your help. I guess it is time to switch to something
other than Hotmail/Windows Live Mail.

SG

 

[VanguardLH]

Thank you all for your help. I guess it is time to switch to something
other than Hotmail/Windows Live Mail.

I was told by ..winston in another newsgroup that Microsoft isn't going
to drop HTTP/WebDAV access until January 2009 provided you have never
deactivated your Hotmail account since Oct 2004 (when Microsoft remove
DAV from freebie accounts). Those are considered legacy accounts. I'm
not sure about new non-legacy account created after that date. Of
course, 2009 isn't that far away so planning on what to change to or
what to use is appropriate now.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I was told by ..winston in another newsgroup that Microsoft isn't going
to drop HTTP/WebDAV access until January 2009 provided you have never
deactivated your Hotmail account since Oct 2004 (when Microsoft remove
DAV from freebie accounts). Those are considered legacy accounts. I'm
not sure about new non-legacy account created after that date. Of
course, 2009 isn't that far away so planning on what to change to or
what to use is appropriate now.

I'll continue to use my WebDAV access until they disable it. Then I'll
switch to the Connector. I really don't like the Connector.

 

[S. Graham]

My Hotmail accounts would be considered "Legacy" accounts - in continuous
use since 2003 (or before). Even if HTTP/WebDAV support will remain in
effect until January of 2009 access through Outlook (2002) has vanished. In
the interim I am using the new "Windows Live Mail" client program - until I
can review all of my subscriptions and redirect them to new accounts.
The more mail clients and freebie mail services I look at the better Mozilla
Thunderbird and Gmail appear. I grow weary of being pushed backwards down
the hill every time Microsoft decides it is time to "upgrade."
(Apologies for the rant - my exasperation showing through. I've spent
decades in PC Support and currently want to work with my system instead of
tweaking it yet again - like a mechanic who built a fine car and now wants
to spend time driving it before going back into the garage to begin another
build.)

S. Graham