Thunderbird won't open
My Thunderbird has been working properly for about 30 years, but now refuses to open. Message received says 'Authentication failed'. This happens repeatedly (for at least 20-30 times) and appears to relate to my password. It suggests 'Retry' or 'Enter new password'. The 'Retry' repeats as before so I check the Saved Passwords and enter the one saved. I get the same message. I am using Version 115 and have been for some time.
Could this be related to a change of Profile? There must be a way to reset the password? I have checked all the settings and no errors appear, all settings confirmed.
I have thought about a Recovery Mode and seem to remember seeing a message that I do have that. I just don't know how to access it.
All Replies (4)
Maybe if you post a screenshot of your server settings, some ideas will surface. Thank you.
Graham, are you having trouble posting a screen shot?
115.10.1 is available at Help > About. Or download from website.
Graham Jones said
My Thunderbird has been working properly for about 30 years, but now refuses to open.
Do you normally use a 'Master' / 'Primary' Password ? This is something extra which you would have set up within Thunderbird and is nothing to do with account passwords.
Message says (and keeps saying) 'authentication failed' and presents an option to 'Retry' or 'Insert new password'. Neither of those work, I get the same answer.
You would only use the 'Insert New Password' IF you had actually logged on to webmail account and updated/changed your account password, so you actually had a new password to use. You cannot type in something different.
Is there any way I can reset my password eg: 'forgot password' or similar? I have version 115. Nobody seems to know.
If you normally have Thunderbird saving your passwords then they will be in the following location.
- Settings > Privacy & Security
- Scroll to Passwords section
- Click on 'Saved Passwords' button
- Click on 'Show Passwords' button
If you use Pop account and Authentication 'Normal Password' then you will lines starting : mailbox://account and outgoing smtp://account If you use Imap and Authentication 'Normal Password' then you will lines starting : imap://account and outgoing smtp://account IF you use Authentication Method 'OAuth2' regardless of pop or imap then you will see a line : OAuth2://account.
If you have accessed your webmail account and altered your password then you need to update th stored password in Thunderbird. Right click on each relevant line for the account and choose 'Edit Password' Completely clear all content and carefully type in the correct password.
If you have logged on to webmail account and changed normal password but in Thunderbird the account uses Authentication Method: OAuth then you need to select the oauth2://account line and click on Remove. Then when you restart Thunderbird you will get prompted by the gmail or yahoo or outlook server to enter password to prove you really are you and a new token gets stored in Thunderbird.
Many servers are updating their security when it comes to passwords. Some now require 2 step authentication which uses an app generated password and not the password you access webmail.
So, it depends upon what server you are connecting to and what Authentication Method you are currently using. To offer more advise we need to know:
- what server you are using
- what type of account
- current server settings
- what comes after the '@' in your email address. I believe people previously using cox servers are currently being migrated over to yahoo servers, so I do not know if this is effecting you. It could mean your srever settings need to be altered.
5. Please supply the following data to help us to help you: In Thunderbird
- Help > Troubleshooting Information
- Scroll down to 'Mail and News Accounts' section.
- Post an image of all data in that section OR copy all the text and paste it into this question.
IF you want to completely change your password then you can only do this via the webmail account using a browser. So try to logon to your webmail account - if you do not know password then you will see some words like 'Forgotten Password' which you click on and then follow the instructions to regain access to your account where you can then alter password.
Post your comment and information in this question - do not create another question.
Modified