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I have Thunderbird 38.2.0 installed on my Macbook (10.10.3 Yosemite). For some reason my account passwords have disappeared. I cannot download new mail anymore for all accounts, pop3, exchange or imap. This all worked until last weekend. Internet still works on the laptop. All these accounts work on other systems, so it's not related to the mailservers.
- When checking mail, no password is asked, nothing happens.
- When I open Preferences > Security > Passwords > Saved Passwords, the list is empty.
- When I try to set a master password, it fails. (Although this is not the issue for me, I tried it, noticed it didn't work, and it seems related so I mention it here.)
- If passwords are deleted, I would expect to get a popup request for the password, but nothing happens.
- The OSX keychain had some (probably older) pop3 and smtp passwords for these accounts, from last year. Back then I used Apple Mail, but I migrated last year to Thunderbird. I deleted these keys to see if that resulted in something, but nothing happened.
I copied the mail folder (using cp -rp), so I could mess with the folder and go back if needed. Then I restored a backup of the mail from before the problems began to a temp folder. For each test situation I copied the original or backup version of the mail, so I could go back to an identical situation if needed.
- I copied the backup to the
Library/Thunderbirdfolder and opened Thunderbird. No change. - I installed Thunderbird 38.0.1 with the backup - no change.
- I tried the 40 beta version - no change.
- I used
chownto reset owner - no change.
I have no idea where to reset the passwords.
How can I get may email working again?
Rebuild profile
One of the solutions I have in mind is to rebuild the profile:
- Move the Thunderbird folder, forcing TB to create a new profile.
- Recreate all accounts.
- Move back the mail folders.
I haven't done this yet. I see many folders with old accounts, including pop.googlemail-1.com, pop.googlemail-2.com etc, and don't know if these get linked to the right account, if that matters, or if this messes up something else.
Any input is valued!
SPRBRN
Posted 2015-08-23T10:03:59.970
Reputation: 5 185
I have seven accounts, all of them with this problem. One is Exchange and one IMAP, the rest POP3. I can read the mail from my phone, so the mailserver works. I've disabled the addons. I've restarted Thunderbird several times. Internet works, as I'm typing this on the same machine. If I check mail for one account, the status bar shows that it is connecting, the progress bar is 100% full, and it stays there while nothing happens. I'm going to restart the laptop to see if that helps. – SPRBRN – 2015-08-23T13:06:46.227
@fixer1234 - see my updated question! – SPRBRN – 2015-08-25T11:24:50.370
You've got a great, well-written question (+1). I've never seen this before and haven't got a clue to an answer. Looking forward to seeing what other people come up with. – fixer1234 – 2015-08-25T16:25:35.717
Thanks for the compliment. In the process of finding a solution I discover issues, questions, which I first try to solve myself. By describing all I've done I prevent other people from trying the same things, saving them effort and time. If they give a suggestion for something I already did (try this or that), that's a waste of my time as well. If you look at my profile you'll find more questions like this one, although many are short and simple. – SPRBRN – 2015-08-25T19:21:03.923
In that Library/Thunderbird folder, do you see a signons.sqlite file? – Alfabravo – 2015-08-25T20:18:55.463
I see it in the profile folder. – SPRBRN – 2015-08-25T20:20:51.860
I can open that file in a Sqlite client, and in the moz_logins table I see all entries. Usernames and passwords are encrypted, so I can't check those, but I guess it is correct. – SPRBRN – 2015-08-25T20:28:04.207