// EMAIL SUPPORT
Virgin Media email won’t add to the new Outlook
The new Outlook — the one with the toggle in the corner — either spins for a minute and gives up on your Virgin Media address, adds it and then never fetches a single message, or announces that something went wrong without saying what. Classic Outlook had the account for years without complaint. The address still works in a web browser. This page covers virginmedia.com, ntlworld.com and blueyonder.co.uk addresses alike, because they are all Virgin Media email now: why the new Outlook struggles with them, the app password it needs, the settings Virgin itself publishes, and what to do when Virgin won’t give you an app password.
Rated 4.9 on GoogleFamily-run since 1995 · no fix, no fee/01 — WHY THE NEW OUTLOOK STRUGGLES
A different program that adds accounts a different way
The new Outlook is not an update to the old one. It is a separate program that sets up accounts in its own way; for Gmail and Yahoo, Microsoft says it syncs a copy of the mail through its own data centres. For a Microsoft or Google address that is seamless. For an address from a broadband provider it has to guess the settings, and the guess is often wrong: it picks the old POP method instead of IMAP, tries a port the provider has retired, or leaves the outgoing server without the sign-in Virgin requires. The result is the spinning circle, or an account that appears but stays empty.
Two more things about Virgin addresses in particular. First, Outlook cannot sign in with your normal Virgin password. Virgin’s own help page says every email program — Outlook, Thunderbird, the mail app on a phone — needs a separate Virgin Media Mail app password; the normal password only opens webmail. It is the first thing to check when Outlook refuses, and section 03 shows where to get it. Second, ntlworld, blueyonder and virgin.net addresses are older Virgin brands that now run through the same Virgin Media email service, so everything on this page applies to them too, app password included.
// WINDOWS PCS ONLY
We do not support Outlook on Apple Macs, iPads or iPhones. Apple does not allow our remote-support tool to take control of an iPad or iPhone (an Apple restriction), and our remote support covers Windows PCs only. On an Apple device, Microsoft’s own Outlook help is the place to start.
// FIX IT WITH ME · STEP BY STEP
Add the Virgin Media account, step by step
The steps from this guide, one at a time, in the order that fixes the most cases fastest. Tell it what happened and it shows the next step. Nothing here leaves your device.Last reviewed 10 October 2026
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01Two minutes that tell you whether the account itself works
Before touching Outlook, sign in to Virgin Media’s webmail with the full address and your normal My Virgin Media password. Webmail is the one place that still takes the normal password, so it tells you whether the account itself is healthy. Full detail in the guide below ↓
Has the account added? -
02Get the Virgin app password first
Outlook signs in to your Virgin mailbox with a separate Virgin Media Mail app password, not the password you use for My Virgin Media or webmail. Virgin’s help page describes making one in the My Virgin Media app on your phone: go to Account settings, then Account details; under Virgin Media… Full detail in the guide below ↓
Has the account added? -
03Enter the settings Virgin publishes, manually
Remove the failed account from the new Outlook if it half-added, then add it again, and this time do not let Outlook guess. In its settings, under Accounts, choose to add an account, enter the address, and when it fails or offers the choice, take the manual or advanced route and pick IMAP, not POP. Full detail in the guide below ↓
Has the account added? -
04Or use classic Outlook, which still adds it
If the new Outlook will not take the account however carefully the settings are entered — it happens, and it is not you — switch back. The toggle at the top-right of the new Outlook returns you to classic Outlook, which adds provider accounts the way it always has and is still supported. Full detail in the guide below ↓
Has the account added?
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Send yourself a test email to be sure it both sends and receives.
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Virgin Media email won’t add to the new Outlook - the fix order (365techies.co.uk/virgin-media-email-wont-add-to-new-outlook/) 1. Two minutes that tell you whether the account itself works: Before touching Outlook, sign in to Virgin Media’s webmail with the full address and your normal My Virgin Media password. Webmail is the one place that still takes the normal password, so it tells you whether the account itself is healthy. 2. Get the Virgin app password first: Outlook signs in to your Virgin mailbox with a separate Virgin Media Mail app password, not the password you use for My Virgin Media or webmail. Virgin’s help page describes making one in the My Virgin Media app on your phone: go to Account settings, then Account details; under Virgin Media… 3. Enter the settings Virgin publishes, manually: Remove the failed account from the new Outlook if it half-added, then add it again, and this time do not let Outlook guess. In its settings, under Accounts, choose to add an account, enter the address, and when it fails or offers the choice, take the manual or advanced route and pick IMAP, not POP. 4. Or use classic Outlook, which still adds it: If the new Outlook will not take the account however carefully the settings are entered — it happens, and it is not you — switch back. The toggle at the top-right of the new Outlook returns you to classic Outlook, which adds provider accounts the way it always has and is still supported. Still stuck? 365 Techies fix it remotely: 01202 775566 - https://365techies.co.uk/remote-support/// NEED THIS FIXED RIGHT NOW?
