Last November, my ASUS laptop forced me to update to Windows 8.1. Since then, I cannot connect to my organization's mobile EAS using the Mail/Calendar/People app. The Mail app says "We could not connect to .... because of problems with its digital certificates. Contact your system administrator for info." I also tried to delete the account and recreate it. At the account info screen, it gave a related error message, stating "To connect to this account, you need a valid certificate on the PC. Contact your system administrator for more info."
In trying to recreate the account, I note that the 8.1 Mail app appears to have combined all EAS connections -- I seem to recall different options for connecting previously, including one that was more specific to mobile EAS connections. My organization only supports connection to mobile devices, and I continue to be able to connect via Windows phone, Android (iOS devices also supported).
I have done some digging and see that in my Windows Certificate Manager, there is a Personal Certificate with an error message. It's a "Token Signing Public Key" for "Client Authentication" using an RSA Public Key, but under the Certification Path tab, the status states "The issuer of the certificate could not be found." I suspect this is the certificate that my organization's server is sending but is no longer being recognized by Windows 8.1.
My organization has been unwilling to support me on this. They point to the fact that all other devices work, my connection worked with Windows 8.0, and they don't have enough users that connect via Windows 8.1 laptops/tablets to troubleshoot on their end. They also don't want to change setting that then cause other users to lose connectivity on the more commonly used mobile devices.
So, to trouble shoot myself, I have looked up posts on related issues and I have done all of the following to no avail:
- Make sure my Windows is up to date, including that latest Certificate/Credential update;
- Uninstalled the Mail/Calender/People App, restarted, and reinstalled it;
- Had MS Online support try to trouble shoot. They created a test account and tried to connect using that to no avail.
Notably, I have two Windows 8.1 machines -- my wife and I got matching ASUS laptops that both upgraded to 8.1 from 8.0 -- and I am unable to connect to my organization's mobile EAS using either machine.
To me, this is clearly a Windows 8.1 issue. The Mail/Calendar/People app should interface with mobile EAS exactly the same way that other mobile OSes do. Apparently this was the case with Windows 8.0, but no longer.
The last thing I'll add is that my organization requires password and remote wiping when connecting to the mobile EAS. But, this wasn't an issue when I had Windows 8.0 -- it connected fine and mandated password and remote wipe features.
NOTE: I originally posted this question on the Windows 8.1 Tehchnet forum and was told by an MS Engineer Soumya Sunda Debroy to repost in this forum.
PLEASE ADVISE. YOUR HELP IS APPRECIATED.
- Dan