Thunderbird Accessing Email Account Fails

Please bear with me this is going to be a long post.
Both of our PCs are Win7
Yesterday when my wife opened her Thunderbird program it failed to "GetMail" and showed an error message that said it was unable to connect to the server. It didn't connect when trying to "SendMail" either.
Here is a list of what I've done to try and solve that problem.
1. Checked the password list in Thunderbird to verify it had the correct password. It did.
2. Logged on to the att.net web mail and signed on using her email address and password. I was able to access her today's email that Thunderbird was unable to download.
3. Checked that the Thunderbird program was the current version - it was.
4. Decided to download the Thunderbird download and install a "new" Thunderbird.
5. Tried to open an account and the process failed at the end where it tries to verify the password.
6. Suspecting the problem might be with her PC, I tried add her email account to my Thunderbird which was getting my email, no problem. Using the "add new account" feature, it went all the way to the end and failed at the verify password.
7. Logged on to the att.net web mail and using her email address and password was able to change the password.
8. Thunderbird was still unable to "GetMail" from both Thunderbird programs and my and her PC.
9. Decided to install FOSSAMAIL by downloading it to her PC from MajorGeeks.
10. FOSSAMAIL could not find the POP or SMTP data so I entered it manually. When it got to the point of verifying the password, it failed.
I need help and Thunderbird isn't much on "helping".
Can this problem be resolved or is it a problem with the att.net server, although if allows me to log on to her web mail account but Thunderbird can't "GetMail" I wouldn't think there are two different servers involved.
Oh, one other thing. She has a gmail account that her Thunderbird doesn't have a problem with. I tested it by sending an email and the getting it by clicking on "GetMail"

 

Apparently ATT has a "secure mail key" that is different from a password and that may be the issue?

I found these on the ATT forums.

• Thunderbird not working with AT&T as of this morning (Dec 2019)
• Thunderbird, AT&T, Yahoo are not playing well together (May 2020)

Sounds like you may need to create a new mail key and a new password.

 

If the email account provider uses two-step authentication then you’ll require an app specific password which is entered instead of the account password.
Gmail/Google, Hotmail/Outlook & iCloud are some accounts which require this.

 

evilfantasy wrote - "Sounds like you may need to create a new mail key and a new password."

How do you create a "new mail key"?

As I indicated in my post, I tried creating a new account, changing her password all to no avail.

 

Create a secure mail key

Her account/name or the IP you guys use may have been flagged for suspicious activity or something so now third party apps/software will require more authentication to access the ATT servers. You likely did nothing wrong it's a security measure to better protect her identity. Once you create the key use that in place of the password.

 

Special thanks to ==>evilfantasy for the reply to my post.
It took a while (att.net web mail is a struggle) but I finally got it working. TB can now "GetMail" on my wife's PC. I have no idea why att.net decided to pick on her. Between us both on our local Wi-Fi network we have six att.net email addresses. All continue to work as before (no authentication password).
Thanks to MajorGeeks my "go to place" when any of my five PCs start to act up.

 

Glad you got it working!

Same for me with Cox. They are my internet provider and have the slowest website on the internet especially when it comes to webmail. Go figure.

 

att.net is chasing me. I have 5 PCs counting my wife's on our Wi-Fi. Today att.net did the authorization thing to the email (FOSSAMAIL) on one of my other PCs. The problem with FOSSAMAIL is that they don't give you a way to "edit" your stored passwords. Luckily when both inbound and outbound failed I got an enter new password space with a place to check that told FOSSAMAIL to store it.
As I said before earlier in this thread I have six att.net email accounts. Two down - four to go.

If I may, since it's off topic, a small rant. I've been using PCs for over 50 years. Before you could even send an email. In that time I have never had a malware attack nor has any of my emails been hacked. A colleague once told me, never lock your car. Locking your car only prevents you from getting in. The secret is never keep anything in your car worth stealing. I have applied that rule to all my PCs. There is nothing on my PCs that I would care about losing and my credit card is not only insured but if someone tries to use it for an amount over $100 or from a out-of-state location, the card company calls me for approval.

BTW, I have watched Microsoft, Google, Amazon and others tell me how concerned they are for my privacy over the past 50 years in an attempt to tell users what they can and cannot do.

 

I agree the best security is being smart about using the internet. Antivirus is necessary but it isn't bulletproof.

Sounds like ATT is increasing security for their users. That's a good thing but what prompted this is the question. What companies don't tell us is the real concern.

 

For me the issue seems simple. All the businesses on the Internet want to be able to "connect" to any device so they can sell their offerings. That increases the number of entries for the "hackers" That in turn requires increased security which falls to the email and browser providers.
I'm old fashion. I don't have an android device. Simple TracFone that only sends and receives calls (no texting, web surfing. email processing). If I want to watch a video I have a flat panel TV. If I want to listen to music, I have a radio.
You probably know better than I what problems have arisen with the current "be connected" demands.

 

So true.

 

Your best bet is to join the Mozilla Forum - there is a Thunderbird section.
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