All Pop and IMAP mail accounts on any OS need the correct password to access the mail account server for each mail account.

However, you can choose to allow Thunderbird Password Manager to remember the password, so that you do not need to enter it each time. When the pop up prompts for password, enter the pasword and select the checkbox 'Use Password mananer to remember the password' Click on OK.

No version of Thunderbird requires a password. Your email provider's server does though. As stated above you can have Thunderbird remember the password for you and enter it when the server asks for it or you can enter it yourself each time it is required.