CRM 2011 – Outlook plugin: Cannot connect to Microsoft Dynamics CRM server because we cannot authenticate your credentials

Author: Daniel Nikolic

When installing the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 plugin for Outlook on a Windows 8 machine it’s possible that you receive error:

“Cannot connect to Microsoft Dynamics CRM server because we cannot authenticate your credentials. Check your connection or contact your administrator for more help.”

In the logfile ‘C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\MSCRM\Logs\Crm50ClientConfig.log’ we see the following error message:

12:58:40|  Error| Error connecting to URL: https://crmwebsite.com/XRMServices/2011/Discovery.svc Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly ‘Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

The solution is simple; go to appwiz.cpl — Turn Windows features on or off — enable Windows Identity Foundation 3.5 — Restart your machine

If this doesn’t do the trick, try to logon with domain\username.

Daniel Nikolic