Moving Thunderbird to New PC
The hard drive on my PC running Windows 10 crashed and I have a new one running Windows 11. I used Thunderbird on the old PC and am trying to set up Thunderbird on the new PC. My email account is with AOL. When setting up Thunderbird on the new PC, it asks for the password. I am trying to use the AOL password but it does not work. The same password works on other devices. I have no access to the data on the old hard drive. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
All Replies (10)
Verizon and AOL require an APP password when using email clients on a PC. I believe you must go to the AOL site and select the security page and can set up the APP password there. See this page for more info: https://help.aol.com/articles/Create-and-manage-app-password
According to the documentation you referenced, an APP password is only needed if you have enabled 2 step verification. I have not. My AOL password works on other devices. I think the problem has more to do with the configuration Thunderbird is giving me. Using my desired email address as [email protected] , Thunderbird is using the following: Incoming POP3 SSL/TLS
pop.verizon.net
Outgoing SMPT SSL/TLS
smpt.verizon.net
Username
example
I believe when AOL took over the Verizon emails, the POP server became pop.aol.com and the SMPT server became smpt.aol.com Also, I've seen posts that say the username should be [email protected] Instead of just example. I've tried all the above combinations and none has worked. Thanks for your help.
Try pop.aol.com and smtp.pop.com (I have verizon account - imap - and it uses imap.aol.com and smtp.aol.com. ) Yes, use full email address.
I did find this url, but it seems a combination: https://help.aol.com/articles/how-do-i-set-up-other-email-applications-to-send-and-receive-my-verizon-net-mail
Tried with the following configuration:
Incoming Server
Protocol POP3
Hostname pop.aol.com
Port 995
Connection Security SSL/TLS
Authentication Method Normal Password
Username [email protected]
Outgoing Server
Hostname smpt.aol.com Port 465 Connection Security SSL/TLS Authentication Method Normal Password Username [email protected]
Error message: Unable to log into server. Probably wrong configuration, username or password. Thanks.
you continully type smpt instead of smtp - is that a simple typo in your text or are you entering that into thunderbird?
Typo. I used smtp.aol.com
THis thread may help, indicating that OAUTH2 may be your solution: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1360869
Thanks, David.
Solution was to change the Authentication Method for the Incoming Server to OAUTH2 instead of normal password. TB then went to the AOL site and allowed me to OK TB getting mail from AOL. This was not very intuitive, and I thank you for your help.
You're welcome. I'll make a note of this because I know the issue will surface again.