> this popup window for Gmail account authentication does not appear in Thunderbird 38.5.1

Did you also get this error if you installed 38.5.1 from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ rather than from the update process?

Wayne Mery said >> this popup window for Gmail account authentication does not appear in Thunderbird 38.5.1

>Did you also get this error if you installed 38.5.1 from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ rather than from the update process?

Reply: I am getting the error upon clean install of Thunderbird from the website https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/ done after formatting of Windows to take care of any possible OS issues. The problem persists.

have you reinstalled an anti virus? If so, try disabling the email scanner. they can really mess with the new account wizard.

My concern is that the "OAuth2" authentication is selected and implemented automatically in Thunderbird 38.5 and accordingly the popup appears automatically in this version of Thunderbird. However, the OAuth2 is not selected automatically and no popup appears in Thunderbird 38.5.1. I dont think the AntiVirus behaviour would be different for different versions of Thunderbird. Manual configuration is a separate exercise altogether.

that o.o.1 change to the version number is enough to take Thunderbird from a fully functional reliable program to one that is flaky, prone to hangs and crashes and totally unable to download anything at all. ALL dues to differences in how the anti virus sees Thunderbird.

We regulatory see folk on this forum using the same anti virus program on two laptops, Their old and new and unable to configure a new account on their new machine but have never had any issue as all on their own.

I would say any action to discount the extreme involvement of anti virus product in a very high percentage of problems with email is simply irresponsible.

Oauth2.0 is only available on IMAP mail accounts. So it's use is entirely subject to the type of account your configuring.

My problem of OAuth2 is for IMAP gmail account configuration on a new Windows OS setup and Thunderbird 38.5.1.

I have tried using the new account wizard in Thunderbird without installing any Anti Virus after a fresh Windows OS installation. But the Thunderbird New mail account wizard in 38.5.1 still does not configure Gmail automatically through popup (OAuth2). But 38.5 configures the gmail account even with Anti Virus installed.

There is the auto config data both versions use

https://autoconfig.thunderbird.net/v1.1/gmail.com

How can the config it chooses be different is what I really fail to understand. Both version access the same URL for their settings.

Is there any configuration file which stores the auto config data in 38.5.1? Can I check the data value for 38.5.1 while the problem is occurring? I have also observed that if once the Thunderbird 38.5.1 has configured gmail once manually, then the next time if we attempt to configure another gmail account without formatting the Windows OS, the Thunderbird does not face any problem in configuring the gmail account and the popup appears automatically.

I linked you to the config file that is used that is not version dependent... if you were to download V3 it to would use that same file.

From what I understand of the wizard that config file is read straight into memory variables,

Looking here I think you might be able to download the XML file and try it from the local disk. which might allow further testing.

I have just been reading back over this thread to make sure I was in some way connected with the reality. <blockuote>However, the OAuth2 is not selected automatically and no popup appears in Thunderbird 38.5.1. </blockquote>

Just check the type of account being selected. Oauth is IMAP only, if the wizard is doing POP then it will not default to Oauth2.0. IMAP is the default. but I think perhaps it is worth a look.