Ubuntu – How to stop Thunderbird from forgetting the passwords

12.04passwordthunderbird

I'm using Thunderbird for quite a while now and have successfully ported all my emails – some of them several years old – from my Windows7 setup to Ubuntu.
My Thunderbird contains five different email accounts, one of which is a GoogleMail account using two-step-verification.

Now here's the problem: ever since updating to Ubuntu Precise 12.04, Thunderbird keeps forgetting my passwords. When trying to retrieve mails it states: 'login or password incorrect' for every single one of my accounts. I then chose to 're-enter password' and ticked the option to 'Use Password Manager to save password'.
While this always worked, it never survived a logoff or reboot. I always had to reenter the same passwords after every logon again and again.

How can I force Thunderbird to actually remember my passwords forever?

Best Answer

Scouring the internet for answers didn't help. I had the idea to purge-remove my thunderbird installation but I feared losing at least parts of my email archives in the process.

Luckily, I found a solution that went almost hassle-free:

  • open Thunderbird
  • go to Edit -> Preferences
  • open tab Security -> Passwords
  • open Saved Passwords
  • WARNING: The next step will erase all your passwords from Thunderbird Password Manager, so be sure to have all of your email passwords written down somewhere or saved by another password safe like KeePass!
  • click on delete all
  • close the window
  • in the main window, click retrieve all
  • when asked for your password, enter it and tick Use Password Manager to save password
  • send yourself an email from every one of your accounts and repeat the previous steps when prompted for passwords

That's it, your passwords should be all set again. Reboot (or logoff-logon) to test if they really stick.

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