Lync 14.0.10 and up login weirdness

AVmcclint
Honored Contributor

I'm seeing some strangeness that began with Lync 14.0.10 and continues with 14.0.11. Under 14.0.9, we launch Lync, and login either with ID & PW or Kerberos and everything is fine. I upgraded some machines to 14.0.10, now after they login successfully via ID & PW or Kerberos, they get another login window that pops up with a check box to remember password - even after they are already logged in. Clicking Cancel on that 2nd login window does not disconnect them. If they input their credentials into that 2nd login window and check the box to remember password, it goes away, but when they quit and relaunch Lync, that 2nd login window comes right back with the box checked to remember password, but the user still needs to fill it out every time. I've deleted every preference file and keychain item related to Lync with no change in behavior. This also happens on virgin systems, freshly imaged with a clean installation of Lync. Our Windows server admins give the default "It's a Mac problem" answer when I ask if there's a configuration setting to check on the server. Does anyone else see this issue? EDIT: we're running OS X 10.9.5 and 10.10.3

10 REPLIES 10

Josh_Smith
Contributor III

I have not seen this issue on 10.9.5 or 10.10.3. We are installing Lync 14.0.11 with the MS pkg, signing in using Username and Password only.

jonnydford
Contributor II

We've seen this a lot on 14.0.10/11. 09 seems to work normally.

Haven't found a fix for it yet.

mnapier
New Contributor II

If I remember correctly, when this happened to me. I was able to fix it by first signing out of Lync, then on the "Email Address" pop up. I chose "Clear all saved accounts". Next time I signed in I didn't get the "mystery post login-login window". I don't know why it worked, it just seemed to be the right thing to try.

sgoetz
Contributor

If Im understanding you correctly its an issue with Lync trying to read your Calander. The fix for that is to delete the following from the users home folder.

/Users/USERNAME/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Microsoft Lync Data/ (Delete the Lync Data folder)

You do not have to delete the Lync HIstory folder. Than restart Lync and all should be good after that.

AVmcclint
Honored Contributor

sgoetz, I've deleted everything there is to delete relating to Lync with no change. And as I said in the original post, this also happens on virgin setups with ZERO Lync files to delete.

nessts
Valued Contributor II

I think all Lync login issues, stability issues etc can all be tracked down to network and/or server stability. My companies Lync can be great at times and horrible at other times, I also have several other accounts that I have Lync accounts on and the stability from one to the next, what works on one and does not on another, or when I am at one customer site with poor network versus when I am at home on a fast stable network seems to prove this out. I would start by getting off WiFi if you are on WiFi and see if that helps, then start talking to network teams and the team that manages the Lync infrastructure.

AVmcclint
Honored Contributor

I agree 100%. Like many of you, I am the minority Mac admin/engineer in a sea of Windows servers. I have to go above and beyond normal troubleshooting and research to produce irrefutable proof that the problem is on the Windows side of the house before they will even entertain the idea of the possibility that something isn't configured right - "it works just fine on the PCs." All signs point toward something on the Lync or Exchange servers but I don't have access to those servers nor the expertise to know what I'm looking at if I did have access. I've gone through Microsoft's support sites and they all say the same thing sgoetz said, and nothing more. I was hoping someone else out there may have experienced this as well, but with the difference of having cooperative Windows server admins willing to look into the problem instead of immediately dismissing it as "just a Mac problem for the Mac guy to fix". With Lync soon to be replaced with Skype for Business, I have a feeling that this is going to get worse.
For the record, I've attached a screenshot of what the second login window looks like for those who may not know what I'm talking about. I've obfuscated the specifics but left the overall format. cdec13a0d4fd467fb61359169813bfa2

bentoms
Release Candidate Programs Tester

@AVmcclint we use Username & password aurh.

