How to fix error 0x80004005 (The Operation Failed) in Outlook

If you use the desktop version of Outlook, there’s a chance that you may eventually get the “Sending and receiving reported error “0x80004005”: The operation failed’” when trying to send or receive new emails.

The error 0x80004005 is a common problem in Outlook, whether you’re using the email client from Microsoft 365, Office 2019, Office 2016, or earlier versions, and it could be caused by a number of reasons, including from a third-party antivirus blocking scripts, malicious attack, missing or corrupt keys in the Registry, or a problem with your Outlook profile.

Whatever the reason it might be, if you’re dealing with this issue, and you previously were able to send and receive emails from the cloud, then the best resolution is to create and switch to a new Outlook profile.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn the steps to resolve error 0x80004005 with the “The operation failed” message in desktop version of Outlook on Windows 10.

How to resolve error 0x80004005 in Outlook

To resolve error 0x80004005 sending and receiving emails in Microsoft Outlook, use these steps:

1. Open Control Panel.

2. Click on User Accounts.

3. Click on Mail (Microsoft Outlook).

   

4. Click the Show profiles button.

   

5. Click the Add button.

   

   Quick tip: You don’t want to remove the old profile, as you might need it to restore information in the future.

6. Confirm a new name for the profile to resolve the “Sending and receiving reported error “0x80004005”: The operation failed’” problem.

7. Click the OK button.

8. Select the Manual setup or additional server types option.

   

9. Click the Next button.

10. Select the Office 365 option (if applicable).

    

    Quick note: This option selection and the next steps will depend upon the service that you’re using.

11. Confirm your email address.

12. Click the Next button.

13. Continue with the on-screen directions (if applicable).

14. Click the Finish button.

15. Under the “Always use this profile” option, select the newly created profile.

    

16. Click the Apply button.

17. Click the OK button.

Once you complete the steps, you’ll start with new profile and you should no longer see the error 0x80004005 trying to receive emails from an online service.

If the rare case that the problem continues, and you’re using a third-party antivirus, such as Norton Antivirus, then you can also try disabling the scripting blocking feature from the app configurations. Or if you’re running Windows 10, you can remove the antivirus and revert back to the Microsoft Defender Antivirus to see if that fixes the problem.