After Gmail outage yesterday I cannot send email via smtp - OAuth2 Issue?
I'm on Thunderbird Nebula 128.1.0esr 64-bit. I use IMAP and I have multiple accounts in my Thunderbird configuration. I have Google Workspace for our business which I can received and read email by IMAP, but I cannot send. I also have a personal Gmail account and that can send and receive.
Yesterday Google experienced a global outage and as best I can tell it has somehow screwed up the OAuth2 Session / Tokens for some Thunderbird clients. Over on Reddit there are other users reporting the issue and it appears to be a bigger issue on Workspace accounts. It does not affect the entire Workspace domain. In our business, I have other users who are on Thunderbird and can still send/receive email on the same Workspace hosted domain that I am having issues with.
I have gone into Settings > Privacy & Security > Saved Passwords and removed the entries for the account that I'm having problems with. That did cause Thunderbird to spawn the browser window to Google to carry through with OAuth2 token approval. That got me back into receiving email, but I still can't send via SMTP.
When trying to send I get the following dialog, but clicking Enter New Password just does nothing and the Dialog just reloads again. I attempted to add a new SMTP Server in Thunderbird, but that never prompts a new OAuth2 dialog for that new server and same Dialog box appears.
All Replies (10)
You only see that kind of password prompt with 'normal password' authentication, instead of the correct OAuth2. Remove the entries for the account from Saved Passwords, restart TB, enter the account password in the OAuth window.
sfhowes said
You only see that kind of password prompt with 'normal password' authentication, instead of the correct OAuth2. Remove the entries for the account from Saved Passwords, restart TB, enter the account password in the OAuth window.
I understand that, but SMTP server *IS* set to OAuth2. I confirmed that. Also, I already tried what you suggested and did mention it in the 3rd paragraph of my original post. Removing Saved Passwords for that email account did trigger a new OAuth window which gets IMAP receival working, but outgoing SMTP still can't send.
spacemanspiff modificouno o
Check all the smtp servers in Account Settings and see if there are any with 'normal password'.
sfhowes said
Check all the smtp servers in Account Settings and see if there are any with 'normal password'.
None. All say OAuth2
Select an account in the left pane of Account Settings, then click Edit SMTP server... in the right pane. Make sure the settings are correct and that the User Name of the smtp is exactly the same as the selected account's User Name. Repeat for each account, and confirm all is correct.
sfhowes said
Select an account in the left pane of Account Settings, then click Edit SMTP server... in the right pane. Make sure the settings are correct and that the User Name of the smtp is exactly the same as the selected account's User Name. Repeat for each account, and confirm all is correct.
I have already done all that. I'm telling you something is wrong here with Oauth2 Thunderbird and Gmail. This is not a typo problem. Especially considering that this all worked perfectly fine until Gmails outage.
spacemanspiff modificouno o
The outage must have corrupted the prefs.js file in the profile, otherwise you wouldn't see that kind of password prompt. Open Settings/General, Config. editor and type authmethod in the search. For the entries with mail.smtpserver.smtpN.authMethod, where N = 1,2,3... the value will be 10 if it's OAuth2, and 3 if it's 'normal password'. If that doesn't point to a solution, you could try removing the account with the wrong prompt, restarting TB, and adding it again. If the result is the same, you might have to create a new profile and add the accounts. Help/Troubleshooting Info, about:profiles, to create a profile. The current one is unaffected, and data can be transferred from the old to the new.
It occurred to me that perhaps something was not working correctly with removing 'Saved Passwords' and OAuth tokens in Thunderbird. So I decided to revoke the OAuth token/authorization from:
myaccount google com > Security > Third-party apps & services.
Once I did that I re-launched Thunderbird, it prompted the OAuth dialogs again and now I can receive and send.
It looks to me like there could be an issue with Thunderbird whereby removing the Saved Passwords is not removing or resetting something correctly?
spacemanspiff modificouno o
It occurred to me that perhaps something was not working correctly with removing 'Saved Passwords' and OAuth tokens in Thunderbird. So I decided to revoke the OAuth token/authorization from:
Google Account Manager > Security > Third-party apps & services.
Once I did that I re-launched Thunderbird, it prompted the OAuth dialogs again and now I can receive and send.
It looks to me like there could be an issue with Thunderbird whereby removing the Saved Passwords is not removing or resetting something correctly?
spacemanspiff modificouno o
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