Windows 10 reached EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. If you are on Windows 10, see this article.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Can't get mail anymore because of "Unable to write the email to the mailbox".

  • 5 பதிலளிப்புகள்
  • 0 இந்த பிரச்னைகள் உள்ளது
  • 31 views
  • Last reply by steenkh
  • தீர்வுற்றது

I have a number of pop3 accounts with the same mail host, but suddenly one of them gives me the message "Unable to write the email to the mailbox. Make sure the file system allows you write privileges, and you have enough disk space to copy the mailbox."

I use Thunderbird on two Windows machines, and the problem is on both, so it is something in the interaction with the server, however, there is no problem accessing the mail via webmail directly on the server.

I have tried to change password on the account, but the problem did not go away. In fact, I got the box to tell me that the old password did no longer work, so I know that the problem pops up after log in to the account. Before the error message appears, the message "downloading 208 messages" (or something similar) briefly appears.

Is there a way to find out exactly what fails?

I have a number of pop3 accounts with the same mail host, but suddenly one of them gives me the message "Unable to write the email to the mailbox. Make sure the file system allows you write privileges, and you have enough disk space to copy the mailbox." I use Thunderbird on two Windows machines, and the problem is on both, so it is something in the interaction with the server, however, there is no problem accessing the mail via webmail directly on the server. I have tried to change password on the account, but the problem did not go away. In fact, I got the box to tell me that the old password did no longer work, so I know that the problem pops up after log in to the account. Before the error message appears, the message "downloading 208 messages" (or something similar) briefly appears. Is there a way to find out exactly what fails?

தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது

What antivirus. If it is Norton disabling it does not work. unfortunately

Open account settings and at the bottom of the server settings pane is a local path. What is it?

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (5)

have an antivirus? Do you have an exception that stops it scanning Thunderbird profile folder when it is running.

Generally file contention which causes that type of error comes from file scanning and cloud synchronization/backup. The most common being antivirus as Thunderbird default storage locations are not generally involved in backups unless explicitly set by the user involved.

I tried disabling my antivirus, but the problem persisted :(

தீர்வு தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்டது

What antivirus. If it is Norton disabling it does not work. unfortunately

Open account settings and at the bottom of the server settings pane is a local path. What is it?

Avast Antivirus on both machines.

The local path is C:\Users\joste\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\y1niw0iq.default-release\Mail\pop.one-2.com

I added this path to the exception list in the antivirus, but that also did not work.

Actually, it worked after all!

I should have thought of rebooting the machine after adding the path to the white list.

I wonder why the other accounts are not affected. Probably only Avast can answer that one. It probably also means that incoming mails are not scanned, but I am not too worried. I also scan incoming mails on my iOS machines.

கேள்வி எழுப்பு

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.