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Why am I getting 'Login to server imap.googlemail.com failed?

  • 8 replies
  • 5 have this problem
  • 43 views
  • Last reply by Zenos

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I am unable to connect to one of my gmail accounts with Thunderbird. This just started because it was working yesterday. I saw another answer that talked about changing the server authentication. I don't find 'Authentication method' on this Thunderbird menu. I am on an iMAC with macOS Sierra version 10.12.5. The Thunderbird version is 52.1.1. The following is from support forum with title Login to email fails.

The account type of your Gmail account(s) is IMAP. With IMAP it's recommended to set the 'Authentication type' to 'OAuth2' for both, the incoming and outgoing server.

At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button > Options > Account Settings > Server Settings Choose 'OAuth2' from the 'Authentication method' drop-down menu

I am unable to connect to one of my gmail accounts with Thunderbird. This just started because it was working yesterday. I saw another answer that talked about changing the server authentication. I don't find 'Authentication method' on this Thunderbird menu. I am on an iMAC with macOS Sierra version 10.12.5. The Thunderbird version is 52.1.1. The following is from support forum with title Login to email fails. The account type of your Gmail account(s) is IMAP. With IMAP it's recommended to set the 'Authentication type' to 'OAuth2' for both, the incoming and outgoing server. At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button > Options > Account Settings > Server Settings Choose 'OAuth2' from the 'Authentication method' drop-down menu

Chosen solution

All your outgoing (SMTP) settings are gathered together at the bottom of the list of accounts in Account Settings.

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All Replies (8)

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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.

Please indicate which one is the troubled account.

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Application Basics

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 52.1.1
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.12; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.1.1
   Profile Folder: Show in Finder
   Application Build ID: 20170509142926
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory
   Profiles: about:profiles
 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (imap) imap.googlemail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
   account3:
     INCOMING: account3, , (pop3) inbound.att.net:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , outbound.att.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account6:
     INCOMING: account6, , (imap) imap.mail.me.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , smtp.mail.me.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
   account7:
     INCOMING: account7, , (imap) imap.mail.me.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , smtp.mail.me.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
   account9:
     INCOMING: account9, , (pop3) inbound.att.net:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , outbound.att.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account10:
     INCOMING: account10, , (pop3) inbound.att.net:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , outbound.att.net:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
   account11:
     INCOMING: account11, , (imap) imap-mail.outlook.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , smtp-mail.outlook.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
   account12:
     INCOMING: account12, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
     OUTGOING: , smtp.gmail.com:465, SSL, OAuth2, true
   account13:
     INCOMING: account13, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
     OUTGOING: , smtp.gmail.com:465, SSL, OAuth2, true
   account14:
     INCOMING: account14, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
     OUTGOING: , smtp.gmail.com:465, SSL, OAuth2, true
 Crash Reports
 Extensions
   ExQuilla for Microsoft Exchange, 52.2.1188, true, exquilla@mesquilla.com
   Lightning, 5.4.1.1, true, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}
   Manually sort folders, 1.1.1, true, tbsortfolders@xulforum.org
   Quick Folder Move, 1.2, true, quickmove@mozilla.kewis.ch
 Important Modified Preferences
   Name: Value
     accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 52.1.1
     font.internaluseonly.changed: true
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.spotlight.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: 8d8c791a-b14b-2c45-989a-e7b3d12a059
     mailnews.database.global.views.conversation.columns: {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":false…
     media.gmp.storage.version.observed: 1
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1496511251
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 122334
     plugin.importedState: true
     print.macosx.pagesetup-2: PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz4KPCFET0NUWVBFIHBsaXN0IFBVQkxJQyAiLS8vQXBwbGUvL0RURCBQTElTVCAxLjAvL0VO…
     security.sandbox.content.tempDirSuffix: {3b1550d5-8511-c144-82e9-d1c3a917f708}
 Graphics
     GPU #1
     Vendor ID: 0x10de
     Device ID: 0x119e
     Features
     WebGL Renderer: NVIDIA Corporation -- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M OpenGL Engine -- 2.1 NVIDIA-10.17.5 355.10.05.45f01
     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureCanvasAccelerated: 0
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: none
     AzureContentBackend: skia
     TileHeight: 1024
     TileWidth: 1024
 JavaScript
 Incremental GC: 1
 Accessibility
   Activated: 0
   Prevent Accessibility: 0
 Library Versions
     Expected minimum version
     Version in use
     NSPR
     4.13.1
     4.13.1
     NSS
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
     NSS Util
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
     NSS SSL
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
     NSS S/MIME
     3.28.4
     3.28.4
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use this link http://kb.mozillazine.org/Menu_differences_in_Windows,_Linux,_and_Mac

Now you understand the menu differences, use that to convert what you found for Windows to your mac.

Or right click the account in the folder pane n the left and select settings. Then select server settings in the account settings dialog

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I went to that location and the setting to change to OAuth2. Which I don't need because if you would look at the Troubleshooting Information I posted, all of the gmail accounts have this already set. Two of the accounts work, the third one doesn't.

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Gmail accounts 12, 13, and 14 are already set to OAuth2 authentication.

account1: INCOMING: account1, , (imap) imap.googlemail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext OUTGOING: , smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

There's one Gmail account which has not.

I don't need because if you would look at the Troubleshooting Information I posted, all of the gmail accounts have this already set.

Interesting statement. See above.

Two of the accounts work, the third one doesn't.

As per your Troubleshooting Information there are 4 Gmail accounts.

Modified by christ1

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I am wrong. There are 4 gmail accounts. The attached is what I get in Advanced.. for Server Settings for the gmail account with the issue.

I found where to set OAuth2. It's on the main page of Server Settings for Thunderbird on Mac.

Modified by rbmisc

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I thought this was fixed. I'm able to receive email on this account. I'm unable to send emails on this account.

What other setting is needed to fix this issue?

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Chosen Solution

All your outgoing (SMTP) settings are gathered together at the bottom of the list of accounts in Account Settings.