login to smtp.mail.yahoo.com failed
I have created a Yahoo mail account and configured it in Thunderbird correctly according to the Yahoo (https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN3773.html) and Mozilla (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Yahoo) docs.
I can access IMAP without any problem but SMTP always fails. I've checked the config repeatedly, deleted and re-added the password in Thunderbird, changed the Yahoo password and reconfigured Thunderbird yet again, disabled and re-enabled Yahoo's 'insecure' mail access option, all without any success. Every time I try to send an email via Yahoo on port 465 I get the same error 'login to smtp.mail.yahoo.com failed'. If I try with port 587 it just times out. I tried OAuth2 authentication but that failed as well.
I have no idea how to proceed from here.
This is the Thunderbird 'Troubleshooting Information' (without the 'Important Modified Preferences' because they won't fit in this text box):
Application Basics
Name: Thunderbird Version: 52.2.1 User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/52.2.1 Profile Directory: Open Directory
(Local drive) Application Build ID: 20170626135948 Enabled Plugins: about:plugins Build Configuration: about:buildconfig Memory Use: about:memory Profiles: about:profiles
Mail and News Accounts
account2:
INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
account18:
INCOMING: account18, , (imap) imap.googlemail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account24:
INCOMING: account24, , (imap) imap.googlemail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account25:
INCOMING: account25, , (imap) imap.googlemail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account27:
INCOMING: account27, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.gmail.com:465, SSL, OAuth2, true
account28:
INCOMING: account28, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.gmail.com:465, SSL, OAuth2, true
account30:
INCOMING: account30, , (imap) imap.openmailbox.org:143, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.openmailbox.org:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
OUTGOING: , smtp.openmailbox.org:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, false
OUTGOING: , smtp.openmailbox.org:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, false
OUTGOING: , smtp.openmailbox.org:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, false
OUTGOING: , smtp.openmailbox.org:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, false
account31:
INCOMING: account31, , (imap) imap.mail.yahoo.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.mail.yahoo.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
Crash Reports
Extensions
CompactHeader, 2.1.0, true, {58D4392A-842E-11DE-B51A-C7B855D89593}
Enigmail, 1.9.8.1, true, {847b3a00-7ab1-11d4-8f02-006008948af5}
ImportExportTools, 3.2.4.1, true, {3ed8cc52-86fc-4613-9026-c1ef969da4c3}
Manually sort folders, 1.1.1, true, tbsortfolders@xulforum.org
PrintingTools, 1.2.5, true, {5e9999c2-ba1d-44b6-bcee-5b30ce37d3b0}
Remove Duplicate Messages, 0.1.14, true, {12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc}
Super Date Format, 1.1, true, superdateformat@buildontechnologies.com
ConfigDate, 0.7.5, false, {782E3D25-61FD-4997-AA8F-D3F18FA92ECC}
DOM Inspector, 2.0.16.1-signed, false, inspector@mozilla.org
Is It Compatible?, 0.5.3.1-signed.1-signed, false, isitcompatible@eternicode.com
Messaging Menu and Unity Launcher integration, 1.3.1, false, messagingmenu@mozilla.com
Graphics
GPU #1
Description: NVIDIA Corporation -- GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2
Vendor ID: NVIDIA Corporation
Device ID: GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2
Driver Version: 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.59
Features
WebGL Renderer: NVIDIA Corporation -- GeForce GTX 970/PCIe/SSE2 -- 4.5.0 NVIDIA 384.59
AzureCanvasBackend: skia
AzureCanvasAccelerated: 0
AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: none
AzureContentBackend: skia
CairoUseXRender: 0
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
3.28.5
3.28.5
NSS Util
3.28.5
3.28.5
NSS SSL
3.28.5
3.28.5
NSS S/MIME
3.28.5
3.28.5
Chosen solution
I eventually stumbled on the solution myself: password length.
I was using a 36-random-character password (generated by KeePassX) for my Yahoo mail. That worked ok for web login and IMAP, but it was too long for Yahoo's SMTP server. No idea why, it doesn't make sense to me why it would work for some protocols but not others.
Anyway, when I changed my Yahoo account to a 24-random-character password SMTP started working.
I have since found a forum post stating that the maximum length for Yahoo passwords is 32 characters, but I found no supporting info in any official Yahoo docs. Also, my 36 character password was working with web login and IMAP, so maybe it's a sign of inconsistency on the part of people at Yahoo.
Read this answer in context 👍 3All Replies (1)
Chosen Solution
I eventually stumbled on the solution myself: password length.
I was using a 36-random-character password (generated by KeePassX) for my Yahoo mail. That worked ok for web login and IMAP, but it was too long for Yahoo's SMTP server. No idea why, it doesn't make sense to me why it would work for some protocols but not others.
Anyway, when I changed my Yahoo account to a 24-random-character password SMTP started working.
I have since found a forum post stating that the maximum length for Yahoo passwords is 32 characters, but I found no supporting info in any official Yahoo docs. Also, my 36 character password was working with web login and IMAP, so maybe it's a sign of inconsistency on the part of people at Yahoo.