Thunderbird suddenly cannot login to hotmail server - sometimes!
Hi. I have used Thunderbird for a long time. I have never had a problem accessing my hotmail account for emails. Overnight Thunderbird now posts error message boxes when trying to login to the hotmail server. It reports incorrect username or password. Neither has been changed by me and comparison with Eset Password Manager shows them to be correct. I can login to Outlook online using the same login credentials an get my emails that way. I have also changed my Outlook hotmail password while logged in in my browser and updated everything on the PC to match of course.
I have massaged the server Settings for hotmail and have had the system working again, for a while. Twice I have reset the settings to a different server and back again and that seems to clear the problem for a while. Then the error messages switch on again consistently. At this moment using "File" -> "Get New Messages For:" -> "Hotmail" works without any problem and the automatic scheduled checking reports "No messages to download" so it appears to be working. But that is after just coming back to my PC to find a string of failed attempts, each with its own error box, which have appeared since I last "fixed" the problem and assumed it was now fine.
My server settings are Type: POP; Name: pop-mail.outlook.com; Port: 995; Username: same as for browser access (which works); Password: As in Thunderbird's stored passwords matching Password Manager and working browser access.
In my paranoia I have even wondered if I am being locked out by Microsoft somehow. Can anyone suggest what is going on here?
Chosen solution
Compare your settings with these (working) ones:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1417298#answer-1588949
If you prefer POP, the settings are the same except the port is 995.
Change the settings, remove the entries from Saved Passwords in Settings, restart TB, enter the account password in the OAuth window to allow TB access.
Read this answer in context 👍 2All Replies (6)
Chosen Solution
Compare your settings with these (working) ones:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1417298#answer-1588949
If you prefer POP, the settings are the same except the port is 995.
Change the settings, remove the entries from Saved Passwords in Settings, restart TB, enter the account password in the OAuth window to allow TB access.
Modified by sfhowes
Thanks for the advice sfhowes. That seems to have sorted it for now. I can see that this has been a solution for other people and I'm optimistic that you have the fix I needed. I have been in this situation all day and evening though so it's best I monitor it to see whether this has stuck and report back in a day or two.
While being a technical type myself, I am not familiar with this area and the Oauth aspect is at the moment out of my experience. A bit of reading up is required I think. Thanks again for your help. I'll be back.
Modified by Bordonbert
You could also be locked out of your account. Hotmail traditionally ignores any connection attempt in less that 15 minutes after the last. So if you change you connection frequency in account settings to check mail on less than a 15 minute cycle then you will be locked out until the timer for 15 minutes runs down.
Thanks Matt. I checked up on the process you described and it looks as though you were correct, I don't seem to get an update fulfilled inside 15 minutes. That's useful to know but it isn't the solution as the hotmail account is still not authenticating as it should even after left for over 15minutes, (a couple of hours in fact).
The problem does seem to be solved by following sfhowes' advice. Using OAuth settings seems to have sorted it out, (I'm sure you knew it would sfhowes). I wasn't aware of anything to do with OAuth though I had seen it in the options. As I said above, it is now on my list of things to understand more deeply.
Many thanks to both of you for your suggestions and insight. It seems to be fixed now - (maybe until something else is changed, this is hotmail of course!!!)
Modified by Bordonbert
AHA!!! Thanks for the heads up Tom, that looks like the answer to what is going on. Those guys have a lot to answer for with their cavalier attitude to changes.
It may or may not be related but I have now lost control over my desktop WhatsApp setup. Running it up demands an update, there is no way to start up without it, and that downloads correctly but then won't install. Whether the installer runs automatically or whether I run it, it simply goes back to that "Update" demand. I have tried uninstalling the old version as I couldn't access it anyway but it made no difference. MS? I'll tell you what I think of them if you have an evening to listen.
At least this issue is fixed and is now solved thanks to your help on this site.