Skip the DIY — call 01202 775566 and we can be looking at your screen within minutes. You watch everything we do, and most problems on this page are fixed in one short remote session. (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm.)
/02 — PROVE THE ACCOUNT
Two minutes that tell you whether the account or Outlook is at fault
Before touching Outlook, sign in to Virgin Media’s webmail with the full address and your normal My Virgin Media password. Webmail is the one place that still takes the normal password, so it tells you whether the account itself is healthy.
- Webmail refuses the password. The account is the problem; no Outlook setting will help until it is sorted. Reset the password through My Virgin Media and try again. If Virgin has told you the mailbox is suspended, that is Virgin’s move to Junara, covered in section 06.
- Webmail opens and the mail is there. The account is fine and the problem is on the Outlook side. That is the usual outcome and the good one. Check first that Outlook is being given the app password, not the normal one; section 03 covers it.
While you are in webmail, check the newest message’s date. If mail is still arriving there, nothing is lost and the job is purely to get Outlook to see it.
/03 — THE APP PASSWORD
Get the Virgin app password first
Outlook signs in to your Virgin mailbox with a separate Virgin Media Mail app password, not the password you use for My Virgin Media or webmail. Virgin’s help page describes making one in the My Virgin Media app on your phone: go to Account settings, then Account details; under Virgin Media Mail, tap Manage next to ‘Manage your Virgin Media Mail app password’, then Generate new App password. Write it down exactly as shown.
Two things catch people out:
- A new app password stops the old one. Any phone, tablet or other computer already reading the mailbox stops until you give it the new password too. Note everything that checks this address before you make one.
- A second address on the account has to be signed in as itself. Signed in as the main account holder, you only see the app password for the main address. For a partner’s or a second mailbox, sign out of the app and sign back in with that address and its own password — Virgin’s help says additional accounts are managed that way.
If the option is simply not there, you are not alone. Since Virgin moved its logins to the Virgin Media O2 ID, Virgin’s own community forum has filled with people who cannot find it, especially for second mailboxes. Using your normal password in Outlook will not get round it, however many times Outlook is reinstalled: Virgin’s settings page is clear that email programs need the app password. Your mail is safe meanwhile, because webmail still opens with the normal password — and if you are moving to Gmail anyway, we built our own tool, the 365 Mail Mover, that moves it into Gmail without an app password. Call us on 01202 775566 and we will look at it with you before any charge.
/04 — ADD IT BY HAND
The settings Virgin publishes, entered manually
Remove the failed account from the new Outlook if it half-added, then add it again, and this time do not let Outlook guess. In its settings, under Accounts, choose to add an account, enter the address, and when it fails or offers the choice, take the manual or advanced route and pick IMAP, not POP.
At the time of writing, Virgin Media’s own help pages give these settings: incoming server imap.virginmedia.com on port 993 with SSL; outgoing server smtp.virginmedia.com on port 465 with SSL; the username is your full email address; the password, for incoming and outgoing alike, is the app password from section 03, not your normal one; and the outgoing server requires authentication, using the same address and app password. Enter each one yourself rather than accepting what Outlook filled in. Providers change these occasionally, so if it still refuses, check them against Virgin’s own email settings page rather than a forum post — and if anything on this page ever disagrees with Virgin’s, Virgin is right.
Once it connects, the folders fill over a few minutes. One thing worth knowing: Microsoft says the new Outlook syncs a copy of Gmail and Yahoo mail through its data centres, but has not said clearly how IMAP accounts such as Virgin are handled. If you want to be sure your Virgin mail does not pass through Microsoft, the classic Outlook in section 05 connects directly.
/05 — THE FALLBACK
Classic Outlook still works, and it is one toggle away
If the new Outlook will not take the account however carefully the settings are entered — it happens, and it is not you — switch back. The toggle at the top-right of the new Outlook returns you to classic Outlook, which adds provider accounts the way it always has and is still supported. Add the Virgin account there with the same manual IMAP settings and the same app password; classic Outlook needs it too. We have a separate guide to the switch, including what to do if the toggle has gone missing.
