on 27-07-2021 12:55
My wife - whose ntlworld email account I set up 15-20 years ago - suddenly cannot send emails from her account on our PC or on her iPad. She can receive them fine. Error message requires me as administrator to fix. But re-entering her password in the outgoing mail section makes no difference. I also had a similar problem over the last two weeks when we were away from home. But ok for me now back home. Have recently upgraded home PC from Windows 7 to 10 (don't know if this affects things). Help please
Answered! Go to Answer
on 27-07-2021 14:01
Is your email client configured to use the following recommended settings:
Incoming
Account type | IMAP |
Username | richard.branson@virginmedia.com |
Server port | 993 |
Authentication | Password |
SSL/TLS | Yes |
Server host | imap.virginmedia.com |
or:
Account type | POP3 |
Username | richard.branson@virginmedia.com |
Server port | 995 |
Authentication | Password |
SSL/TLS | Yes |
Server host | pop3.virginmedia.com |
Outgoing
Account type | SMTP |
Username | richard.branson@virginmedia.com |
Server port | 465 |
Authentication | Password |
SSL/TLS | Yes |
Server host | smtp.virginmedia.com |
[Source; Email settings change]
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks
on 27-07-2021 14:01
Is your email client configured to use the following recommended settings:
Incoming
Account type | IMAP |
Username | richard.branson@virginmedia.com |
Server port | 993 |
Authentication | Password |
SSL/TLS | Yes |
Server host | imap.virginmedia.com |
or:
Account type | POP3 |
Username | richard.branson@virginmedia.com |
Server port | 995 |
Authentication | Password |
SSL/TLS | Yes |
Server host | pop3.virginmedia.com |
Outgoing
Account type | SMTP |
Username | richard.branson@virginmedia.com |
Server port | 465 |
Authentication | Password |
SSL/TLS | Yes |
Server host | smtp.virginmedia.com |
[Source; Email settings change]
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks
on 27-07-2021 16:11
Thanks for the reply. The settings are all as suggested apart from being ntlworld not virgin media. Problem persists I’m afraid
on 27-07-2021 17:38
@mshillam wrote:The settings are all as suggested apart from being ntlworld not virgin media.
Well although the old ntlworld.com servers do still work, before trouble shooting any further I would suggest updating your settings to the recommended virginmedia.com.
It is more than 4 years ago now that VM recommended that everyone with ntlworld.com, blueyonder.co.uk and virgin.net email accounts should update their email settings to use the virginmedia.com servers. See here for clarification on that https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/Email-settings-change/td-p/3369438
At the very least you are future proofing yourself because no doubt at some point VM will discontinue using those old legacy servers.
To trouble shoot further it would be useful if you can find the VMnnn error code that is being returned when you try to send emails. If that is in the error message you are getting then just post back here with it.
However, the chances are you are not seeing that code but assuming you have a Windows 10 device the easiest way to get it is to use the curl command. Here is a step by step guide showing how to do it:
1) Copy the following line of command text and then paste it into a MS Word document (or which ever text editor you prefer) so that you can edit it.
curl -v smtps://smtp.virginmedia.com/ -u username:password 2>&1 | (where findstr && (findstr "235 VM") || (grep "235\|VM"))
2) Once you have pasted it into Word, replace the text username with your full Virgin Media email address, and password with the password for that email account. So that part of the command should now say something like " richardbranson@ntlworld.com:sdfxyz1234 " It is important to keep the colon : and the space before and after that piece of text exactly as per the original line of text in step 1.
3) Then type cmd into the Windows 10 search bar, press Enter and then open the Command Prompt app.
4) Copy the full line of text that you have just amended in step 2 from the Word document and paste it where the cursor is blinking in the Command Prompt. Then press Enter.
After a second or two you should then see a line which says something like < 535 5.7.8 Authentication Credentials Invalid (VM300)
It is that line, particularly the VMnnn code that we need you to give us please.
Coenoby
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks
on 27-07-2021 19:26
Thanks for your detailed reply. The problem may be much simpler. The error message generated is “the username or password is incorrect”. However neither of these has changed. Reentering the password makes no difference.
on 27-07-2021 19:41
@mshillam The error message that email clients give are often generic and don't report the actual VM error code which @coenoby is looking for.
It may be that you can solve the issue by changing the password for the email account concerned.
Sign in to My Virgin Media, go to My Profile and/or Manage Accounts depending on whether the account concerned is your primary account or an additional one. Select the account concerned and then click on Change to the right of password if a primary account or View/Change then change to the right of password for secondary accounts.
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media, I'm a VM customer. There are no guarantees that my advice will work. Please read the FAQs
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks
on 27-07-2021 21:13
on 27-07-2021 21:44
@mshillam wrote:
Thanks! Have found it, changed the password, and it all appears to be working fine.
That's great, thanks for reporting back.
Just to clarify why I was looking for the VM error code:
Think of it like this. Email apps and clients tend to report their interpretation of why the message is failing.
The VMnnn code I referred to is VM's reason for not accepting the message.
As @Graham_A suggests, email apps and clients tend to report generic errors such "username or password incorrect" in a whole range of circumstances whereas the VM error code is quite specific and more useful for trouble shooting purposes
Anyway, I'm glad you got to the bottom of it.
Coenoby
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media.
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks
on 27-07-2021 23:13
@mshillam, good to read that the issue is resolved. Please consider unmarking my post as helpful and instead marking Graham_A's post as helpful; this will help future community users locate the solution without having to review other posts.
on 31-10-2021 13:36