can't access Earthlink IMAP accounts with Thunderbird 78.4.0 (MacOS)
On 25 October 2020 I updated Thunderbird on my MacOS Mojave (v10.14.6) machine, from 68.12.1 to 78.4.0. I have 5 different IMAP accounts I access via Thunderbird. The 2 that are gmail "under the hood" are working fine. The 3 that are Earthlink are not. Specifically:
Given accounts User1 (the oldest), User2, and User3, all with Server = imap.earthlink.net, Port = 143, Outgoing = [email protected], Security = STARTTLS & Encrypted Password
• When I click on the Inbox for User1, the message "[email protected]: Checking mail server capabilities ..." appears in the bar at the bottom of the Thunderbird window but never goes away.
For User2 and User3, that message appeared earlier today but is no longer appearing. Oops, it will re-appear if I click on the Inbox and then click the "Get Messages" button. For User2, if I go to a different Inbox and then return, the message is gone; for User3, if I go to a different Inbox and then return, the message is still there.
• When I click on the Inbox for User1, I can see the list of emails that were in the Inbox when I upgraded, and whether they are unread (bold type) or read, but I cannot view the actual message when I click on any of them. • When I click on the Inbox for User2 or User3, I can see the list of emails that were in the Inbox when I upgraded, and whether they are unread (bold type) or read. If I click on the message I can view it; if it was unread (bold) it changes to read (plain font). • The Inboxes for User1, User2, and User3 show no new emails since I upgraded. I have been online all day, although not in Thunderbird all day. I have logged onto Earthlink webmail as User1 and verified that mail has arrived today and that I can read it. • I have used Thunderbird to send email from User1 to a non-Earthlink account and successfully received it at that other account.
What's going on? Has anyone else seen this? solved it?
All Replies (5)
I have the same problem except I'm using Windows 10 OS. Have you tried changing settings via the config editor described in other posts? In TB menu bar under tools select options, scroll to the end/bottom of the window and select config editor. Find preference 'security.tls.version.min' change value to 2 if that doesn't fix it change value to 1. To be safe, note your existing setting (probably 3) before you change so you change it back if it doesn't work. It worked for my Comcast accounts but didn't fix my Earthlink account. I spent 1 1/2 hours with Earthlink Tech support and their fix was to uninstall TB 78.4 and install an older version of TB that worked. That is unacceptable to me because other users who did that said they lost all their profile/preferences and email history. Until I can find an acceptable fix, I am accessing my Earthlink email on the Earthlink web site "Web Mail". Other posts on this issue indicate the problem (I think) may be with a down level security standard TLS 1.1 that Earthlink hasn't upgraded their email servers to accept TLS 1.2 and the new versions of TB don't support the old version TLS 1.1. Still waiting for someone TB or Earthlink to fix this screw up. Good luck
Spent about 2 hours online with an Earthlink Support person. Going into the support session, conditions were - For User1 the "Server Settings" Security and Authentication were Connection security = None, Authentication method = Password, transmitted insecurely - For User2 & User3 the "Server Settings" Security and Authentication were Connection security = STARTTLS, Authentication method = Encrypted password - For all accounts, the "SMTP Server" Security and Authentication were Connection security = STARTTLS, Authentication method = Encrypted password
The Earthlink Support person tried many things, including deleting User1 from Tbird & rebuilding it, as well as several permutations of security settings. He eventually got my accounts to work (receive new email & display contents of all received messages) in Thunderbird 78.4.0 by changing settings so that - For all accounts, the "Server Settings" Security and Authentication are Connection security = None, Authentication method = Password, transmitted insecurely - For all accounts, the "SMTP Server" Security and Authentication are Connection security = None, Authentication method = Password, transmitted insecurely
I could not get him to answer the question, "What TLS security standard do Earthlink email servers accept?". I also asked "Please, will you tell me if Earthlink email servers accept TLS 1.2?", to which he replied "It accept but in Thunderbird it is not accepting so there is no harm".
"Server Settings" Security and Authentication are Connection security = None, Authentication method = Password, transmitted insecurely (and ditto the SMTP server settings)- that worked when I set it myself. Thanks for the report and the hours on with Earthlink support! Much appreciated!
Correct, earthlink relies on 10 year old encryption and fails to support modern protections of TLS 1.2. Please make sure to tell them that you are very unhappy about that lack of protection.
To those who are using Earthlink and downgraded either TB or v78 TLS to 1.0: I contacted the Earthlink COO and complained about this, and the problem is fixed. Set security.tls.version.min back to 3 will restore TLS v1.2.