Email password change problems

[HappyChappie]

I use Outlook 2016 on a tower computer as well as Apple Mail on an iPad to collect and manage my email messages. I occasionally login to webmail.  Like many others, my VM email address has been blocked "for security reasons" and I have been requested to change the password.

I am a long-long-time customer of VM so when I first joined them you could have multiple email addresses, which I took advantage of.  I currently have four, one primary linked to my VM account and three secondary.

I received the "security" message for one of my secondary addresses a few weeks ago, followed the process to change password, was allocated a VM-chosen password and all was well with Outlook BUT I have since been unable to log-in to webmail using either the old password or the new VM-generated password.  I would like to change the password to one of my choice but can find no means of doing so as I cannot login to webmail.

I have now received the "security" message for another of my secondary emails - one which I use quite prolifically both via Outlook and webmail.  I am hesitant to go through the password change process until I can fully understand the consequences.

So, my understanding is if I wish to continue using an email client (Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.) to collect and manage messages, I need to create a new password and change it in the account settings for that client.  I will be asked to login in to the email address in question, click the forgotten password link and follow the instructions to change the password.  I will be asked for an alternative (non VM) email address for a verification link to be sent to me which will provide me with a VM-allocated password.  This password is then entered into the email client settings and all is well.

So, having done all that, how can I login via webmail to my various primary and secondary emails?  There does not appear to be an app for me to download on to my tower pc so where do I go from here?

Sorry, several questions here - hope someone can answer all of them and many thanks in advance!

[Graham_A · Accepted solution]

 Each Virginmedia email address (including blueyonder, Ntlworld and virgin.net) know requires two different passwords. 

• There is one password for the My Virgin Media account and webmail access, both of which require the third party email username as the sign in address.
• The second password is generated via the My Virgin Media account Account details page.  This password is in the format xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx and is needed to access the email account via an email client such as Outlook.  The username for use with email clients remains the full VM email address.

[HappyChappie]

Many thanks for the prompt response Graham.

So can I use the same non-VM email address as the username for all of my secondary VM addresses, albeit they will presumably all have different passwords?

And can I then change the VM-generated password to something of my choice?  If so, how? (I used to be able to do that by logging in to my VM account with my primary email address and going to something like "Manage emails" from where I could select the address I wanted to edit and change the password from there.

Presumably this is going to happen to my remaining secondary emails and the primary one as well?

[Graham_A]

No, each email address needs a different third party email address to be set as the username.  Using alias accounts with an Outlook email address is one way to make this more manageable.

You cannot change the auto generated app password to one of your own choice.  This is the same with with Microsoft where you have to use their generated app password for email client access.

[HappyChappie]

Ah that could prove difficult!  I don't have an Outlook email address, my non-VM address is a Proton one so it looks as if I will have to set up additional Proton addresses just to enable me to operate my VM emails?

[Graham_A]

Outlook was just an example, there are a number of other non ISP email providers where you can create free email addresses.

[HappyChappie]

Many thanks for your prompt, clear and helpful response - much appreciated.

[bbirtwell]

Hi Graham,

I have a slightly different problem to HappyChappie.

I have a ntlworld email address which I use primarily with Outlook. Yesterday, Outlook instructed me to log in to my ntlworld email. I was previously signed in. I was not previously notified that I had to do this. I input the password multiple times which would not log me in. Eventually I was sent to the account settings on the MyVirginMedia app. I input a non Virgin email and was told that I would receive an email link to verify the email. By the time I received and saw the email, the link had expired. I was directed to the account settings again to generate a new email link.

Unfortunately when I do that, I receive a message that I have recently requested an email change, please click on the email link to verify the email.

I am now stuck in a loop with an expired link and no facility to re-enter the email to get a new link.

Can you help!

Thanks

Brian 

[Molly_T]

Hi bbirtwell 👋 welcome back to the community! 

Thank you for joining this thread and raising your email issues so we can offer some support. 

Sorry to hear that you have been having some difficulties getting a non-VM email set up. It may be that you need to wait 24 hours since the first verification email has been sent. Hopefully this may now be sorted for you, but I will send you a PM to confirm a few account details so we can help if needed!

 You can find the PM in the top right corner of the page in your Inbox. 📩 We can then return to this public thread with another update when possible. Thank you for your patience in the meantime!

Wishing you all the best. 🌞
 

[Molly_T]

Hi All 👋 Just returning to this public thread to keep things updated. 

Thanks to bbirwell for PMing with me 📩 we were able to get all of the information needed to offer further support and get things sorted! They were able to get the address verified and now have things set up in outlook. 

If ever needed, you can find some great information and support about managing your email account here 👉 How to manage my email account | Virgin Media Help

Really pleased to see the issues with the email resolved now. Just let us know if there is anything further you need support with. 

Wishing you all the best! 🌞