Server login/authentication error sending Hotmail from Thunderbird
Hello, I have two Hotmail accounts on Thunderbird, one @hotmail.com and one @hotmail.es (if that makes any difference). Both working fine since switching from Windows to Linux a week ago. As of this morning, the hotmail.com address can't send emails (it can receive them no problem). The hotmail.es email can send and receive no problem, although it has the same settings.
When I try to send an email I get the error: "login to server smtp-mail.outlook.com with username ...,@hotmail.com failed. " If I click on 'enter new password', it just tries to send the email again without asking for a password, although I don't think that's the issue because I can login via the outlook.com website using that same password.
When I click cancel, I get the error: "Sending of the message failed. Unable to authenticate to outgoing server (SMTP). Please check the password and verify the authentication method in account settings/outgoing server/(SMTP)".
I've checked both POP settings and outgoing server settings and they are the same for both accounts, apart from the email address obviously (pic below). I got these settings from the Microsoft page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pop-imap-and-smtp-settings-for-outlook-com-d088b986-291d-42b8-9564-9c414e2aa040
Microsoft support said it's a Thunderbird problem. I've tried disabling my firewall and VPN. Would appreciate any other ideas (in absolute beginner terms if possible). Many thanks for reading.
Thunderbird 128.0.1esr (64-bit), Linux Mint 22 Cinnamon 64-bit, Gufw Firewall 24.04.0, VPN Surfshark 3.0.3, Hotmail.com, ISP = Three 5G
All Replies (4)
Be sure to read this recent MS announcement:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/modern-authentication-methods-now-needed-to-continue-syncing-outlook-email-in-non-microsoft-email-apps-c5d65390-9676-4763-b41f-d7986499a90d it indicates that the SMTP server should be smtp.office365.com with Oauth2 setting.
Thanks, I checked the settings and the server name was different so I removed the account and re-added it to reset all the details to the defaults. It hasn't made any difference though, I'm still getting the same error.
I think I may have solved it! In the outgoing server settings, I changed my email address from ...@hotmail.com to ...@outlook.com. I sent a test email and it went through. Go figure.
Update: I thought this was fixed but now the hotmail.com email address is working and the hotmail.es one is having the same problem sending, despite having exactly the same settings.