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Windows Live Mail 2011 unable to login to VM imap server

Rodgerdodger
Joining in

For about the last week I have suddenly been unable to use Windows Live Mail, getting the following response:

The server rejected your login.  Please verify that your username and password are correct.

 AUTHENTICATIONFAILED] Authentication failed.

 Configuration:

   Account: Virginmedia (MY NAME) (1)

   Server: imap.virginmedia.com

   User name: MY EMAIL ADDRESS

   Protocol: IMAP

   Port: 993

   Secure(SSL): 1

   Code: 800cccd1

 

Everything was working fine before then.

My username and password are definitely correct.

In an attempt to fix things I have:

Changed the password, after first having to change my VM login email to a third party address.

Reinstalled WLM 2011 (foolishly forgetting to save my existing email folders beforehand and so they are now unretrievable).

Deleted the email account (several times) and added and configured a new account.

From memory, this problem has occurred a couple of times in the last few years, but has always magically resolved itself after a day or so. This time there is no sign of it repairing itself and I’m at a loss what to do next. It seems that the VM server no longer wishes to let me login.

Any help would be much appreciated.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Nathan_B
Forum Team
Forum Team

Hi there @Rodgerdodger 👋 Welcome to the forum and thanks for your post 😊

Sorry to see there's been issues with your email. As suggested earlier in the thread, it would be best for us to check the status of the email on your account so I'll pop you a PM to confirm some details.

Regards

Nathan

The do's and don'ts. Keep the community welcoming for all. Follow the house rules


See where this Helpful Answer was posted

31 REPLIES 31

goslow
Alessandro Volta

Have you set up an app password as per?

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/broadband/manage-email-account

If you are re-configuring your setup (as you lost all your WLM material) I would politely suggest it might be a good time to update to a current email client. Aside from the many issues with VM's email service, you are quite likely to encounter other future issues when using an obsolete piece of software.

Looks as if WLM stores info in

%systemdrive%\Users\{user}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail. You may have to deselect Hide protected operating system files in order to be able to see this folder and its contents if you want to double check your old data is really gone

and you could search for any EML files in case your old version was stored elsewhere.

Thanks for the suggestion goslow. Yes, I did set up an app password. That's where a password containing four words is generated isn't it? Tried using that app password on WLM configuration, but still got same response.

goslow
Alessandro Volta

Can you access webmail (to see if your account is still accessible that way)?

https://mail.virginmedia.com/

I'm not sure what webmail actually is. Is it the email accout that your link landed me on?  If so, what is showing is an email account that my WIFE set up years ago using her ntlworld address. When we transferred the vm account to me, I still had to use her ntlworld email address to sign in to vm, even though the account was now mine! She has never used her ntlworld email since then and I can see thousands of unread mails for her in the inbox. So, yes I think I can access webmail, but the info shown has nothing to do with my email account!

goslow
Alessandro Volta

Webmail is just a way to view/send/receive emails using a web browser instead of an email client such as WLM

If you are trying to set up your own ntlworld email for WLM, you should be able to use webmail to view that email account. That would check that the email account is still accessible.

Thank you.

I'm not trying to set up an ntlworld email for WLM. I'm trying to get my existing virginmedia email working in WLM.

The ntlworld account that shows is NOT mine, but one that my wife had years ago when the vm account was in her name only. I had the vm account tranferred into my sole name and have had a virginmedia.com email account for me ever since. After the transfer to me, I had to continue logging in to VM.com with my wife's ntlworld email, even though the account was in my name. The email account that shows on webmail, and is accessible, is my wife's old ntl account, which is strange. There's no sign of my vm email account, and never has been as far as I know.

You should still be able to access a virginmedia.com email address using webmail.

However, your description of previous account changes raises other questions.

When you want to log into 'My Virgin Media' to view information about your VM account (such as your monthly bills, contract information etc.) do you do that using your wife's email address?

Yes, until recently, the username to login to my VM account was my wife's ntlworld.com. However, in an attempt to find a solution to my reported problem, I changed this to a third party email address of mine, as a requirement to change my password for connecting to the VM imap server.

goslow
Alessandro Volta

OK, so if you log into 'My Virgin Media' (which you use to see bills, contract info etc.) you should be able to check if your own virginmedia.com email account (the thing you want to set up with WLM) is still associated with your VM broadband.

I don't have access to VM any more so I am lifting the following from another topic but ...

Sign into the 'My Virgin Media' account and go to: account settings>account details> bottom of page under my other VM accounts.

Do you see your own virginmedia.com account listed there (which would indicate it is still associated with your VM broadband account)?