How do I get Thunderbird to recognize my password?

December 17, 2007 6:42 PM

Thunderbird Help -- I have no idea how it happened but all of my folders and emails have disappeared.

One day, I opened Thunderbird and it started the process for setting up a new account. I thought this was no big deal, I searched online and found the right pop.mail.server etc. When I was done, thunderbird didn't recognize my password (and still doesn't).
I called my ISP (Cox), who confirmed that I had the correct password (I already knew this as I logged onto my email through the web).
So I've basically been using the web the last couple of weeks. But I don't have any of my old emails nor my Address book. I searched online for a solution, found this page that I thought was appropriate but frankly it's above my head. I know just enough to get around & get myself in trouble.

Please help. I'm sorry if this explanation was not clear enough, ask questions if needed. + please explain like I'm complete n00b.

posted by thekorruptor to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Since complete n00bs never tell us what OS they're using, I'm going to assume it's Windows XP :-)

Thunderbird wraps up all your mail, address books and account settings in a folder. This folder is called your Thunderbird profile. You can have as many profiles as you like, and choose between them when you start Thunderbird. Most people have only one Thunderbird profile per Windows user account.

Typically, the profile is itself a subfolder of another folder called Profiles, which in turn is a subfolder of your Thunderbird settings folder. Each Windows user account has a single Thunderbird settings folder. If your Windows installation is typical, and your Windows user account name is thekorruptor, you would find your Thunderbird settings folder at C:\Documents and Settings\thekorruptor\Application Data\Thunderbird.

These folders are usually hard to find, because Windows hides the Application Data folder. To work with it, you need to go to Tools->Folder Options->View (in an Explorer window, not in Thunderbird) and turn on the "Show hidden files and folders" option.

One day, I opened Thunderbird and it started the process for setting up a new account. I thought this was no big deal...

It actually might well be a big deal. One of two things has happened: if you're lucky, Thunderbird has just forgotten where your profile is. If you're not, Something Bad has happened to C:\Documents and Settings\thekorruptor\Application Data\Thunderbird.

Before we go any further, could you go and look in C:\Documents and Settings\thekorruptor\Application Data\Thunderbird and tell us what files and folders exist inside it, and if there's a Profiles folder there, tell us what folders exist inside that.
posted by flabdablet at 7:20 PM on December 17, 2007

Well, sheeoot, my n00b handbook only talks about Windows ME. I guess my rookie start kit is a little out of date. Heh, you got my OS right on it's shiny red nose.
So, inside my Thunderbird folder is;

Profiles (folder)
profiles.ini
registry.dat

Inside the Profiles folders is;

pn5u77ua.default

Inside that is a whole lotta stuffs, including what looks like my extensions etc.
posted by thekorruptor at 7:34 PM on December 17, 2007

More info: Inside my the "Mail" is;

"Local Folders"
"Local Folders-1"
"pop.west.cox-1.net"
"pop.west.cox.net"
posted by thekorruptor at 7:43 PM on December 17, 2007

*my "Mail" folder"
posted by thekorruptor at 7:44 PM on December 17, 2007

OK. The first thing we're going to do is back up your entire existing Thunderbird profile, just to make sure we don't go further backwards from here.

1. Make sure Thunderbird isn't running.

2. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\thekorruptor\Application Data\ in Windows Explorer.

3. Right-click the Thunderbird folder in that window, select Copy.

4. Right-click a blank area in that window, select Paste. Windows will make a copy of the Thunderbird folder and name it "Copy of Thunderbird".

Next, we're going to hand-edit the preferences file (which a comment inside it specifically tells us not to do) so that Thunderbird looks in "Local Folders" to find your mail instead of "Local Folders-1".

What I think has happened is that somehow, for some reason, you have managed to get two instances of Thunderbird running at the same time, and they've both tried to modify the preferences file at the same time, and it's been bollixed up. This will be what caused the original behaviour where you got asked to enter all your account details again. Depending on just how badly it got bollixed up, we might need to regenerate it from scratch; but I'm hoping it's currently in reasonable shape and will only need a few tweaks. If I'm wrong, we can restore the backup made above and try again.

