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Update IMAP account settings for 40+ internal Thunderbird users

  • 6 iimpendulo
  • 1 inayo le ngxaki
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  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu Wayne Mery

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Hi all; we're using Thunderbird to connect to an internal IMAP server. Right now, this machine is subject to redeployment as we need to link e-mail credentials to our ActiveDirectory environment. So, we need to reconfigure 40+ user desktops running recent versions of Thunderbird and add a new IMAP account with new credentials pointing to the "new" server. The old IMAP host should remain in place for archiving purposes.

Is there any way, in Thunderbird, to automatically or by config-file add these accounts to all these clients without having to manually log in to each of these machines and do that manually for each and every user? So far I read about Autoconfiguration in the Thunderbird Enterprise wiki which might be an option yet it still requires way too much manual interaction for our users...

Any input greatly appreciated! :) Thanks, Kristian

Hi all; we're using Thunderbird to connect to an internal IMAP server. Right now, this machine is subject to redeployment as we need to link e-mail credentials to our ActiveDirectory environment. So, we need to reconfigure 40+ user desktops running recent versions of Thunderbird and add a new IMAP account with new credentials pointing to the "new" server. The old IMAP host should remain in place for archiving purposes. Is there any way, in Thunderbird, to automatically or by config-file add these accounts to all these clients without having to manually log in to each of these machines and do that manually for each and every user? So far I read about Autoconfiguration in the Thunderbird Enterprise wiki which might be an option yet it still requires way too much manual interaction for our users... Any input greatly appreciated! :) Thanks, Kristian

Isisombulu esikhethiweyo

If you are still stuck, you might subscribe to the enterprise forum and ask there

Funda le mpendulo kwimeko leyo 👍 1

All Replies (6)

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Wayne Mery said

See deployment at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Enterprise

Thanks for your pointer. :) Actually I've already been reading through this, yet I don't really feel enlightened by now. For once, most of the articles seem a bit date (Thunderbird 3.1??) but that might not matter too much. Worse, however: As far as I read through these, all these still involve some manual work on the end users side. What I am looking for is something that would provide end users out of the box with the "right" working setup without any more effort than just entering a password. I thought about manually messing with the Thunderbird config files but am not sure whether I should even think about that...

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For account configuration and autoconfig, nothing has changed. For CCK type stuff probably best to refer to Firefox documents.

Manually editing prefs is not a good idea.

visit https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Autoconfiguration and look at "config file on harddisk" or "Small company"

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Isisombululo esiKhethiweyo

If you are still stuck, you might subscribe to the enterprise forum and ask there

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Thanks; I'll try subscribing to the enterprise forum (again); did so before and so far failed as the subscribe process never went through.

However I found a somewhat pragmatic solution to the approach which includes keeping backward-compatibility and migrating users / passwords for existing users so that the mail client just keeps on working with the new server seamlessly. Looking at all the options at hand and the user base involved, this seemed to be the most effective solution.

Thanks anyway for your help and all the best! :) Kristian

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kr428 said

Thanks; I'll try subscribing to the enterprise forum (again); did so before and so far failed as the subscribe process never went through.

I manage the subscribe process at https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/tb-enterprise so if you have trouble please post here.