Microsoft has just released a new tool to help administrators and users troubleshoot common issues with Office 365. The Support and Recovery Assistant for Office 365 is an easy-to-use tool that works by running tests to figure out what is wrong. It can fix some problems for us, or it can provide guidance on how to fix them ourselves.
The current version is mainly focused on more common scenarios users encounter with Outlook, but it will gain new troubleshooting and resolution capabilities in the future. The tool is built to automatically update itself as these new capabilities become available.
To download the Support and Recovery Assistant tool, visit http://diagnostics.outlook.com. Click the Download now button and then Install:
The tool will then be downloaded and once complete the installation process will begin:
Accept the Microsoft Services Agreement by clicking in I agree:
And the tool will launch. From the main screen we can see all the products/services that the tool currently helps troubleshoot:
If we select, for example, Outlook, we are presented with further options. Each of these options will have its own set of tests and troubleshooting steps that will vary according to the issue and the options chosen by the user.
Let’s say I am getting password prompts with my Outlook:
We are then asked if the problem is with the local machine or not:
We provide our credentials for our mailbox:
This allows the tool to login on our behalf and run all the tests it needs:
As expected, as I am not actually experiencing any credential prompt issues, the tool reports that everything seems to be working fine:
But it will still run a few more tests if we want to such as clear the saved credentials:
Try to launch Outlook in Safe mode:
Checking that the is an anti-virus installed and that it is working:
Creating a new Outlook profile:
But because I skipped all the tests, I received the following message 🙂
Support and Recovery Assistant for Office 365 is definitely a great new tool to have at hand!