Two other things that often unstick a stubborn account. If it added but shows nothing, remove it and add it again from scratch rather than editing; the new Outlook hides half of an account’s settings and editing rarely reaches the wrong one. And if the account adds but cannot send, the outgoing server is the likely culprit: port 465, SSL, and sign-in required with the app password, exactly as Virgin states.
If you would rather not spend an evening on it, this is a fifteen-minute job for us over a remote session, while you watch and keep the password to yourself.
/06 — THE BIGGER QUESTION
Virgin email is moving to Junara: keep paying, or move?
Once Outlook is working again, spend five minutes on this, because Virgin Media email is changing hands. Virgin is handing its whole email service — virginmedia.com, ntlworld.com, blueyonder.co.uk and virgin.net — to a company called Junara. To keep your address you sign up with Junara before the date in the email Virgin sends you. If you still have Virgin broadband, TV or a landline, the first 12 months are free (plus a 99p transfer fee); after that, and from the start if you have left Virgin, you pay Junara monthly or yearly for each mailbox, at a price shown once you start the sign-up. Miss the date and the mailbox is suspended; 120 days later it is deleted for good.
If you do sign up, the Outlook setup on this page carries on: Virgin says email programs such as Outlook should not need any settings changed after the transfer. If you would rather not pay every year, the alternative is an address that belongs to you rather than your provider — Gmail or Outlook.com for most people — with the Virgin address forwarding into it while friends, the bank and the shops are moved across at your own pace. We have written up how to move Virgin email to Gmail, and we do the whole move for you for £60 per email address, agreed before we start.
Watch out for fake ‘Junara’ emails. Virgin says its own emails contain no sign-up link and never ask for payment details, so do not pay through an emailed link or a phone call. If you are not sure, call us before you click.
Source: Virgin Media, email server settings and email service change, read 26 September 2026, and Virgin Media O2’s announcement of 9 September 2026.
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// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
What are the Virgin Media email settings for Outlook?
Virgin’s own help page gives: incoming (IMAP) imap.virginmedia.com on port 993 with SSL; outgoing (SMTP) smtp.virginmedia.com on port 465 with SSL, with authentication. The username is your full email address, and the password for both is your Virgin Media Mail app password, not your normal password. Choose IMAP, not POP. If Outlook still refuses, check them against Virgin’s email settings page, which is the final word.
Why can’t I get a Virgin Media app password?
The usual reasons: you are looking in webmail, which does not have it, rather than the My Virgin Media app, which is where Virgin describes making it (Account settings, Account details, Virgin Media Mail); or it is a second address on the account, which has to be signed in to the app as itself, with its own password. Since Virgin moved logins to the Virgin Media O2 ID, many people report the option missing altogether. Your normal password will not work in Outlook instead. Webmail still opens with the normal password, so your mail is safe; call us on 01202 775566 and we will look at it with you. Moving to Gmail anyway? We built our own tool, the 365 Mail Mover, that moves a mailbox into Gmail without an app password.
Do ntlworld and blueyonder addresses use the same settings?
They are older Virgin brands whose email now runs through Virgin Media’s service, so they use the same servers, the same manual IMAP setup and the same app password as a virginmedia.com address. If in doubt, Virgin’s own settings page is the reference.
Can I go back to the old Outlook?
Yes. The toggle at the top-right of the new Outlook switches back to classic Outlook, which is still supported and adds provider accounts the way it always did. It still needs the Virgin app password, but for a stubborn Virgin account it is often the quickest route, and we have a separate guide to the switch.
I have left Virgin Media — is my email gone?
Not necessarily. Virgin is handing its email service to Junara, and existing addresses can be kept by signing up with Junara and paying for them before the date in the email Virgin sends you. Miss that date and the mailbox is suspended, then deleted 120 days later, and deleted mail cannot be recovered. If you would rather not pay, move what you need out first: we can move it all to Gmail for £60 per address.
Should I move to Gmail or Outlook.com instead?
If you would rather not pay Junara every year, or might ever change broadband supplier, yes: an address from your provider lives only as long as the account. The move can be gradual — the new address in place, the Virgin one forwarding into it — and we have written up the steps and do it for people remotely.
// Still stuck?
Still won’t add?
We set up email in Outlook and on phones for people across Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset — usually remotely, while you watch. Call 01202 775566.
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