Email other than webmail not working

[Dougie1]

Hi All,

I have hit a problem with me missus's talktalk email mailbox which is attached to my talktalk account.  Her computer recently crashed, and she lost a lot of info.  I have now got it working again, and am trying to set up her email addy again. She uses an acer laptop with windows 11 on it, and uses Thunderbird as her email software, but her password isn't recognised when used by Thunderbird.

  She can access her talktalk webmail via her internet browser on the laptop  and via her phone, using apps.talktalk.uk  but her password doesn't work via Thunderbird when I try to set up her email address account.

A few years ago, you sorted out this problem for me. The talktalk account is in my name and her email address is attached to the mail box inside that account. A few years ago, I had the same problem when you changed your systems, and you kindly sorted it out for me, but I don't know (or can't remember how) you did it.  Can you help me with instructions on how to get her Thunderbird account set up via imap with a usable or recognised password so that she can get access to her mailbox from Thunderbird on her laptop, please?

Yours sincerely,

Dougie1.

[Gondola]

Excellent Doug.

We do appreciate your time in letting us know your wife is back in action emailing all her friends telling them what a great husband she has. Thank you.

[Dougie1]

Hi Gondola,

Yippee!  Tx for your help...I did it manually with your settings but what clinched it was the user name being not only her name but the whole email address...😀  😀😀  All her emails have downloaded and I did an upload test too and it worked!

ATB

Dougie😀

[Gondola]

Here are the manual setup settings for a Thunderbird IMAP email account. 

The incoming server hostname can be either imap.talktalk.net or mail.talktalk.net as they're alternatives to each other.

The Username is actually not her name but her full email address. The password is security compliant so that won't be a problem at all.

So, have a look and see how your setup compares. Let me know what happens when you correct the setup and include the Connection security exactly as you see in the above settings.

[Dougie1]

Hi Gondola,

Tx for your quick reply...

The password to get into her webmail account is 12 bits long and with a mixture of numbers, small and capital letters and symbols, so I think that should be OK and it gets her into webmail OK.  I can also get access using my talktalk webmail page and the webmail accounts...if that helps...I haven't removed the password and tried entering it again as I am worried in case we don't get any access at all!

When I try to set up the account in Thunderbird, I am using IMAP and the automatic configuration

Incoming IMAP STARTTLS

imap.talktalk.net

Outgoing SMTP STARTLS

smtp.talktalk.net

Username ************* (her name obviously)

At the end of the process, I click <done> and an error message box comes up saying  Incoming server already exists. When I click OK it disappears but the previous page comes back with "done" on it.  I have two other email accounts on Thunderbird, google and Microsoft both of which are set up and working properly...I notice that even if I don't put any password in I get the same ending.

There is also a green box with a tick which says "Configuration found by trying common server names"

ATB,

Dougie

[Gondola]

Hello again Doug

I've moved your post to a new retitled topic to offer individual help. Good to know your wife's email is working via TalkTalk Mail webmail.

The fact that it's not accepting the password via Thunderbird is either because the password is weak so doesn't pass verification checks or the access to the mailbox via IMAP4 / POP3 connections has been switched off as an action of last resort by TalkTalk because of continued use of insecure settings.

So first, the password. How strong is it? How many characters? Multicase letters and numbers and a symbol as a minimum requirement?

Next, are you setting up an IMAP or POP3 account in Thunderbird and for what email domain - just the part after the @ symbol?