Normally, when Thunderbird creates its first mail account, it will also create the Mail folder inside the profile, and populate it with two subfolders: "Local Folders", which contains mail files common to all mail accounts, and a folder named for the mail account's POP server, which contains folders private to that server. Normally those private folders don't end up with any mails in them, because normally Thunderbird is set up to stuff all the mails straight into Local Folders.

If Thunderbird goes to create one of these folders and finds one already there, it will use a different name, to avoid damaging existing data. That's where "Local Folders-1" and "pop.west.cox-1.net" have come from.

The folders Thunderbird will actually use are recorded in its preferences file, prefs.js. We're going to modify some entries in that file so it will start using the folders without the -1 names again, because those will be where all your existing mails are at.

5. Double-click your way into the Thunderbird folder, then into Profiles, then into pn5u77ua.default.

6. Right-click on prefs.js, and select Open With->Wordpad (you might need to go via Open With->Choose Program... to make Wordpad available as an option; if you do, do not leave the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" box checked).

7. Find the lines containing Local Folders-1 (there will be two of them) and delete only the -1 part from both.

8. Likewise, find the lines containing pop.west.cox-1.net and delete the -1 part from both.

9. Close the Wordpad window, and save changes when prompted.

10. Start Thunderbird.

You should see all your old mails again.

Now, I have not verified this myself, but I imagine there is going to be some similar logic around address books. Normally, Thunderbird keeps all your address info in "abook.mab" and "history.mab" inside the profile folder. If you have a look and find you have both "abook.mab" and "abook-1.mab", or something equally obvious, try shutting Thunderbird down again and using WordPad to change all the -1.mab entries inside prefs.js back to plain .mab. I expect that will get you your addresses back.

Passwords are kept in a file with a numeric name and a .s extension. Since your passwords are apparently screwed up, you should probably just find your .s file and delete it. Thunderbird should then prompt you for a password the first time it needs one, and recreate a clean .s file as soon as you check the "save passwords" box.

Hopefully this lot will get you back on the road. If not, we'll try starting from scratch with a new, clean profile, and then drop the mails and addresses in from the backup. Post back to let us know how you get on.
posted by flabdablet at 4:28 AM on December 20, 2007

Ok, that worked great. I see all my old emails, folders, and address book. I didn't have to do anything additional beyond Step 10. Thanks!
The last issue is that Thunderbird is not recocgnizing my password so it's not connecting to my mail server; not downloading my new mail.
It asks for me to enter my password for pop.west.cox.net, which I do but it's not recognizing it. I know it's the correct password because I log into my email through the web.
Thoughts?
posted by thekorruptor at 3:46 PM on December 23, 2007

The most common cause I've seen for password rejection from POP3 servers is not that there's anything wrong with the password - the fault is often in the username. Some POP3 servers require a full email address for a username (e.g. [e-mail]) while others will choke on that and require only the bare username e.g. thekorruptor. A fairly common error is using the POP server's full address as if it were part of your email address e.g. [e-mail]. This kind of error is especially likely to occur right after setting up a mail account, which you've done. So double-check that the username for that mail account is in the right format and contains no typos.

You might also try renaming the nnnnnn.s file inside your Thunderbird profile to nnnnnn.s.renamed - that should force Thunderbird to build a fresh password database the next time you save a password.
posted by flabdablet at 4:45 PM on December 23, 2007

Perfect!! Thanks for your help.
posted by thekorruptor at 12:58 PM on December 24, 2007

Just for future reference, what was it that actually worked?
posted by flabdablet at 8:29 PM on December 24, 2007

sorry for my arcane response; I was a bit too excited. I changed my username to "thekorruptor". I'm somewhat embarrassed by what it was set too; let's just say it's a four letter name that begins begins with "S" and ends with "ean".
So tell me, how can I repay you?
posted by thekorruptor at 10:49 PM on December 24, 2007

Hang around here, and if somebody needs advice in one of your areas of expertise, give them the best advice you can.

Cheers!
posted by flabdablet at 3:55 AM on December 25, 2007

You got it. I was a little bit too excited when I had one of my answers marked as a best answer a couple of months ago.
If ya somehow arrive in San Diego, CA, I'll buy a beer. Laterz.
posted by thekorruptor at 12:29 PM on December 25, 2007