Virginmedia.com IMAP server setting for outlook

[barry26]

I have a new computer  and wanting to set up Outlook as my mail handler. When i input my email address and password it comes back with the message that the IMAP server cant be contacted and check my username and password, they work fine and use them to log in to the Virgin webmail. i can also do the same process and use my ntlworld email account and that syncs with Outlook no problem. Virgin support staff just try and put me over to the 3rd party Gadget support people, i believe this is an account problem/access problem as everything else works perfectly, i have also tried it on Windows mail and get the same issue, Has anybody experienced this issue and found a resolution on how to get this sorted , thanks

[barry26]

Im setting up a new computer, i put a virginmedia email address in Outlook and get an error about Imap server can't be reached, check settings but if i use an NTLworld account it works. Virgin want me to contact Tech Gadget people where as i believe it is an account issue, anyone had the same issue and found a fix????

[coenoby]

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@barry26 wrote:

Im setting up a new computer, i put a virginmedia email address in Outlook and get an error about Imap server can't be reached, check settings but if i use an NTLworld account it works. 

anyone had the same issue and found a fix????

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The first thought is that there is an issue with that Virginmedia email account.

To trouble shoot the problem try accessing that @VirginMedia email account via the VM webmail service on their website. You can do that from this link https://mail2.virginmedia.com/ Enter the @VirginMedia address and then enter its password when prompted.

If you get an error the email account may need a password reset. That used to be fairly straight forward but recent changes VM have made to improve the security on their email accounts now make that a bit more tricky.

Those changes come into effect once you make any changes to your email account, such as resetting the password:

1. VM now insist that you use a non VM email account as the sign in/username of your VM account. (That does not affect your VM email address)
2. They now insist that you use a "mail app" password instead of the webmail password in the settings of email apps such as Outlook.

The immediate first step is to post back with how you get on with accessing the email account on the website.

Coenoby

[barry26]

Hi and thanks for your suggestion, however, i can log in via the webmail service with no problem and it hasn't asked me to make any changes, it comes across as if the Account itself has an issue or the Imap service with the Virginmedia.com email service has a problem. As i said i have an NTLworld email and that works fine though Outlook, the trouble for me is when i speak to VM support i get people obviously reading from a screen and all they say is i have to pay gadget support and its not that issue

[Sololobo · Accepted solution]

You should take a look here: https://www.virginmedia.com/help/broadband/manage-email-account under the section How to set up my Virgin Media email on a device

Setting your app password to use an Email app.

If you want to access your Virgin Media emails from an app, you’ll need to create a separate app password through Account settings on My Virgin Media.

To get the password, follow these steps:

Sign in to My Virgin Media
a. Go to Account settings, then Account details
b. Tap Manage next to Manage your Virgin Media Mail app password under Virgin Media Mail
c. Then, under Virgin Media Mail app password tap Generate new App password and follow the instructions.

A new secure password will be generated for you. Your app password can be used for all apps accessing your Virgin Media mail address. If you create a new app password, you’ll need to update all your existing apps with the new password.

We need to give you a separate app password to help make things more secure as IMAP and POP don’t support extra protection steps, like Multi Factor Authentication.

Remember that this password is separate from your sign in details for My Virgin Media (or any Virgin Media apps). So, if you need to check your Virgin Media Mail emails through My Virgin Media or at mail.virginmedia.com, you'll still use your My Virgin Media password.

Connecting your Email to a Client App

All Client apps are slightly different but to set them up they’ll take you through a list of settings and require you to enter your Virgin Media email address and Virgin Media Mail app password.

The settings you need are:

IMAP settings (recommended)
Host Name: imap.virginmedia.com
Username: your full Virgin Media email address
Password: your Virgin Media email app password
Advanced settings
SSL Encryption: Enabled
Port: 993 (this may be automatically chosen by selecting SSL encryption)

POP3 settings
Host Name: pop3.virginmedia.com
Username: your full Virgin Media email address
Password: your Virgin Media email app password
Advanced settings:
SSL Encryption: Enabled
Port: 995 (this may be automatically chosen by selecting SSL encryption)

SMTP settings
Host Name: smtp.virginmedia.com
Username: your full Virgin Media email address
Password: your Virgin Media email app password
SSL Encryption: Enabled
Port: 465 (this might not be selected automating by enabling SSL, so please check)
Authentication: Password

[Daniel_Et]

Hi @barry26 👋 Thank you for your posts and welcome to the Virgin Media Community 😀

We're sorry to hear about the problem you're experiencing 😔

Please try following the advice provided by @Sololobo and let us know how you get on.

If still no further forward thereafter, we'll do our very best to help you.

Regards,
Daniel

[barry26]

Thank you for your reply, i've not had a chance to try this yet but i will look into this in the next few days and see if this resolves the problem, i will report back once i have tried it

[barry26]

Thank you, works perfectly with your explanation and help

[Robert_P]

Thanks for the update barry26 and we're pleased to hear the advice helped resolve the issue.

If you need us again in the future, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Rob

[dnhb]

Hello,

I've just been given the run around by VM over the last 2 hours, incl. the Gadget Team hard sell (I already pay VM nearly £100 a month!) having a similar problem with MSOffice Outlook on my PC, the problem being that I'm still receiving emails but can't send them: no one at VM can tell me what my Outgoing account settings shld be. I've tried the ones listed by Sololobo (which I found on the VM website today) but that gives a failure msg saying can't connect to the server. I've given my Gmail email address as the new username - does this mean the smtp setting should be smtp.gmail.com rather than virginmedia.com, perhaps?