T'bird reinstall & I can't access any email accounts(WinXP)

[Slime]

Hi all, I'll keep this as brief as possible.

I have six gmail accounts that I access via Mozilla Thunderbird.

Suddenly, for no obvious reason, one kept asking me for login details to allow T'bird to access the relevant Google account.

I then had a choice of pressing Deny or Allow. I pressed Allow, but still couldn't send or receive mail from that one account!

I re-installed T'bird and have version 38.5.0.

No joy.

I then deleted the account and then went to Add Mail Account.

I get a couple of errors during my failed attempts!!

Usually, when it's checking the password during Mail Account Setup, I'm asked to sign in with my Google Account. I do that and get the message; Mozilla Thunderbird wants to access your Google account, and I allow it to do so.

Meanwhile Thunderbird's Mail Account Setup is still checking the password, and it does so forever!

It's was checking for over an hour before I hit cancel.

Occasionally get this message : Error Creating Account : Incoming Server Already Exists.

I don't know what that means, sorry.

I have double checked that the deleted account is deleted ...................... and it definitely is!

All my other accounts are absolutely fine and the one that I couldn't use works fine when accessed via Gmail in Google.

I'd love to be able to add it as a new email account in Thunderbird without having the authentification issues that suddenly appeared from nowhere and without warning.

Oh, the problem account works fine on my laptop(Windows 10), just not on my desktop (Windows XP).

I can't believe it's an XP issue because my other accounts are unaffected.

Oh, and I'm putting in the correct login details.

Also, I changed the password for the problem account just a few days ago, but I'm sure that's not relevant.

I've just done a fresh Thunderbird reinstall and have now lost ALL of my email accounts!!!
Every time I try to add one I just keep getting the following message, Error Creating Account : Incoming Server Already Exists

It's driving me absolutely crazy, please help.

Thanks in advance,

Slime.

[tanstaafl]

Each gmail account has a different username? I'd normally assume so but Error Creating Account : Incoming Server Already Exists implies that you do not have a unique combination of the account type (POP/IMAP), username and mail server name for each account.

Please copy& paste JUST the mail&news section from help -> troubleshooting information so that I can see what type of configuration your accounts are using. Leave "include account name UNchecked" so there is no risk of including your username/email address.

I suggest you try switching from "normal password" to "Oauth2" as the authentication method if version 38.5.0 supports that. My impression was that if you are using XP SP2 or later you have to install version 38.5.0 but can tell it to check for an upgrade. You can't specify what version it upgrades to, but it should upgrade to version 52.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Go_back_to_an ... hunderbird

[Slime]

Hi mate, thanks for your fast response.

As I began writing this, Thunderbird has actually updated to version 52.9.1
Below is hopefully what you asked for!!

Mail and News Accounts
ID......................................Incoming server..................................................................Outgoing server
........................Name............Connection security............Authentication method.....................Name.......Connection security........Authentication method.....Default?
account1 ....................(none) Local Folders ......None ..........................Normal password


Not sure how to switch 'Authentication Method'.
All I have in the left hand pane in T'bird is 'Local Folders' because I can't add any email accounts!!

Thanks for your help,
Slime.

[tanstaafl]

Interesting. I thought you might be having problems due to having some existing gmail accounts as you added more, but you have none. Local Folders doesn't have a authentication method because it doesn't talk to a mail server.

Try deleting all of the files in the profile under ..\Mail except for the Local Folders directory and its contents, and everything in ..\ImapMail. help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder will open windows explorer at your current profile. I've seen old bug reports and threads where leftover files from failed attempts seem to cause this type problem. If you don't see any files enable view hidden files in windows explorers view settings.

If this is too tricky I suggest you try creating a new profile using either the profile manager or the about:profiles link in help -> troubleshooting information (not sure if that link exists in 52.9.1, I know it does in 60.* and later). If that works you could recover your old address books by copying the *.mab files over the corresponding *.mab files in the new profile.

[Slime]

Hi tanstaafl
Sorry for the delayed response, but now I'm back!
I'm sure I deleted absolutely everything rel;ating to T'bird from my computer.
Fresh install and update to 52.9.1 ................................. and still nothing!
At one point I left it 'Checking Password', during the Mail Account Setup phase, and it was checking for over 24hours!
I hit cancel, did it again and got the old Error Creating Account : Incoming Server Already Exists message!!
I don't even show Local Folders in the left side pane.
Unfortunately I don't think I'm able to send you a screen shot my Windows Explorer current profile.
There are lots of things showing, none of which really mean anything to me.
Any other thoughts?

Slime

[tanstaafl]

Old versions of Thunderbird used to automatically create the Local Folders account when they created a new profile. Nowadays its not created until you add a POP or IMAP account (last time I checked). If you are starting fresh (with no saved profiles) it should have automatically run the new account wizard. Did it?

[Slime]

Hi
After installing it I got a Welcome to Thunderbird box asking 'Would you like a new email address'?
I opted for the 'Skip this and use my existing email', which is where I get the issues.

[Slime]

Hi
After installing it I got a Welcome to Thunderbird box asking 'Would you like a new email address'?
I opted for the 'Skip this and use my existing email', which is where I get the issues.

Bump?

I'm still having the same problems, any further suggestions?

Slime.

[tanstaafl]

Can you copy the working profile from the laptop to the desktop? My impression was your problem was machine specific.

The simplest way would be to use help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder to open windows explorer at your current, useless profile and copy the contents of the working profile over it. Make sure you copy just the contents, and not the directory too. i.e. if your old profile was a xyz directory and you copy the contents and it creates a xyz child directory you did it wrong.

[Slime]

Can you copy the working profile from the laptop to the desktop? My impression was your problem was machine specific.

The simplest way would be to use help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder to open windows explorer at your current, useless profile and copy the contents of the working profile over it. Make sure you copy just the contents, and not the directory too. i.e. if your old profile was a xyz directory and you copy the contents and it creates a xyz child directory you did it wrong.

Thanks for the above but, to avoid me getting it horribly wrong, could you give me a step by step walk through please.
Sorry to be a pain.

Slime.