Mail cannot log into accounts after El Capitan

Question

Level 1

24 points

Mail cannot log into accounts after El Capitan

Mail repeatedly popup asks for both my email account passwords. When i enter them, it says "Unable to verify account name or password"

I have also re-entered the passwords in Mail>Accounts. Same results

But, I can sign into my Network Solutions webhost mail website with both the account names and passwords. Both also work perfectly on my iPhone Mail

So, the problem is clearly with Mail and the updates in El Capitan, since it worked fine for years prior to the update today

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11), 15" Late 2011, 2.3GHz i7, 8GB RAM

Posted on Sep 30, 2015 8:09 PM

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Answer 1

quelt

Level 1

12 points

Jun 17, 2017 1:40 PM in response to bren_nan

I am experiencing exactly the same error and I have to respectfully disagree.

If all other devices using the same account credentials are working how can this definitely be a password problem on Mac?

I have tried all the recommended fixes with no luck. I have also changed my password with my supplier because I thought there may be an error with the password.

My mail has been working perfectly for several years and suddenly stopped working on my Mac just yesterday.

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Answer 2

Oct 27, 2017 4:31 AM in response to darkmoebius

I had similar issues with both iCloud as well as my local ISP on El Capitain/Mail combination. Drove me crazy. Here's how i fixed both:

For iCloud; log out of iCloud via system preferences. It will delete all cloud content from your laptop, don't worry, it will come back when you log in again - which also fixes your mail setup. Give it some time and if you want to watch what's happening, go to mail, window->connection doctor and tick "log connection activity" which shows you what's going on in the background. Likely it will be downloading your old mails already.

For the other ISP, i could not even delete / recreate the mail account, as it would hit the above error message. The culprit was..... keychain access. Go to keychain access and delete all items related to your ISP, just to be sure. then go back to Mail and add the mail account in the normal way. At that stage, and finally, Apple will trust that what you type is actually better than what is in your key chain.

For me this did the trick - thanks to the Ziggo support as they hinted me to this.

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Answer 3

icemantx

Level 1

5 points

Sep 30, 2015 8:21 PM in response to darkmoebius

Same exact issue for me with Gmail using POP... Very Annoying!

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Answer 4

darkmoebius Author

Level 1

24 points

Sep 30, 2015 8:24 PM in response to icemantx

I forgot to mention that both my accounts are POP3, too

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Answer 5

darkmoebius Author

Level 1

24 points

Sep 30, 2015 10:21 PM in response to darkmoebius

Well, after fiddling with some suggestions in other threads....to no avail

One account Inbox only shows 2 emails. But, looking in mu user Library, that account's Inbox.mbox is 140.4 MB

The same account's Sent box shows zero email, while in Library Sent Messages.mbox is 50.1 MB

I can receive emails, but cannot send from either account as the password popup still occurs and errors out

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Answer 6

Oct 1, 2015 6:09 AM in response to darkmoebius

This upgrade has been a real fluster-cluck in regards to the Mail app. Apart from losing all my POP mail (which came back after 'rebuild') two of my iCloud aliases are gone as well as the iCloud outgoing server info.

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Answer 7

mick_23

Level 1

0 points

Oct 1, 2015 12:13 AM in response to darkmoebius

Same problem here! Lost all my old mail in the inbox.

Webmail account no problem, but it somehow doesn't show up in Apple mail.

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Answer 8

Oct 1, 2015 6:08 AM in response to darkmoebius

I can't log in with my IMAP accounts

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Answer 9

darkmoebius Author

Level 1

24 points

Oct 1, 2015 6:08 AM in response to Hugo Stiglitz

Thank you for reminding me to do a Mailbox>Rebuild, that at least got all the emails stored in those accounts(Inbox & Sent) to be visible

But, I still cannot send email from Mac Mail. Receiving mail seems to work, though

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Answer 10

JJMc32

Level 1

8 points

Oct 1, 2015 6:27 AM in response to darkmoebius

Same problem here. No more POP access to GMail. Will try Mailbox>Rebuild when I get home.

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Answer 11

Oct 1, 2015 6:35 AM in response to darkmoebius

Solved: I deleted everything in Users/Library/Mail/. It's downloaded my mail back again and is not crashing.

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Answer 12

Oct 1, 2015 6:36 AM in response to darkmoebius

Someone posted the correct answer (somewhere): Use Keychain Access in Utilities and delete all expired certificates (the ones with the red x).

Then once you enter your password, all will be well.

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Answer 13

Mike H55

Level 1

5 points

Oct 1, 2015 6:45 AM in response to darkmoebius

Just upgraded to El Capitan ?? Now none of my mail accounts work... Is there a way of uninstalling and going back to older software?

keeps asking for passwords, all mine were on keychain security...so autofill when required....now nothing ....

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Answer 14

Oct 1, 2015 6:58 AM in response to darkmoebius

I can't use iCloud. Every time I try to submit my ID and Password, it says "There was an error connecting to the server Apple ID". Besides, I can't connect to iTunes Store and App store. It just happen in my Mac book, after I updated to OS X El Capitan. What can I do?

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Answer 15

Oct 1, 2015 7:19 AM in response to Hugo Stiglitz

Same here. On my MBP 2013, the El Capitan update worked fine.

On my iMac, I've LOST ALL my email accounts (mix of POP 3 and IMAP), including archived emails/folders. Basically all my mail has been lost and Mac Mail is trying to set me up with a new account. I can see the mail files/structures in library/mail/V3 but cannot access them !

How can get Mac Mail to rebuild or recover all my email accounts, settings, folders etc ? Can I use Time Machine ? Help please.

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