We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

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

Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account - Hostgator created email. It was working before.

  • 9 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by Matt

more options

Hello. My OS is Windows 10, no anti-virus software, using Thunderbird 68.5.0 32 bit. I have 13 email addresses configured on Thunderbird, they are gmail accounts, hotmail accounts and only the email addresses from Hostgator ( I'm a webdesigner so I created professional email addresses from those domains) are not working. I have these 2 Hostgator email addresses that were working before and something happened that I stopped receiving and sending emails from those 2 accounts. I deleted them and configured them manually according to Hostgator manual settings and the issue persists. In Hostgator I can send and receive emails from both account, but not on Thunderbird. I will attach 2 printscreens, one from Hostgator settings and another from Thunderbird. Everything is correctly configured. Need some clarity on what's going on here, thanks in advance.

Hello. My OS is Windows 10, no anti-virus software, using Thunderbird 68.5.0 32 bit. I have 13 email addresses configured on Thunderbird, they are gmail accounts, hotmail accounts and only the email addresses from Hostgator ( I'm a webdesigner so I created professional email addresses from those domains) are not working. I have these 2 Hostgator email addresses that were working before and something happened that I stopped receiving and sending emails from those 2 accounts. I deleted them and configured them manually according to Hostgator manual settings and the issue persists. In Hostgator I can send and receive emails from both account, but not on Thunderbird. I will attach 2 printscreens, one from Hostgator settings and another from Thunderbird. Everything is correctly configured. Need some clarity on what's going on here, thanks in advance.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (9)

more options
My OS is Windows 10, no anti-virus software

So that means you're running Windows Defender. It's recommended to create an exception in Defender for the Thunderbird profile folder. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data

Try to set 'Authentication' to 'Normal password' for both, incoming, and outgoing server. Is there any difference?

Modified by christ1

more options

@christ1 Thank you for the reply. I disabled Windows Defender and also tested with opening an exception in it for the profile folder, but the issue persists. It also wouldn't explain why the emails worked before, as I didn't changed anything in Windows Defender since then. As I wrote before, Thunderbird works fine with all other my email accounts except the Hostgator ones. Also with Authentication - normal or encrypted the issue persists. I contacted Hostgator support and they analysed everything, they did the steps with me to make sure I was inserting the correct info, and on their side everything is working normally.

more options
I disabled Windows Defender and also tested with opening an exception in it for the profile folder, but the issue persists.

That was meant as a generic advice to make you aware there is an active anti-virus software running, and to avoid problems in the future. I didn't expect this to solve your problem at hand.

I have these 2 Hostgator email addresses that were working before and something happened that I stopped receiving and sending emails from those 2 accounts.

Was there any error message when the problem occurred first?

Is there anything account related in the error console (Ctrl-Shift-J) when you attempt to set up the account?

Did you try Manual Configuration when setting up the account? https://support.mozilla.org/kb/manual-account-configuration

more options

Was there any error message when the problem occurred first?

- I just noticed Thunderbird was taking a long time to read the inbox of those account until it gave the message "Connection to server timed out".

Is there anything account related in the error console (Ctrl-Shift-J) when you attempt to set up the account?

- Yes, it says "Unable to log in at server. Probably wrong configuration, username or password." But I didn't change neither username neither the password on both email accounts.

Did you try Manual Configuration when setting up the account? https://support.mozilla.org/kb/manual-account-configuration </blockquote>

- Yes, I did which was also what Hostgator support recommended.

Thank you for your time.

Modified by Matt

more options

Try to start Windows in safe mode with networking enabled. - Win10 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode

Does the problem go away?

more options

christ1 said

Try to start Windows in safe mode with networking enabled. - Win10 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode Does the problem go away?

No, issue persists.

more options

have you purchases SSL certificates for the mail servers? or are you relying on some for another domain and need to ensure they are current and exceptions exist in the certificate manager?

more options

Matt said

have you purchases SSL certificates for the mail servers? or are you relying on some for another domain and need to ensure they are current and exceptions exist in the certificate manager?

Hostgator offers free SSL for the domain. I contacted them again and they said the MX records needed to be updated. The guy did it and said I had to wait 1 to 8 hours for propagation. It's been more than that and the issue persists.

more options

Try both of these sites to test one of the domains. Both very helpful in determining issues.

https://tools.dnsstuff.com/ and https://www.htbridge.com/ssl/