Thunderbird stores entered password w/ wrong account name

[Cheryl_27]

I've had problems w/ one of several GMX accts in Tbird for few days.

All settings are correct, PW's been reset (few times), CAN login thru webmail & send / rec. But on ONE acct, "cannot access the server for unknown reasons," or "mail server pop.gmx.com responded: authentication failed."

After MUCH checking, I think I've finally found the problem, but no idea how it's happening or best action.

Long forgotten, I had another GMX acct w/ similar email name. But, there's no acct for it in TB / accounts, NOR any mail folders for it in the Profile.

The older one had NO period after my 1st initial: dcooper@gmx.com

Newer, active one ( IS set up in TB) HAS a period after my 1st AND middle initials. DB.Cooper@gmx.com IT is the active one I can login via webmail) & also proper email address in TB's acct settings. Yes, it's spelled correctly everywhere in TB acct.

I RESET the PW on GMX & can login webmail w/ it. I finally !^$@&%# discovered after deleting the entries in TB PW file (several times) AND deleting entries for the inactivated acct that,

each time I delete these PW entries from TB's file, & then re enter new PW when prompted, it often stores the good PW, but dredges up the old, defunct acct name & puts the new PW w/ it. IOW, It RE enters in the PW file (signons.sqlite), the new PW w/ the defunct email address (the "dcooper" instead of "DB.Cooper.")

BUT, sometimes it stores the good PW w/ the CORRECT acct name in the PW file (like outgoing smtp - mail.gmx.com). But still can't send from that acct. Get same errors.

Q-1: Where's TB dredging up the old acct name?

In about:config, there are some entries for the old "dcooper" acct, like"

mail.identity.id12.archive_folder...w/ value: mailbox://dcooper%40gmx.com@pop.gmx.com/Archives

also entries for same "....id12." for Sent, Drafts, Templates.

Other repetitious entries for "...id16" & "...id17" - as above. Then 2 more about:config entries for the defunct acct:

mail.server.server14.spamActionTargetAccount

mail.server.server14.userName

All these 10 - 12 entries for the defunct acct are "User Set," but could have been changed by ???, long ago.

Q-2: How do I stop TB from using some old acct name, not found in current Profile? One thing I'm not sure of is the chance of OTHER file(s) in the Profile\Mail folder (other than actual mail boxes) being corrupt. If I delete / recreate the current problem acct in TB, & copy ALL Mail folder files to new acct, any problem might follow. Would it be wise to delete any files in this acct's mail folder, like popstate or *.msf? Though I doubt that's where TB gets the old acct name.

Thanks.

[PNWDweller]

Same issues here - with Postbox though (Offshoot of Thunderbird). Random invalid login warnings. When I tell it to try again, it works. Not sure what the issue is but frustrating. I have just under 30 accounts to check (part of my business and client requests), and when this occurs on multiple accounts....

Not too many alternatives for Mac. Would use Mac Mail, but not really a fan of that program in the way it handles multiple accounts and rules. (Based my decision on a few years ago, probably has improved).

[Cheryl_27]

No replies, so I'll post what I did. Actually turned out were 2 main problems - w/ Tbird & GMX's (system?) itself.

I'm not sure where Tbird got the name of the defunct acct, but assume was from leftover entries in prefs.js. The names of the accts were different enough, it shouldn't have confused them, so there must be more to it. Some other value the old & new acct shared.

Somehow Tbird must have used data from both accts, that mismatched PWs & acct name. But I don't know "why Tbird settings problems now?" The older acct was deleted > 1yr ago & newer acct has been in use for nearly as long, w/ no problems. Maybe a Tbird update?

Deleting & adding back the acct in TB - once - wasn't enough. It still pulled some odd info & entered in acct settings when re creating it. BTW, I backed up the acct's entire Mail folder & prefs.js file, before doing anything.

2nd time, deleted the re created acct, then deleted entire Mail folder for that acct; deleted all entries still in prefs.js - for either the old or new acct name. Many of those entries did NOT have the email address on same line; just had to look at other accts & figure out what entries still left went w/ the acct I just deleted (or the defunct acct) & manually delete them.

After that, no more incorrect values were pulled into the acct during the 2nd resurrection. Like entering mail.gmx.com when it should be pop.gmx.com. Deleting & re creating the acct (2x) was definitely the way to go.

All that stopped Tbird from putting a PW w/ an old acct name in signons.sqlite. But still "could not connect to server. PW authentication failed."

I ran into this before w/ GMX - resetting a PW 1 - 2x, & entering them in Tbird sometimes still wouldn't allow connecting to GMX server!?! Could login to webmail, but not w/ Tbird. So reset the PW a 3rd time - again, via email link. When login failed again & Tbird prompted for new PW, entered the THIRD NEW PW & Tbird connected immediately.

That's right - this & couple other times (after thinking about it), once the GMX PW "went bad," it took going thru their PW resetting process 3x, before GMX would accept it from Tbird. Even though I COULD log into webmail w/ ANY of the reset PWs. It happened before, exactly the same way, except no problems w/ Tbird itself, the other times. As you may suspect, this is sort of a deal breaker for GMX & me. That coupled w/ almost non existent support (for me & quite a few others' reporting on their forum).