How to make sure CodeTwo User Photos for Office 365 supports TLS 1.2

Problem:

Starting 31 October 2018, Microsoft makes TLS 1.2 the default security protocol in Office 365. TLS 1.0 and 1.1 still work, but Microsoft does not provide support in case of connection or compatibility issues.

This article explains how to ensure that CodeTwo User Photos for Office 365 supports TLS 1.2 for communication with Office 365. We recommend following the guidelines below because TLS 1.2 provides better security and allows you to avoid any possible Office 365 connection issues in the future (when Microsoft disables the older TLS versions).

Solution:

To make sure that CodeTwo User Photos for Office 365 supports TLS 1.2 in your environment, you need to:

• Ensure that you are using the latest version of the CodeTwo program (1.0.7 or newer), as it fully supports TLS 1.2. You can compare the number of the version you're using (displayed on the program's title bar) with the version on the software's download page.
• If you're not using the latest version, you need to update the software. For guidelines, see How to update CodeTwo User Photos for Office 365. This is the recommended solution.
• If it's not possible for you to update your CodeTwo software right away, you can manually enable TLS 1.2 for the .NET framework on your machine.

How to update CodeTwo User Photos for Office 365

The program checks for new versions automatically at startup (Fig. 1.). To install the latest version, click OK. When it's finished, you can launch the program. Transport Layer Security 1.2 is now supported.

Fig. 1. At startup, the software checks for updates automatically.

If, for some reason, you would like to skip the automatic installation and install the program manually, you need to:

1. Download the installer from the software's download page.
2. If CodeTwo User Photos for Office 365 is running, close it before you proceed.
3. Open the downloaded installation file and install the program.
4. The program now supports Transport Layer Security 1.2.

(Optional) Enable TLS 1.2 for the .NET framework on your machine

If you cannot update CodeTwo software to the latest version right away (which is our recommended solution), you can work around the problem manually by making the machine where the program is installed use TLS 1.2 for Schannel and .NET framework:

• first, you need to manually set TLS 1.2 as the default security protocol in your system by modifying the Windows registry (Schannel);
• then you need to set the .NET framework(s) on the machine to use your system's default TLS protocol. Learn how to check your .NET version

For more information and step-by-step guidelines, see this Microsoft blog article (the instructions provided in the article apply not only to the server versions of Windows, but also to the client versions of Windows, e.g. Windows 10).

Troubleshooting

This section describes problems that occur if your environment has TLS 1.0 and 1.1 disabled (TLS 1.2 is your only security protocol), and you're still using a version of CodeTwo User Photos for Office 365 that does not support TLS 1.2.

I am not able to log in to my Office 365 tenant in the program

When you log in to your Office 365 tenant at the program's startup, you get the following or similar error notification (Fig. 2.):

Failed to log in to Office 365 tenant.

Fig. 2. This error occurs if you use an old version of the program to connect to Office 365.

You experience this problem because the software version that you have does not support TLS 1.2 and is therefore not able to connect to Office 365.

To fix this error, you need to update the program to the latest version.

If you updated CodeTwo software to support TLS 1.2 but you still experience errors related to lack of TLS 1.2 connectivity, you should make sure your environment supports TLS 1.2 and has it enabled.

• See this MSDN article to learn about TLS 1.2 availability in Windows.
• If you're working in a server environment, see this Microsoft blog article for additional information. Some older systems (such as Windows Server 2008) have TLS 1.2 disabled or do not support it at all. The article shows how to ensure your Windows Server and Exchange Server version supports TLS 1.2.