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Thunderbird not connecting to server and always asking for password

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  • Last reply by Matt

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Past 2 weeks on my PC Thunderbird has not been working to getting emails or sending emails. I have 3 emails accounts with hot mail link all was working fine until past few weeks i had to press on RETRY on password to log into any of the 3 accounts.

I have played today around with server settings and outgoing server settings and still same issue not getting in.

I get small screen slides from the right side and says Thunderbird The IMAP server -imapmailoutlook.com does not support the selected authentication method. Please change the Authentication

So in my server settings i have on all 3 accounts Server name imap-mail.outlook.com

Security Settings Connection security STARTTLS Authentication OAuth2

Then in all 3 in the

Outgoing Server SMPT Connection Security STARTTLS Authentication Normal (it dont show OAuth2 if needed to be selected instead)

so i stuck now with No emails coming or going on my PC

Any info in the right direction on what settings should be would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Past 2 weeks on my PC Thunderbird has not been working to getting emails or sending emails. I have 3 emails accounts with hot mail link all was working fine until past few weeks i had to press on RETRY on password to log into any of the 3 accounts. I have played today around with server settings and outgoing server settings and still same issue not getting in. I get small screen slides from the right side and says Thunderbird The IMAP server -imapmailoutlook.com does not support the selected authentication method. Please change the Authentication So in my server settings i have on all 3 accounts Server name imap-mail.outlook.com Security Settings Connection security STARTTLS Authentication OAuth2 Then in all 3 in the Outgoing Server SMPT Connection Security STARTTLS Authentication Normal (it dont show OAuth2 if needed to be selected instead) so i stuck now with No emails coming or going on my PC Any info in the right direction on what settings should be would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Modified by skycards

All Replies (4)

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MS sent messages to users about server changes. Try these: - incoming: outlook.office365.com, port 993, SSL/TLS, Oauth2 (assuming IMAP) - outgoing: smtp.office365.com, port 587, STARTTLS, Oauth2

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I managed under those incoming settings to be able to log in and receive emails.

But those going settings are not working it get stuck on sending and then says it time out to log into server Made outlook office having issue?? but i played around with out going settings and ports and no fix result, but i do get incoming emails, its weird spent today now 4 hours playing around with settings

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This is getting to my nerves lol i have tried every single possible setting and ports with the outgoing mail server i have tried with these settings and completly no luck to resolve what ever issue may be. - outgoing: office365.com, port 587, SSL/TLS, Oauth2 - outgoing: office365.com, port 587, SSL/TLS, Normal - outgoing: office365.com, port 587, SSL/TLS, None - outgoing: smtp.office365.com, port 587, STARTTLS, Oauth2 - outgoing: smtp.office365.com, port 587, STARTTLS, Normal - outgoing: smtp.office365.com, port 587, STARTTLS, none

and even changing the STARTTLS to SSL/TLS with rest options and still no luck.

If one can receive emails, then has to be some way to set settings to be able to send email

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It is not a lottery dip.

Microsoft have specific settings that work and as of a couple of weeks ago they withdrew the use of normal password completely and have never supported access without a password. So checking if it works using no password or normal password is beyond futile.

If they say you have to use STARTTLS, than that is what you have to use of the server will refuse connection. That is particularly the case with STARTTLS as it is a case, as the name implies, the conversation between the servers starts with TLS encryption. So trying to connect without encryption is an automatic fail.

Microsoft offer the settings they want you to use, and they publish them here https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pop-imap-and-smtp-settings-for-outlook-com-d088b986-291d-42b8-9564-9c414e2aa040?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

The outgoing server is given by Microsoft in that link is smtp-mail.outlook.com but that does not work to enable oauth in Thunderbird, and will not be used if Thunderbird adds a new account for hotmail. You must use smtp.office365.com to get the oauth option and that is the server name recorded in the account setup wizard. https://autoconfig.thunderbird.net/v1.1/hotmail.com.

My own experience is if you fluff around to long filling in the web pages with your user name and password and usually waiting for the code from Microsoft or Yahoo, and then saying it is all ok for Thunderbird to actually do what you have told it to do, the SMTP connection that initiated the request does time out. However I also saw the token from the oauth pages added to Thunderbird password manager and the next time I clicked send the mail just went. Despite me only seeing the timeout message after I completed the oauth process.

Anything Microsoft is hard, because they do not let the fact that what they choose to do is not what the standard says must happen stop them going their own merry way. So often they say they are using some standard, but only sort of. That said many many folks are happily sending mail using the office365 SMTP server in Thunderbird using oauth.

So how about trying the settings as suggested and reporting verbatim the error you see after to try and send your mail the second time.

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