.....

I am using Comcast but so far IMAP is not available in my area. Are you sure it is for you? I am using POP on port 995. For SMTP I am using port 465 but according to Comcast 587 should work too.

Thank you, I will revisit and try again tomorrow per your settings. I wanted to set up from scratch again and am getting "Sorry - we're unable to communicate with our sign-up server. Please check your connection." when I try to do so. Argh.

You might log into Comcast web mail page and take a look at your account.

Look under Preferences, Then Email, Email Accounts and then Edit.

On mine I have my main account and 1 secondary account that I created. On the main account I do not have the option to edit the settings. On the secondary account I can select edit and POP or IMAP is one of the choices. I have not tried to create an IMAP account since my local office keeps telling me it is not available here yet.

I've got one account and I cannot edit it. I'm trying Comcast again, at least I'll get a new agent.

I'm providing a screenshot with an error message that I can't get past.

The first field is Name. I'm assuming I can make this read as I prefer? I have checked and rechecked the next 2 fields both my email address and password are correct.

It's set up per Comcast standards found here: [standard]

As Comcasts mail settings are in the database. See https://autoconfig.thunderbird.net/v1.1/comcast.net

The number one cause of a failure to find those settings is an anti virus program that is blocking Thunderbird from access to the internet. Norton's is probably the most common to cause this issue. But any that have a firewall component can do it.

Thank you, Matt. I should add that I used Windows Live Mail (unsupported now) and all of the sudden it stopped working. Hence my move to TBird. Probably happened after an update of Win10, grrrr.

Forgive my ignorance, what program can I use to view the info in a table?

I use Avast (free version), and do not have access to the "Tools" options where I'd access the firewall options. I have Windows Defender disabled by group policy. I'm at max frustration level. Thanks.

Sandy said

Forgive my ignorance, what program can I use to view the info in a table?

No need to understand it, just verify that your browser can open the XML file and show you something.

That you can access the known good setting from your browser point directly at your anti virus program causing the issue. That is Thunderbird can not access it but your browser can. About the only firewalls that affect applications directly are those in anti virus products or "internet security suites. Most firewalls control access to ports and data protocols, not applications.

I suggest you boot windows 10 into safe mode with Networking. See http://www.digitalcitizen.life/4-ways-boot-safe-mode-windows-10 (Note this only works with a wired internet connection apparently

Then start Thunderbird and try to configure your account. Once done confirm it works, reboot your computer and see if avast gets with the program.

I booted in safe mode and voilá! I'm all set with Thunderbird.

Thank you very much.

Tomorrow I'll tackle the Windows Live Mail settings using Tbird as the model. Then I'll be able to transfer folders to Tbird and be done with Windows.

YAY! I'll sleep better tonight.

I should have tested it once I booted as normal, as you suggested. Booting in safe mode allowed email to be received, now it won't do either. I verified that new email was on the server, but I don't get it on thunderbird.

Is it that Avast wasn't loaded during safe mode, and now that it is, it's blocking email again?

Sandy said

Is it that Avast wasn't loaded during safe mode, and now that it is, it's blocking email again?

Cer5tainly. I suggest you approach Avast for a solution to why theuy product is causing this issue. If you get anything useful, please post it back here. It is the only way we learn.

I have spent all day trying to tackle this.

I uninstalled Avast and moved to Panda. I created exceptions for Thunderbird in it. I also created exceptions in Windows firewall. I have tried all possible configurations of the ports for IMAP to POP3 and back. Working with both Thunderbird and Windows Live Mail 2012 to resolve on either. Heavens!

I'm flummoxed.

I tried Windows 10 mail. The account was set up, automatically, in minutes. I had to dig, but I found the server configuration and tried using it in Thunderbird. I received the same error message - cannot find smtp/imap/mail server. These are the settings that worked on Win10 Mail:

What have you proved? other than avast knows about windows 10 mail and not about Thunderbird? Or Avst is blocking Thunderbird but not windows 10 mail.

If I was writing a windows anti virus I would be pretty careful to make sure it worked with the operating system.

Perhaps you missed this post:

Sandy said

I uninstalled Avast and moved to Panda. I created exceptions for Thunderbird in it. I also created exceptions in Windows firewall. I have tried all possible configurations of the ports for IMAP to POP3 and back. Working with both Thunderbird and Windows Live Mail 2012 to resolve on either. I'm flummoxed.

When I was an IT analyst & engineer, I solved problems like this by the process of elimination, with various isolation techniques and methodologies. I've been out of the field for over 6 years and much has changed. Hence, I was hoping someone could help me troubleshoot this.

As was pointed out to me recently (I would not have thought it myself) removing an anti virus on windows 10 usually sees windows defender and firewall turned on, so you go from one potential blocker to another.

While I dwell on Anti virus there are other prtential trouble. Some banks issue security software that causes issues. Likewise the US Military were running software of servicemen s computers that blocked Thunderbird unintentionally. But only if Thunderbird was installed second.

Without knowing what third party services you have running it is almost impossible to guess what is really the problem. If you think it might be Thunderbird version dependent (some Anti virus issues particularly are caused by AV not recognizing the latest version) you could try an earlier version from the FTP site. http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/

Given your stated skills I am sure you can navigate to what you want from there.

BTW other that the virus like tendencies Windows 10 has, nothing has changed in troubleshooting really sine we were using DOS.