Thunderbird incorrectly parsing manual configuration username
Run Thunderbird for the first time and following the prompts for setting up an existing email address. Type in a user name (first last) and then an email address. The "Configure Manually..." button is activated and if pressed Thunderbird expands the dialog, and pasts the email address into the "username:" fields at no attempt to parse off the "@....com" part. For example, if I type in the email address "bbillard@somewhere.com" the username field gets "bbillard@somewhere.com" and not "bbillard". I'm assuming the username is not the same as the email address.
Is this a bug, a feature, or would Mozilla consider fixing this?
Chosen solution
Here is the autoconfig list: https://autoconfig.thunderbird.net/v1.1/
Adding a gmail or Yahoo account should automatically find the correct settings. If not, there is some network/VPN/proxy/security app interrupting the process. This can also happen with home users, but is much less likely than in a corporate environment.
https://enterprise.thunderbird.net/deploy/mcd-thunderbird-autoconfig
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The User Name is usually, but not always, the full email address. In some cases, it's just the part before @, and some providers accept either one. I don't know how accurate the ISP lookup database is, but it's best to first use settings suggested by the provider - although some of them don't document the actual, working settings.
Who is the provider for this account?
I don't think knowing the provider is relevant to this question since, based on what you said, it could be either the full email address or the part before the @. And It seems to me Thunderbird does not make any assumptions about what the username should be so defaults to the full email address.
We have a user in our organization that reported this as a bug as he was trying to configure an admin user's email on his local server. (I have attached his screenshot.) My question is, should Thunderbird parse the email address and set the username to the part before the @ or leave it the way it is (full email address)?
TB will apply the User Name format that is listed in its ISPDB lookup page, and if no such entry exists it will enter the most likely choice, which is the email address. But I can't say for sure what happens for local-server accounts like the one in your picture.
That makes sense. So, how is this ISPDB lookup page populated and where? Is it local to the client? I've tried setting up an existing email using a couple of my own existing emails but still get the same thing. I've tried a Yahoo account, a Gmail account and a company account. All result in the same thing. And pressing the "Re-Test" button gives the error message: "Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account." I would like to know how this ISPDB lookup page works so I can tell our user what he is doing wrong because this really doesn't seem like a bug to me.
Chosen Solution
Here is the autoconfig list: https://autoconfig.thunderbird.net/v1.1/
Adding a gmail or Yahoo account should automatically find the correct settings. If not, there is some network/VPN/proxy/security app interrupting the process. This can also happen with home users, but is much less likely than in a corporate environment.
https://enterprise.thunderbird.net/deploy/mcd-thunderbird-autoconfig
Haha! That answers my question. Our user here is definitely behind a corporate VPN. Thanks for your awesome support!