Thunderbird won't connect to mail server while other packages do
Hello, I have been a looonng time user of Thunderbird, but my recent attempts to set up Tbird anew has been a painful experience. First of all, I am running Tbird on my desktop with zero problems. Because I will be traveling for 3 months, I wanted to move my desktop Tbird over to my notebook, so I copied over the entire profile into the default profile of the notebook. When I opened the notebook version, all the accounts were there but with multiple inboxs, drafts, sends for each account. Hmmm...
I thought that since tbird was already on my notebook, the copying over somehow added these additional mailbox items as opposed to overwriting them. So, I completely deleted Tbird from the notebook, including the profiles directory, and reloaded it spanking new, and again copied over the profile from the desktop. Well, all the accounts were there, but only one of them were able to sync with the mail server. Also the accounts only had an inbox. (I think this would have been fixed if I could have sycnc'd).
So, since these were all IMAP accounts, I decided to delete the funky accounts and just re-create them anew. I can't get a single account to connect to the server. This includes 1 gmail account! Each account has the EXACT SAME settings as the desktop account which works fine.
Am I going crazy? Well, to test if it was possibly a W10 problem, I installed another email package (Mailbird). In 3 minutes, I had 5 accounts automatically sync'd and downloading. I also manually configured an email account in this same client. No problem. So, it has to be Thunderbird.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I don't want to leave Thunderbird!
Thanks, Pradhan
Chosen solution
Wrt ESET disable SSL/TLS protocol filtering: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/troubleshoot-SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER#w_eset
Also, please post your Troubleshooting Information.
At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button 
, then select Help > Troubleshooting Information.
Press the Copy text to clipboard button and paste the information into your reply.
All Replies (7)
try disabling your email scanner. They tend to completely scramble the new account wizard trying to intercept email that does not exist and messing with the return messages so the account setup simply fails.
Well, I spoke (wrote) too soon. No matter what I do, I can't get Thunderbird to connect/verify my gmail account. Mind you, I have it connected (I now believe miraculously) on my home pc, but setting up TB afresh on my notebook...NOTHING WORKS. I have disconnected my antivirus (ESET), tried every IMAP configuration, including the one I have on my home PC. Nothing.
Again, I have tried Mailbird, and now MS Mail. It took no longer than 10 seconds to connect to my gmail account, and while I love the customization and add-ons of TB, for now I will have to put it to rest. This HAS to be a problem with TB because the other packages have no issue whatsoever connecting.
And what connection settings are they using? I still troubleshoot by checking the outlook express settings advertised by most providers.
As I have said many times before, Thunderbird opts for the most secure. Microsoft opt for the least secure. Needless to say least secure is also least trouble.
Additionally when you have the settings you can manually enter them.
Hi, I have tried virtually every setting available including matching the settings on my home pc. I have checked the settings that these other programs use, and matched those. BTW, both Mail and Mailbird use Gmails proprietary security (Google OAuth2) which I believe is only a recent addition to TB. So I don't believe its true that they use a lower security So, I have used: IMAP: imap.gmail.com imap.googlemail.com
SSL/TLS
Oauth2:993
Normal password
Authentication required password
I have lowered the security settings to use port 143 with Normal PW, Automatic, no password.
Gmail is set to accept lesser security.
The error message is always: Configuration could not be verified: username and PW wrong? Or Username or password invalid. Well, they are NOT invalid. I can connect everywhere with or without ESET anti-virus on/off.
What else might I do?
Chosen Solution
Wrt ESET disable SSL/TLS protocol filtering: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/troubleshoot-SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER#w_eset
Also, please post your Troubleshooting Information.
At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button , then select Help > Troubleshooting Information.
Press the Copy text to clipboard button and paste the information into your reply.
YES! Disabling the SSL in ESET did the trick. The funny thing is, I completely disabled ESET protection as part of my process of setting up the account! Yet here ESET is still enabled but simply shutting off the SSL filter temporarily allowed me to connect with Gmail.
Thanks so much for this helpful reply. I had all but given up!