Fix Outlook Error Code 8 While Using Exchange Server

On accessing Outlook, receiving error code 8 is quite a common encounter for most. The error states the issue to be with the security certificate of the proxy server. Regardless of updating the security certificate, the error doesn’t seem to go away. This happens to prolong the issue resulting in making the user completely baffled how to resolve the condition.
This post discusses the error in detail and offers to show a bright side to the problem by discussing the issues that led to it.

Security Certificate Missing or Not Assigned as Trusted

An amazing yet greatly trusted client, Outlook has been the premium choice of most users. There are more than a dozen of email programs available in the market yet the preference for most is Microsoft-provided Outlook client. The desktop mail client offers more than simply emailing and ensures that business needs are fulfilled for users with the provision of Personal Information Management facilities. Nevertheless, technical errors tend to emerge no matter how perfect an application is or claims to be.
The issue that this blog is referring to generally occurs when Outlook is used in offline mode, i.e. when Outlook working in connection with the server is disconnected from the environment. As part of the consequences, email data access is lost by the users in this condition. Similarly, error code 8 comes under the same condition, which makes it encountered more commonly by users. Following are a few details regarding the error code 8 which is led by an issue with security certification.

Reasons for Encountering Error Code 8

The following reasons lead to the occurrence of the given error in Outlook when access to its store email messages is made.

• Security certificates in the Exchange Server when not purchased from a reliable certification source may cause the issue to arise.
• On the other hand, if the certificate is acquired from a reliable source but is not published on the local machine as a Trusted Root Certificate Authorities, then it may cause trouble for the user.

Number of Ways to Resolve Error Code 8

There have been security certificate issues happening with all kinds of users and most choose to ward it off on their own. Following are the number of ways that can be applied in a similar condition for resolving error code 8 in Exchange Outlook.
Note: Some of the solutions are applicable only when the certificate has been self-assigned and is not added as the ‘Trusted Root Certificate Authorities’. Close Outlook while applying these fixes:

• Publish the certificate on the end user’s machine and trust it
• In a condition where the certificate is already installed and is still not being trusted, click on the View Certificate option. Select ‘Install Certificate’.
• Disable any / all third-party add-ins that may probably be causing the trouble.

Read more: Outlook Email Error Codes and Message?

Method 1: Examine the Certification

Look over the certificate before attempting anything.To accomplish it, simply follow these simple steps:

1.  Start the computer’s Internet Explorer first. Next, enter https://www.server_name.com/rpc in the address bar to establish a connection to the RPC server or any other secure server. Press Enter.

2.  A padlock icon is visible in the browser’s lower-right corner. Click it twice.

3.  Click the Details tab now. Here, you must verify the data in these two fields:

Valid to: The validity period of the certificate is indicated in this column.

Subject: Verify that the input in this field corresponds to the name of the website.

Method 2: Set up a trusted root certificate.

Installing the trusted root certificate is the next step to take if the previous procedure is unsuccessful or ineffective in fixing Outlook problem code 8. To do it, simply follow these simple steps:

1. Select Install Certificate from the Certificate dialog box. The next stage can then be reached by clicking the Next button.

2.  Select the option labeled “Place all certificate in the following shop.” Press the Browse button.

3. After selecting the Reliable Root Certification Authorities, click OK. Click the Next button.

4. Lastly, select OK and Finish.

Method 3: Eliminate Third-Party Add-ins

If you have attempted the two aforementioned fixes but are still seeing error code 8 in Outlook, it is possible that third-party add-ins are the cause of the issue. It is therefore preferable to launch the Outlook client in safe mode. To launch Outlook.exe/safe, click Start > Run, then press Enter. If the Outlook client launches without any issues in safe mode. Any third-party add-ins you may be utilizing are the true culprit. It is never easy to identify the problematic add-ons if there are too many of them. Therefore, you should attempt to disable each one individually before deleting any. You will locate the problematic add-in that you need to delete from the Outlook client. although it might take some time.

Conclusion:

As Discuss above are some of the possible solutions that can be applied to fix the issue of not being able to access emails due to Security Certificate error code 8. It is suggested that the user examines the availability and installation of the certificate before applying any of the fixes and validates the authenticity of it before trusting it.