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

I installed Thunderbird and logged into my email addresses but I can't access my email.

more options

I installed Thunderbird using the most recent downloader. I logged into my email addresses, but only downloaded a single email.

When I open the app, it makes me log into everything from scratch, even though I told it to remember me. I checked, and it's not saving the passwords even if I enter the password and immediately check the saved password list.

I am using 2 gmail addresses, and two hosted through inmotion. For the Google accounts, I am making sure to give permission to Thunderbird. One of those two has two-factor authentication, the other doesn't.

When I try to import, I get an error. "Authentication failure while connecting to server imap.gmail.com." I tried to change the server to imap.googlemail.com (both as the server name and as the SMTP server) because my wife has hers listed as that, but I get the same error, only it says "imap.googlemail.com" instead.

Because it isn't saving passwords, I tried the fix I found elsewhere on this site to delete the directory for your passwords while Thunderbird is closed, and then open it again, and nothing changed.

I have tried uninstalling, reinstalling, and logging into only 1 email at a time. Nothing works. I think Thunderbird is just not successfully logging into the accounts, and I don't know what else to try.

I installed Thunderbird using the most recent downloader. I logged into my email addresses, but only downloaded a single email. When I open the app, it makes me log into everything from scratch, even though I told it to remember me. I checked, and it's not saving the passwords even if I enter the password and immediately check the saved password list. I am using 2 gmail addresses, and two hosted through inmotion. For the Google accounts, I am making sure to give permission to Thunderbird. One of those two has two-factor authentication, the other doesn't. When I try to import, I get an error. "Authentication failure while connecting to server imap.gmail.com." I tried to change the server to imap.googlemail.com (both as the server name and as the SMTP server) because my wife has hers listed as that, but I get the same error, only it says "imap.googlemail.com" instead. Because it isn't saving passwords, I tried the fix I found elsewhere on this site to delete the directory for your passwords while Thunderbird is closed, and then open it again, and nothing changed. I have tried uninstalling, reinstalling, and logging into only 1 email at a time. Nothing works. I think Thunderbird is just not successfully logging into the accounts, and I don't know what else to try.

Chosen solution

I tried that, and it didn't work, so I tried some other stuff.

What fixed it for me was: Uninstall Thunderbird. Us WIN+R to open the Run menu. Type %appdata% and in that folder, delete the Thunderbird folder. Reinstalled Thunderbird, and everything worked.

What prompted me to try more stuff is the fact that it wasn't just Google-powered emails that weren't working. The other 2 emails don't have app passwords, so that wouldn't have fixed it for them.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (3)

more options

I just found a thread by sumdumguy which seemed to be exactly my problem, and it did not help. https://support.google.com/mail/thread/18146441?hl=en&msgid=19822563

So, I'm updating to note that I have set general.useragent.compatmode.firefox to True.

more options

Hello

did you try to set an app password in Gmail account configuration ? This should allow to bypass Web browser problems. About your password not saving, I'd think it's normal that non working passwords are not saved. Fix the auth problem and the passwords will be saved.

more options

Chosen Solution

I tried that, and it didn't work, so I tried some other stuff.

What fixed it for me was: Uninstall Thunderbird. Us WIN+R to open the Run menu. Type %appdata% and in that folder, delete the Thunderbird folder. Reinstalled Thunderbird, and everything worked.

What prompted me to try more stuff is the fact that it wasn't just Google-powered emails that weren't working. The other 2 emails don't have app passwords, so that wouldn't have fixed it for them.