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Cannot send email. SOLVED: My VPN (PIA) was blocking them.

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 38 views
  • Last reply by jes49

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I have used Thunderbird for about a year, but I can no longer send emails. Whenever I try, I get a "login to server failed" error message. I have not changed any outgoing settings. I can login to my email provider with my email address and password with no problem. I have tried the suggestions found in the forum help: Verify smtp settings, delete smtp password, run in safe mode, turned off my security software (Norton Security). Any help would be appreciated.

I have used Thunderbird for about a year, but I can no longer send emails. Whenever I try, I get a "login to server failed" error message. I have not changed any outgoing settings. I can login to my email provider with my email address and password with no problem. I have tried the suggestions found in the forum help: Verify smtp settings, delete smtp password, run in safe mode, turned off my security software (Norton Security). Any help would be appreciated.

Modified by Wayne Mery

Chosen solution

I just found out what was preventing me from sending emails. My VPN (PIA) was blocking them. I sent a message to PIA describing the issue. So I can either turn off my VPN before sending emails or PIA will correct it. Thanks for your help.

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All Replies (6)

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What happens when you attempt to send a message?

Please post your Troubleshooting Information. At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button , then select Help > Troubleshooting Information. Press the Copy text to clipboard button and paste the information into your reply.

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Application Basics

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 45.7.0
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.7.0
   Profile Folder: Show Folder
             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20170124052806
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory
 Mail and News Accounts
   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
   account3:
     INCOMING: account3, , (pop3) pop-server.twcny.rr.com:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , smtp-server.twcny.rr.com:587, plain, passwordCleartext, true
 Crash Reports
 Extensions
   CompactHeader, 2.1.0, true, {58D4392A-842E-11DE-B51A-C7B855D89593}
   Lightning, 4.7.7, true, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}
 Important Modified Preferences
   Name: Value
     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     dom.apps.reset-permissions: true
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 45.7.0
     font.name.monospace.el: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-unicode: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-western: Consolas
     font.name.sans-serif.el: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Calibri
     font.name.serif.el: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-cyrillic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-unicode: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-western: Cambria
     font.size.fixed.el: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-unicode: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-western: 14
     font.size.variable.el: 17
     font.size.variable.x-cyrillic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-unicode: 17
     font.size.variable.x-western: 17
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.appVersion: 45.7.0
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.deviceID: 0x1912
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.driverVersion: 20.19.15.4474
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle: true
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle: true
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11: false
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp: false
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11: true
     gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext: 2
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: ffeeecb9-2a5e-430b-9c51-2721382649c
     mailnews.database.global.indexer.enabled: false
     network.cookie.cookieBehavior: 2
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1485792463
     places.history.enabled: false
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
     plugin.importedState: true
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_colorspace:
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_command:
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_downloadfonts: false
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_duplex: -437918235
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_edge_bottom: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_edge_left: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_edge_right: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_edge_top: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_evenpages: true
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_footercenter:
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_footerleft: &PT
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_footerright: &D
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_headercenter:
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_headerleft: &T
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_headerright: &U
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_in_color: true
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_margin_bottom: 0.5
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_margin_left: 0.5
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_margin_right: 0.5
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_margin_top: 0.5
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_oddpages: true
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_orientation: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_page_delay: 50
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_paper_data: 1
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_paper_height: 11.00
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_paper_name:
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_paper_size_type: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_paper_size_unit: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_paper_width: 8.50
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_plex_name:
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_resolution: -437918235
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_resolution_name:
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_reversed: false
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_scaling: 1.00
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_shrink_to_fit: true
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_to_file: false
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
     print.printer_EPSON82C941_(XP-410_Series).print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
 Graphics
     Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics 530
     Vendor ID: 0x8086
     Device ID: 0x1912
     Adapter RAM: Unknown
     Adapter Drivers: igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igd12umd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32 igd12umd32
     Driver Version: 20.19.15.4474
     Driver Date: 6-13-2016
     Direct2D Enabled: false
     DirectWrite Enabled: false (10.0.14393.351)
     ClearType Parameters: ClearType parameters not found
     WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.316930d51ea9)
     GPU Accelerated Windows: 0
     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
     AzureContentBackend: cairo
 JavaScript
 Incremental GC: 1
 Accessibility
   Activated: 0
   Prevent Accessibility: 0
 Library Versions
     Expected minimum version
     Version in use
     NSPR
     4.12
     4.12
     NSS
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     NSS Util
     3.21.3
     3.21.3
     NSS SSL
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     NSS S/MIME
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
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Again: What happens when you attempt to send a message?

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SMTP port 587 usually requires some type of connection security. You have it set to None Try STARTTLS.

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When I try to send an email, I get the message "Login to server smtp-server.twcny.rr.com failed" followed by the "Retry", "Enter new password", and "Cancel" buttons. "Retry" does not work. "Enter new password" with the correct password does not work. "Cancel" works.

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Chosen Solution

I just found out what was preventing me from sending emails. My VPN (PIA) was blocking them. I sent a message to PIA describing the issue. So I can either turn off my VPN before sending emails or PIA will correct it. Thanks for your help.