Microsoft login page never loads, authentication error
Title: Thunderbird 158 – Outlook.pt (IMAP, OAuth2): Microsoft login page never loads, authentication error
Hello,
I can't connect a personal Outlook.pt account (outlook.com) to Thunderbird. The Microsoft sign-in page never appears and I get "Authentication failed".
Environment - Thunderbird 158.0 (64-bit), also tested on Beta; Windows 11 - Browsers installed: Brave and Chrome (Chrome set as default for testing) - Account: personal @outlook.pt, no Microsoft 365 subscription
Settings used - IMAP: outlook.office365.com, port 993, SSL/TLS, OAuth2 - SMTP: smtp.office365.com, port 587, STARTTLS, OAuth2 - Username: full email address
What I have tried - Account setup test says "secure connection to outlook.office365.com:993 established successfully". - Automatic setup: no login window opens; the Error Console shows GuessConfig trying SMTP on port 465 (NS_ERROR_ABORT) and then "authentication failed". - Manual setup with OAuth2 forced: a browser window opens, but it stays on the browser's start page. Once, instead of Microsoft, it showed a Google consent page ("Mozilla Thunderbird Email wants to access your Google Account") for a Gmail address I use elsewhere, even though I was adding the Outlook account. - Clicking links inside emails correctly opens the browser, so the default-browser association works. - Cleared saved passwords/OAuth entries for outlook/office365/microsoft; removed and re-created the account several times. - Created a brand-new clean profile: same result. Thunderbird Beta: same result. - Microsoft account "recent activity" shows no sign-in attempt, so the request seems not to reach Microsoft. - Main profile has extensions (LanguageTool, flagged as incompatible, and CardBook). Not yet tested in Troubleshoot Mode. - Error Console shows no OAuth-related errors besides the GuessConfig lines above.
Questions - Why would Thunderbird open a Google consent page when adding an Outlook account? - Is there a known issue with OAuth2 for Outlook.com in version 158, or a hidden setting that could cause this?
Troubleshooting information from about:support is pasted below. Thank you.