Mailbox locked by POP server

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Level 1

106 points

Mailbox locked by POP server

We recently got a new iPod touch, set up an email account in it. Since doing that, we can no longer retrieve mail from Mail on our desktop machine.

Error in the POP log on server is:

Unable to lock maildrop for usersmailboxdeletedforprivacy: Mailbox is locked by POP server

If you restart the mail service, it will check the mail once, then back to the same error.

Why and how to fix?

Dual Processor 1.8 Ghz G5, Mac OS X (10.5.3), 3.5G RAM - (2) 160G HD

Posted on Jun 21, 2008 9:47 AM

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Answer 1

UptimeJeff

Level 4

3,479 points

Jun 22, 2008 7:01 PM in response to starion

Try using imap instead of POP on both the desktop and the touch... with imap, the mail folders (inbox, sent, deleted,etc) will be synchronized between the two.

Be careful if you are using Apple Mail.app. If you delete a POP account, the mail will be GONE. Be sure you file/archive the mail before deleting the POP account...

Jeff

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Answer 2

starion Author

Level 1

106 points

Jun 22, 2008 7:07 PM in response to UptimeJeff

Yes, I am aware of what IMAP does and learned long ago about deleting POP accounts in Apple Mail, but this is not an option for this particular user. I need to know why this has occurred and how to correct it. I have other users that use POP accounts both at home and remotely on Blackberry's, iPod's, Palm's, etc. with no problems.

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Answer 3

UptimeJeff

Level 4

3,479 points

Jun 22, 2008 7:19 PM in response to starion

POP connections lock the mailbox (during their connection) and other pop connections to the same mailbox result in a lock error.

Try reducing the frequency of checks on the desktop...

Years ago, I had a case where a client 'had' to check the same account from multiple devices, all using POP and all with frequency of 1 minute. To allow this, I setup their incoming mailbox (user@) to have a postfix alias of 'user,blackberry,palm,home' then each account received it's own copy. Each device was setup with it's own account. no more lock errors.

Jeff

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Answer 4

starion Author

Level 1

106 points

Jun 22, 2008 7:28 PM in response to UptimeJeff

That makes sense, however the lock stays in place long after the mobile device has stopped checking (i.e. 15 minutes). Is there a timeout somewhere in Postfix that can be changed?

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Answer 5

pterobyte

Level 6

11,104 points

Jul 2, 2008 7:16 AM in response to starion

You can set it in imapd.conf (poptimeout). However as far as I recall 10 minutes is the minimum

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