Cannot log in

I followed the Linode email setup guide, installed letsencrypt certificates, but cannot log into the server. Thunderbird "failed to find the settings for your email account" and K9 Mail "Cannot connect to server. (Server doesn't support encrypted passwords using CRAM-MD5.)" In /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext, I'm using "defaultpassscheme = SHA512-CRYPT".

The one change I made from the tutorial was in /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf to clear the error message "inbox=yes namespace missing". The configuration was using the default namespace, so I added the following (from dovecot -n):

namespace inbox {

inbox = yes

location =

prefix =

type = private

mailbox Drafts {

special_use = \Drafts

}

mailbox Junk {

special_use = \Junk

}

mailbox Sent {

special_use = \Sent

}

mailbox Trash {

special_use = \Trash

}

}

systemctl for Postfix and Dovecot both show "active (running)". I've confirmed via "ufw status" that the appropriate ports are open. I'm able to externally connect with telnet on ports 993 and 587.

I've run an hMailServer for a decade, but am trying to move to Linux. I've rebuilt the Linode from scratch multiple times and am officially stumped, so any assistance would be most appreciated. Thanks.

5 Replies

@landrykid:

I followed the Linode email setup guide, installed letsencrypt certificates, but cannot log into the server. Thunderbird "failed to find the settings for your email account"

This sounds like the message Thunderbird produces when 'autoconfig' fails (i.e., you provide your email address when setting up an account, and Thunderbird retrieves the settings).

For this to work you to need to setup autoconfig – see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc … figuration">https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Autoconfiguration (scroll to Configuration server at ISP). Basically you serve an xml file at autoconfig.domain.com which Thunderbird retrieves.

In Thunderbird you can bypass "auto setup" and manually enter all settings for incoming and outgoing mail. I suggest you do this to help narrow the source of the login problem. Thunderbird will now attempt to login and you can watch the server logs for results/errors.

@sleddog:

In Thunderbird you can bypass "auto setup" and manually enter all settings for incoming and outgoing mail. I suggest you do this to help narrow the source of the login problem. Thunderbird will now attempt to login and you can watch the server logs for results/errors.
I should've been more specific. I'm getting the TBird message while manual entering my settings in the "Mail Account Setup" form.

Maybe my issue is SSL related? FWIW, I'm able to use mutt on the server and access/manipulate my emails plus send new ones.

What do the mail logs on the server say?

It looks like I found my error. One instance of the certificates path did not get updated. The only quirk is that while port 465 appears to be working, port 587 is not. Should either work, or is there a difference? If so, is it a SSL/TLS vs STARTTLS issue?

Thanks to everyone who took the time to look at my initial post.

I am not sure how you got port 465, because that port represents smtps, which is a deprecated thing and quite dead for many years.

What you should have setup for dovecot:

110 = pop3

995 = pop3

143 = imap

993 = imap

effectively, it makes no difference between 110 and 995, or 143 and 993, since you should be running with "disableplaintextauth = yes" and "ssl = required". You can take a look at the configuration that I am using for this purpose from this dovecot config

What you should have setup for postfix:

25 = smtp

587 = submission

thus, incoming delivery from "foreign" sources should go to port 25, and YOUR OWN deliveries should go to port 587, which must require authentication. Here is the postfix configuration that I am using for this purpose, under CentOS 7. Maybe it can be helpful to you.

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