Thunderbird can't connect to Gmail - configuration could not be verified
I have recently been unable to connect to my Gmail account from Thunderbird. The last email I successfully downloaded was on October 10 and everything was working fine until then. I've tried deleting the account and adding it back again, when I do so I get through the configuration stage and get to the point of clicking "Done", Thunderbird waits for a while and then shows the message "Configuration could not be verified - is the username or password wrong?" I am using the default server settings from the Mozilla connection database (IMAP and SMTP). Here are the things that I've tried based on this article http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Gmail_with_Thunderbird_and_Mozilla_Suite
- Using both OAuth2 and and Normal password as the authentication mechanism
- Checking that the "Allow less secure apps to access your Google account" is checked on my Google account
- Checking that Thunderbird allows cookie for google.com
- Logging in and out of my Gmail account to verify that the credentials are correct
I have even written a program in Java to access the Gmail account using both IMAP and SMTP and both were successful using basic authentication. The problem seems to be specific to Thunderbird.
Any ideas on what I can do?
Chosen solution
Try to start Windows in safe mode with networking enabled. - Win10 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode
Does the problem go away?
Read this answer in context 👍 2All Replies (6)
You could try using the Password Editor extension and completely removing credentials for the problematic account, then setting it up again.
OAuth2 authentication is what's recommended for Gmail IMAP and SMTP. With OAuth2 you don't need to "Allow less secure apps".
Are you trying to use any app specific password with Thunderbird? You shouldn't.
No, I'm not trying to use any app specific password, just the Gmail credentials. I'm not even really sure that I know what an app specific password is.
I have completely removed the problematic account after it couldn't connect because it was not returning any error messages. The error message that I've attached came after I tried to recreate the deleted acount.
Is there any way to turn on some kind of debug mode for Thunderbird so that I can see what might be going on? Note that I've tried this but it didn't seem to work - it wrote the file but it didn't produce any log output
Modified by MatthewMatthew
Chosen Solution
Try to start Windows in safe mode with networking enabled. - Win10 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/windows-10-start-your-pc-in-safe-mode
Does the problem go away?
Found the problem - AVG Anti virus was getting in the way. Thank you christ1, starting in safe mode pointed me to the fact that something running on the PC was causing the problem and my first guess was AVG.
I've removed AVG and replaced it with Avast, everything is working well now.