Unable to sync Thunderbird with Outlook.com using POP
My wife and I have been using Thunderbird for many, many years and have never had a problem, even when migrating from one computer to another. A few weeks ago she became unable to connect and sync her email. The error message is:
"Sending of password for user xxxxxx@hotmail.com did not succeed. Mail server pop3.live.com responded Connection is closed 12."
She can get to her emails by going directly to outlook.com and using her email address and password. I have been through each setting in her Thunderbird profile and, since I have no problems, even compared it to the settings in my profile. We both have our own laptops, so that is a factor. I also tried disabling her antivirus software temporarily to see if that was interfering. As a last ditch effort, I backed up her emails and then deleted her email account in Thunderbird and re-created it. The same problem existed. She has a relatively new Lenovo laptop running Windows 10. Does anyone have any ideas or thoughts?
Thank you! JF
Chosen solution
Consider any possible changes in the computing environment that might affect email connections. Did you recently apply two-step verification to the account? Is POP enabled for the account in outlook.com webmail settings? Is there a VPN in use? What is the antivirus and its settings for scanning mail?
If none of those factors apply, I doubt this is specific to TB. As a test, add the account to the Windows Mail app and see if the error persists.
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Try these settings (which work with my hotmail.com account): incoming outlook.office365.com on 993 (IMAP) or 995 (POP), SSL/TLS, authentication = normal password, User Name = email address; outgoing smtp.office365.com on 587, STARTTLS, authentication = normal password, User Name = email address.
Hello sfhowes,
Thank you very much for the suggestion. I tried the settings that you suggested, but had the same result. Most of the settings matched yours. The only differences were the target server names. Her computer and mine use POP3.live.com and smtp-mail.outlook.com.
Those work on my computer for my hotmail account and they used to work on her computer for her hotmail account.
Again, thank you for taking the time to offer a solution. It is greatly appreciated.
JF
Chosen Solution
Consider any possible changes in the computing environment that might affect email connections. Did you recently apply two-step verification to the account? Is POP enabled for the account in outlook.com webmail settings? Is there a VPN in use? What is the antivirus and its settings for scanning mail?
If none of those factors apply, I doubt this is specific to TB. As a test, add the account to the Windows Mail app and see if the error persists.
Hello sfhowes,
You nailed it! It was the two factor authentication that she turned on. I had to go to her MS account and generate a special password just for Thunderbird. Bingo, problem solved. Thank you, kind sir. Have a great weekend. JF