We see that window with every password change, haven't had a chance yet to figure out what keychain entry it's looking for.

cdev
Contributor III

We've seen the same issue with 10.10.2/3 and Lync 14.0.11 - it only started appearing, however, after enabling Kerberos for different systems. The odd part is it doesn't appear consistently -- some users have seen it (including myself), but I can't make it appear even by clearing all of my account data from my machine, keychain entries, etc. It just appears when it feels like it... That said, I only started seeing it after installing Outlook 15.8+/Offie 2016 Preview.

spalmer
Contributor III

I came across this as well when 14.0.10 was released. Here is my fix I sent out to users (modified for a more general audience).

The Lync 2011 for Mac 14.0.10 update is causing an issue for some people where it will always bring up a second login prompt. To prevent it from prompting for login credentials a second time you must login at the main window using username@company.com in the User ID field. See the screenshot below. 8acc0c9bf8b348acb56a2d7d3f99a874 If you sign in at the main window with just your username in the User ID field it will login to Lync successfully, but it will fail to connect to your Exchange Calendar and prompt for credentials a second time. The second login prompt will only accept username@company.com in the Username field. e80c12326513442bad8cef2886861888 If you just use your username at the second prompt it will fail and repeatedly display this prompt. To further confuse the matter this second login window has "Save my password" checked by default so if you attempt to login with just a username it will save the incorrect login credentials in your Keychain. Any future login attempts with the correct Username of username@company.com and "Save my password" checked may not properly replace the incorrect credentials already saved in the Keychain causing this second prompt to always display with the incorrect Username when opening Lync. If you have this issue this can be fixed by completely quitting out of Lync and deleting the saved credentials out of the Keychain. To do this open Keychain Access (located in /Applications/Utilities/), type Lync in the search field and delete ALL Microsoft Lync entries of the kind "application password". 259eeeb9f50f4319912300c46fd87a5b Once these entries are deleted open Lync again and sign in at the main window using username@company.com as the User ID and you will no longer get the second login prompt. If you check the "Remember my password" box here it will save the correct credentials to your Keychain.

For a more technical description here is the feedback I submitted to Microsoft.

The main window in Lync has always allowed the use of both userid@domain.com and just userid for the User ID field. While the 14.0.10 update still allows this it will no longer allow login to Exchange this way and will bring up a separate "Lync - Services Sign In" window to re-enter your Exchange credentials. This second login prompt will ONLY allow userid@domain.com. So far not a huge deal as this can be corrected by using userid@domain.com in the User ID field of the main login window. The bug happens with how these two login prompts deal with the Keychain. Depending on what you enter for a username you can end up in a state where the second login prompt will always come up when opening Lync and ALWAYS have the incorrect username filled in. To get it into this state you must sign in at the Main window using just your userid in the User ID field and check the "Remember my password" box. Notice that when you look at the keychain entry in Keychain Access it saves it with the Account of userid@domain.com NOT just userid as entered in the main login window. Now the second login prompt will be displayed with the "Save my password" box checked by default. If the user incorrectly logs in with just the userid here it will save a SECOND entry in the Keychain. This entry will have the Account of userid. Because userid@domain.com wasn't entered it will display the second login prompt again. If the user then correctly re-enters their credentials using userid@domain.com with the "Save my password" box still checked it will update the FIRST entry created in the Keychain by the Main login window because it matches the account of userid@domain.com. This leaves an orphaned entry in the Keychain with the account of just userid. Because of this from now on every time Lync is opened it will always display the second login window with the incorrect UserID even if you are automatically logged in at the main login screen because the credentials were previously saved to the Keychain. There are three primary bugs here: 1) When the Main login window saves the credentials in the Keychain it does not correctly save what you have typed in the User ID field. It appears to save the email address instead. 2) At the second login screen it saves the entry to the Keychain without first verifying the credentials are correct. It is also in bad form to have the "Save my password" box checked by default especially when it saves incorrect credentials to the Keychain. 3) This issue did not appear in previous versions of the Lync client so whatever changed to require a full userid@domain.com to access Exchange should also be required at the main login window. This alone would make it impossible to get into this state if you started using Lync with 14.0.10 but it may still be possible to get into this state if you are upgrading from a previous version. This issue is 100% repeatable.