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As just a guy with my own (family) domain I'm looking for guides or any information on hosting the autodiscover.xml file on my own domain, without an exchange server, and point it to outlook.com (and possibly to other mail providers based on user id), so that as someone with an outlook.com account that can send as me@mydomain.example, I can just enter my mail address and my outlook.com password into Outlook and it starts to synchronize my mails and my calendars through the exchange protocol.

I tried all of the guides I could find online but all of them seem to assume that I am the admin of an Exchange server. None of them explain how to use outlook.com or any other 3rd party mail provider either.

I tried the Remote Connectivity Analyzer but I have the strong suspicion that it is simply not designed to work for my setup given that I'm not using an AD, and I'm reluctant to point it to outlook.com given that I'm not an outlook.com administrator.

My domains are hosted on a shared LAMP server. I have access to my DNS records, have sub-domains and can do HTTPS.

Edit: Adding the CNAME to autodiscover.outlook.com does not work. Using the Connectivity Analyzer I can see that it finds the right MS server and tries to POST to it to get the autodiscover.xml but fails (with a 404).

Fozi
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  • It is probably enough to create a CNAME autodiscover that points to autodiscover.outlook.com. – LPChip Aug 19 '17 at 20:32
  • @LPChip I tried it (a while ago and now again), unfortunately it does not work. Even though I can log in with my mail address on outlook.com, it does not seem to accept my credentials for autodiscover and so does not return the autodiscover.xml (found out using the MS remote connectivity analyzer). – Fozi Aug 19 '17 at 20:49
  • Try this method. Also please add some more info as to why the CNAME method did not work, and what happens when you test it via nslookup and typing in the name of the hostname you created (e.g., autodiscover.example.com). I assume you control your DNS server? – harrymc Aug 22 '17 at 09:25
  • If I'm reading your question correctly, you're asking 1) How do I host my own Autodiscover.XML file, and 2) How do I customize it to make Outlook automatically connect to the appropriate e-mail provider based on the e-mail address I provide? – I say Reinstate Monica Aug 22 '17 at 17:38
  • @Twisty Yes, the "appropriate e-mail provider" being outlook.com using the exchange protocol. I know how to set up Outlook with IMAP/SMTP, not looking for that, but it would be a nice bonus if I could use autodiscover to do that for the accounts that use e.g. Gmail. – Fozi Aug 22 '17 at 20:59
  • @harrymc Good point, I'll try that. The process went way beyond DNS, the error is X-AutoDiscovery-Error: LiveIdBasicAuth:UnfamiliarLocation:<X-forwarded-for:40.85.91.8><PTS:False><XmlAuth-Consumer-202ms-473ms-3ms-ppserver=-puid=00030000BB43063E><Token has UnfimiliarLocaiton bit in AuthFlags set. Fail auth for UnfamiliarLocaiton>LiveIdXmlAuth logon failure - unfamiliar location<UserType:OutlookCom>; – Fozi Aug 22 '17 at 21:01
  • Your first paragraph seems to basically ask "How can I host an autodiscover.xml on my own domain that lets me configure Outlook to use my Outlook.com e-mail address" Please tell me if I'm misunderstanding that paragraph. If I'm not then explain why you don't want to use the Autodiscover functionality already provided by Outlook.com – I say Reinstate Monica Aug 23 '17 at 01:41
  • Check also for some interesting errors in the Event Viewer. – harrymc Aug 23 '17 at 07:24
  • @Fozi Can you respond to my question above. I feel like I have an answer for you, but need to be certain I correctly understand the question first. – I say Reinstate Monica Aug 28 '17 at 14:23
  • @Twisty Yes, I think you got it. – Fozi Aug 28 '17 at 17:39
  • @Fozi I've written enough of an answer to see that you 1) Want Autodiscover to work for the Exchange accounts of a custom domain hosted on Outlook.com, and 2) Want to know how to host your own Autodiscover.xml. Further, you're proposing that you can solve request #1 by knowing how to do request #2. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Your question is suffering from the XY problem. At minimum it needs to be made into these two distinct questions, and request #1 should not pre-suppose that you need to host your own Autodiscover.xml file. – I say Reinstate Monica Aug 29 '17 at 03:14
  • Though I should clarify that it's indeed helpful to explain that you've already tried to solve your question #1 by working on question #2. It's not helpful however to state from the get-go that your goal is to get guides or any information on hosting the autodiscover.xml file on my own domain when trying to ask how to leverage the Autodiscover process for your custom Exchange-based accounts hosted on Outlook.com. – I say Reinstate Monica Aug 29 '17 at 03:20
  • @Twisty I'm not sure what you mean with "custom domain hosted on outlook.com". My domain is not hosted on outlook.com in any way. The only connection is that for some (!) mail accounts on my domain all mails are forwarder to a respective outlook.com mail address and that the outlook.com mail address is set up to be able to send as those mails (see "Connected Accounts"). – Fozi Aug 29 '17 at 12:50
  • @Fozi Then I misunderstood that part of your question. Your question is not clear. You have not mentioned the fact you are forwarding mail to an Outlook.com account. I still suggest you break down (or simplify) your question to improve its chances of being answered. – I say Reinstate Monica Aug 29 '17 at 12:54

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