453154 - When IMAP login fails, the "Login Failed" message doesn't contain any hint of the actual problem

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, enhancement)

Description

[DK]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8.1.14) Gecko/20080404 Firefox/2.0.0.14
Build Identifier: 2.0.0.16 (20080724)

I have an IMAP server which started refusing logins.

Thunderbird's reaction is an unspecific "Login Failed" message [OK], without any details, which wasn't helpful in diagnosing the actual problem.

It wasn't until I tried using Outlook Express (!) that I found the problem - because Outlook Express has a "Details>>>" button which shows the actual error message, and Thunderbird doesn't.

Hiding error messages isn't user-friendly - it makes it difficult to troubleshoot.


Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. set up an IMAP account
2. check email with an incorrect password (or any other reason to fail, like server licensing exceeded)

Actual Results:  
Login Failed [OK]

Expected Results:  
Login Failed [OK] [More Info>>>] (actual detailed error message)

Much time has been spent being puzzled over this condition, until I used Outlook Express to find the actual error message.

Comment 1

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

confirming on Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1.5pre) Gecko/20091021 Shredder/3.0pre. 

Would be nice indeed.

Comment 2

[Steve Lawson]

I had a similar problem.  I created a new email account on the server that hosts one of my domains.  There was already another account on the mail server for that domain, and when I started getting "Login Failed" messages from Thunderbird, there was no way to tell which account was the cause, because both accounts use the same IMAP server.  If, at least, the username were displayed somewhere in the message, I would know where it was coming from.  Traditionally this is placed in the title bar (CUI).

Comment 3

[realgrouchy]

I have multiple accounts on the same profile, and when I open Thunderbird I am prompted to enter the password for more than one account (which is behaviour I desire, no problem there).

When one of the passwords fails, however, it just says "login failed"; it doesn't say *which* e-mail account the password fails for until I click the "enter new password" button.

Would this fall under this bug or should I submit a new one?

Comment 4

[Hugh McIntyre]

Just came across another example where a fix for this would have helped.  Tried to log into a new Fastmail account but could not log in in Thunderbird, and no reason is printed.  Only when enabling debug logging did the debug log say:

    NO Sorry, trial accounts are not permitted to use the 'imap' server. Please login to the web interface for more details

If/when this bug is fixed, please provide a way to see any "NO" failure message from IMAP, not just the username as mentioned in comment #2.  Not even the Error Log window showed this message.  As mentioned in the description it's OK (and probably a good idea) to only display this after if the user expands a "More info" or "Details" button/link.

Comment 5

[BugMagnet]

(In reply to Steve Lawson from comment #2)
> I had a similar problem.  I created a new email account on the server that
> hosts one of my domains.  There was already another account on the mail
> server for that domain, and when I started getting "Login Failed" messages
> from Thunderbird, there was no way to tell which account was the cause,
> because both accounts use the same IMAP server.  If, at least, the username
> were displayed somewhere in the message, I would know where it was coming
> from.  Traditionally this is placed in the title bar (CUI).

This is exasperating. reported 7+ years ago ans till no fix.

I have 5 email accounts on the same domain so when the Login Failed popup appears ans says just "Login to server pop3.mail.****.com failed." It is useless. Which account do I need to enter a new password for? (obviously not limited to IMAP)