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Cannot set up gmail for IMAP or POP

  • 7 replies
  • 10 have this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by jjdarksky

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At some point I became unable to access my gmail account in Thunderbird, I tried different settings, but nothing worked so I deleted the account from Thunderbird and tried to set it up fresh. I consistently get the error message "Username or password invalid" I have tried all the suggested fixes from gmails help pages, and fixes in this forum but nothing works. I have enabled "less secure apps". I get the same error trying to set the account up as POP as well. Username and password are correct BTW.

At some point I became unable to access my gmail account in Thunderbird, I tried different settings, but nothing worked so I deleted the account from Thunderbird and tried to set it up fresh. I consistently get the error message "Username or password invalid" I have tried all the suggested fixes from gmails help pages, and fixes in this forum but nothing works. I have enabled "less secure apps". I get the same error trying to set the account up as POP as well. Username and password are correct BTW.

Chosen solution

Try to login to your Google account via webmail. There may be something Google wants/needs to confirm wrt your account.

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All Replies (7)

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When you did attempt to set up the account as an IMAP account, did you choose 'OAuth2' as 'Authentication method'?

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Yes I did, I actually tried every type.

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I'm attaching a screen shot of the settings.

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Do you have any "exotic" characters in your email address or its password? Email protocols (POP, IMAP, SMTP) are quite restrictive, and characters that may be permissible in an http/https connection (as used in webmail) may not be allowed in email.

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no just lower case letters, not even numbers.

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Chosen Solution

Try to login to your Google account via webmail. There may be something Google wants/needs to confirm wrt your account.

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That was the problem, I solved it by using a different computer and when I tried to set up the IMAP account a pop-up window from google wanting me to sign in. Must have been a pop-up blocker on the other machine preventing the sign in window from opening. Note, just signing into gmail from a browser doesn't work, you need the pop-up dialog.

Thanks to all who replied.