Question

How to solve ThunderBird failed to find the settings problem?

Posted on April 8, 2024
Email DigitalOcean
Asked by rozerin.yildiz

I reinstall postfix. After that, I couldn’t access postfix mail account from ThunderBird. However, before reinstalling, I could access it, but all of a sudden I couldn’t send mail. That’s why I decided to reinstall postfix. As a result, i get this error in ThunderBird: Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account. How to solve it?

Submit an answer

This textbox defaults to using Markdown to format your answer.

You can type !ref in this text area to quickly search our full set of tutorials, documentation & marketplace offerings and insert the link!

These answers are provided by our Community. If you find them useful, show some love by clicking the heart. If you run into issues leave a comment, or add your own answer to help others.

KFSys

Site Moderator

• April 9, 2024

Heya,

1. Verify Postfix Configuration

Ensure that your Postfix server is correctly configured and running. Check the main configuration file (typically /etc/postfix/main.cf) for any discrepancies from your previous setup.
Make sure Postfix is listening on the correct interfaces and ports. For SMTP, it’s usually port 25, 465 (with SSL), or 587 (for submission).

2. Check Mail Logs

Review the mail logs to identify any errors or warnings. These logs can often provide insights into what’s going wrong. The mail logs are typically located at /var/log/mail.log or /var/log/mail.err.

sudo tail -f /var/log/mail.log
sudo tail -f /var/log/mail.err

3. Test SMTP Connectivity

Test SMTP connectivity to ensure that your Postfix server is reachable and responding. You can use telnet or openssl to connect to your SMTP server:

openssl s_client -connect your_domain.com:465

4. DNS and MX Records

Ensure that the DNS settings for your domain are correctly configured. This includes MX records pointing to your mail server.
Use online tools or the dig command to verify your domain’s MX records:

dig mx your_domain.com

5. Configure Thunderbird Manually

If Thunderbird can’t automatically find the settings, try setting up the account manually:
- In Thunderbird, go to account settings and add a new email account.
- Choose to configure the account manually.
- Enter the incoming (IMAP or POP3) and outgoing (SMTP) server details as per your Postfix configuration.

6. Check Firewall and Network Settings

If you have a firewall enabled on your Postfix server, ensure that it allows incoming connections on the relevant SMTP, IMAP, or POP3 ports.
If your server is behind a NAT or router, ensure the ports are forwarded correctly.

Additionally, what settings were you previously using?

rozerin.yildiz • April 9, 2024

For now, I can access my mail account manually in ThunderBird. However, I cannot send or receive mail from another user. How to fix it?