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Old 16 Nov 2017, 10:17 PM   #1
Himagain
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 12
Fastmail "App Password" not being saved in Thunderbird for subsequent sessions

When I login to Fastmail website to create an App Password, successfully copy the password into the Thunderbird login password request to open an email session with the IMAP server per the instructions at https://www.fastmail.com/help/clients/apppassword.html , everything works fine.

...Until I go to start a new session after closing Thunderbird. Then I cannot use my regular password, it needs the App Password that I previously created, named and saved at the server as mentioned above. When I put that password in, again, I am able to download emails, but I cannot sent anything until I paste the same App Password into the SMTP login dialogue box's password request field.

I have kludged a workaround to save the app password into a text file on the PC that I can copy and paste each time I go to start another email session on Thunderbird, but I know that is not the intent of this App Password process.

Where is Thunderbird supposed to store the App Password?
How can I verify that the App Password is being stored there?
How can I modify the configuration of Thunderbird to store it there if it is not being done properly?
How can I verify that Thunderbird is attempting to retrieve the App Password from the correct location, and correct it if it is looking in the wrong place?

Running Win10, Tbird 52.4.0 (32-bit) , running on a standard/limited user account, and have an admin user account on same machine where I do not have this issue.
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Old 17 Nov 2017, 12:57 AM   #2
BritTim
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: mostly in Thailand
Posts: 3,084
The issue may be caused by a corrupted profile, in which case the easy solution is to create a new Thunderbird profile.

Before doing that, go to Tools/Options/Advanced/General/Config. editor and look for a line
Code:
user_pref("signon.rememberSignons", true or false);
This should be set to true. If no such line is found, add it.
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Old 17 Nov 2017, 01:54 AM   #3
Himagain
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by BritTim View Post
The issue may be caused by a corrupted profile, in which case the easy solution is to create a new Thunderbird profile.

Before doing that, go to Tools/Options/Advanced/General/Config. editor and look for a line
Code:
user_pref("signon.rememberSignons", true or false);
This should be set to true. If no such line is found, add it.
**************************
Thanks Tim,

I do have that line in config.

I also have these potentially relevant ones:
signon.debug;false
signon.importedFromSqlite;true [in bold, indicating a change from default, not sure why]
signon.recipes.path;chrome://passwordmgr/content/recipes.json
signon.rememberSignons.visibilityToggle;true
signon.schemeUpgrades;false

Anything diagnostically useful there?

Hopefully someone has something other than creating a new profile, which I was really hoping to avoid.
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Old 17 Nov 2017, 04:17 AM   #4
BritTim
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: mostly in Thailand
Posts: 3,084
Diagnosing such issues can be extremely time consuming. Do not ignore the possibility that there might be a permissions issue that is preventing one of the Thunderbird files from getting written back to disk. Issues like this are often silent, but the event logs may contain clues.
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Old 17 Nov 2017, 07:16 PM   #5
emoore
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 280
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_Manager was written for Firefox but should apply to Thunderbird. Passwords are currently stored (encrypted) in a logins.json file in the profile.

I suggest you restart Thunderbird and look in tools -> options -> security -> passwords -> saved passwords to see if it has your app password before worrying about the config editor settings. Those settings only matter if it isn't stored by the password manager. On my system searching for signon in the config editor returns default values (not bolded) for everything except signon.importedFromSqlite

If it is stored okay but not automatically used see if the problem is due to a theme or add-on that doesn't play nicely with the current version by using "help -> restart with add-ons disabled"

If you can't get the built-in password manager working I used KeePass with the KeePassHelper add-on (needed to help it recognize the right windows to enter the password) a couple of years ago as an experiment. It worked fine. The Add URL to Window Title add-on also used to do the same thing but it now only supports Firefox.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thu...er/?src=search
https://keepass.info/
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Old 19 Nov 2017, 04:50 AM   #6
Himagain
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 12
Thank you very much BritTim and emoore for your thoughtful assistance.

As is often the case, the answer is an embarrassingly simple, and self-inflicted inconvenience caused by carelessness. I did not notice that, when prompted for the IMAP and SMTP passwords, that "Use Password Manager to remember this password" was unchecked. Ugh!

I also did not realize that the Password Manager was handling the storage of this unique, Fastmail password. I've never had that box checked since I'm accustomed to using my normal email password and did not have that stored (except in my head) as a matter of security. It would have been helpful to me if the Fastmail instructions at https://www.fastmail.com/help/clients/apppassword.html included that stipulation. They only mention that you'll only have to enter it once, not indicating how that is supposed to happen. Perhaps I'll suggest that they include that in their instructions.

Thanks again for your time and thoughtfulness.
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