
Can't consistently login to thunderbird using single sign on through vpn (blank login window)
I use thunderbird with IMAP through vpn to my work site. Our site uses single-sign-on to connect to our mail server.
Sometimes my thunderbird client cannot authenticate to the server. The behavior is inconsistent. When I first start up thunderbird, one of 3 things happens:
a) Thunderbird logs me in via single-sign-on without prompting for my password.
b) Thunderbird gives me a login window, allows me to enter my password, and logs me in.
c) Thunderbird gives me a blank login window. The status bar at the bottom of the main screen says it is sending login information, but it has none to send. I never get logged in.
Under behaviors (a) and (b), the thunderbird status bar at the bottom of the main window says it is sending login information, opening INBOX, and downloading messages.
Sometimes restarting thunderbird or rebooting my laptop fixes behavior (c), and sometimes not.
When I'm connected, I can see my saved passwords via the Thunderbird Settings->Privacy & Security ->Passwords->Saved Passwords list. When I keep getting the blank login window, this list is empty.
I'm using thunderbird 115.12.2 on a mac running macOS Sonoma 14.5.
This problem was first noticed soon after I upgraded to thunderbird 15.8.0.
This behavior was duplicated by our support staff using thunderbird on Windows.
I don't have any data to show whether the problem happens when I am connected directly to my site's internal network. I'm not connected to that network frequently enough to be able to test the behavior, since it is so inconsistent.
My thunderbird server settings are:
``` Server Type: IMAP Mail Server Hostname xxxxx.xxxx.xxxx Port 993 Username xxxx@xxxx.xxx Connection security SSL/TLS Authentication method OAuth2 ```
Thanks for any help.
Modified
Chosen solution
Well, this may be solved by upgrading to thunderbird 128.
See details in related post
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1454402
It is hard to prove that this problem is solved because it was happening so inconsistently. But the 1454402 problem was consistently reproducible and I have not been able to reproduce it since upgrading to 128. So I am very optimistic.
Thank you, jennydeione for all the suggestions!
And thank you, Thunderbird, for 128!
Read this answer in context 👍 1All Replies (4)
Hi there, Have a look at this answer I had just posted https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1454425 this was the answer for the system I was helping friends/family with, which had similar behavior.
Thank you very much!
Please see my related post from yesterday
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1454402
I tried your solution but I do not know whether it solved my problem. My problem is very intermittent. I might go for days or weeks without the problem and then experience the problem every day for over a week.
I did turn on DNS over HTTPS, and I did restart thunderbird, but I did not remove my saved password from thunderbird. When I restarted thunderbird, it logged me in without prompting me for a password.
I do not want to remove the saved password from thunderbird at this time. If I do that, it is possible I will lose the ability to login to thunderbird for days or weeks, during which time my only choice of a mail reader is outlook. I would much rather not deal with that possibility.
So next time this problem bites me again (and from experience, I would guess that will be within a few weeks), and I can't login to thunderbird anyway, I will retry your solution including all the instructions.
Thank you so much.
One more bit of information:
Normally my vpn connection to my employer's network times out after some inactivity. Almost always it times out overnight. However, twice during this experience, the vpn connection has remained up over several days, even though I've not been using it actively all of that time.
During both of these experiences where vpn does not time out, I do not have this problem of not being able to login to thunderbird.
But I do continue to have the problem cited above of https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1454402 (not being able to send more than once from thunderbird).
Chosen Solution
Well, this may be solved by upgrading to thunderbird 128.
See details in related post
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1454402
It is hard to prove that this problem is solved because it was happening so inconsistently. But the 1454402 problem was consistently reproducible and I have not been able to reproduce it since upgrading to 128. So I am very optimistic.
Thank you, jennydeione for all the suggestions!
And thank you, Thunderbird, for 128!