Thunderbird & Gmail Woes
I am currently running version 94.0b5. I have usd Thunderbird as my email client for years and all my gmail messages flow in and out through thunderbird seemlessly, that is until today! I suddenly got a Google Sign-in popup window on my screen and realised it was my thunderbird client prompting this. I happily re-entered my username and passord, got the confirmation message to my mobile phone which I duly acknowledged and found myself in an infinite loop as the system was telling thunderbird that it couldn't log into the server. Probably the wrong configuration, username or password. I've spent the past 3 hours now trying to fix the problem. I even deleted my gmail account from my thunderbird list of accounts and tried entering everything again but still no joy. Incoming Server Details as follows:- Protocol: IMAP Hostname: imap.gmail.com Port: 993 Connection: SSL/TLS Authentication: OAuth2 Username: [correct] Outgoing Server Details as follows:- Hostname: smtp.gmail.com Port: 465 Connection: SSL/TLS Authentication: OAuth2 Username: [correct]
Can anyone tell me what is going on? I've deleted all my gmail saved passwords in my thunderbird passwords box and I've even checked to make sure that gmail haven't messed up my account details (username and password) but that all seems fine and I can still log in to gmail and view my messages via firefox so I am at a complete loss. Help is very much required! Kind regards Greg
Alle svar (7)
Are cookies accepted in TB Preferences? It's necessary for OAuth to complete.
Yes, cookies are accepted. As I mentioned, everything was working just fine until suddenly out of the blue I got a google popup asking me you enter my credentials and since then I've not been able to get thunderbird to accept my login
My gmail works fine in the latest beta, 95b3, and 91, but I don't think the version matters. Do you have a VPN, and what is the antivirus and its email settings? Both of these can interfere with connections. It might also help to remove passwords and oauth tokens from Saved Passwords, restart TB, enter the account password in the OAuth window and see if it completes the authentication.
I am still struggling here. I've read numerous threads on this topic and whilst many people find that the advice fixes their issues, I am still without a solution. It is beyond me how my gmail account within thunderbird can be working fine one minute and then suddenly out of the blue I get authentication errors that cannot be resolved. I've removed and added my gmail account over 10 times now and even delved into the settings and removed references to google and/or gmail in the hope that historical info is not causing issues. I've shut down thunderbird and relaunched it each time I removed the gmail setings. I've even shut down my pc and rebooted. I've disabled my norton antivirus and my browser based vpn. I've talked nicely to it and sworn at it in equal measure. I've attempted to resolve this so many times that now Google think that I'm a scammer and have temporarily disabled by login. I've been a loyal thunderbird since the first release in 2004 but if I cannot get this fixed I may have to revert to outlook which is not something I want to do but I need a place where all my email accounts can be accessed in one go. Somebody out there must be able to help me surely? P.S. I really hate computers, life was so simple once upon a time.
If you uninstall Norton and the VPN, you should be able to connect. You can't blame TB if these other factors are the source of the problem.
Hello sfhowes. Thank you for your response and recommendation. Please can you clarify as your comment appears a little drastic. You are asking me to uninstall my antivirus and my vpn software both of which have been on my pc for many years and I have never had any issues with accessing my gmail messages within thunderbird in the past. Why can I not just disable these programs? What is the justification for removing them and if after they are removed, would I be able to restore them or are they gone for good? I am sure you can understand my concerns as having antivirus and vpn on computers these days is seen as a prerequisite. I look forward to your reply. Regards
You don't have to remove them permanently, but merely 'disabling' Norton might not be sufficient to eliminate its effects. The built-in Windows Defender will operate in Norton's absence, and you may find it's just as effective without the Norton issues. As for the VPN, they are designed to obscure your location, so obviously they interfere with Google authentication. I wouldn't regard them as a prerequisite.
Running Windows in safe mode with networking bypasses startup apps like Norton, so that is another way to test.