mail asking for password

[keeper11]

After upgrade to El capitan native mail keeps asking
for the password but says its incorect, the funny thing
is mail is working can receive send.
Also OSX is latest version.

 

[McBie]

What password is OS X asking for and when exactly ?

Cheers ... McBie

 

[keeper11]

Its asking for the native mail password when osx starts or reboots

 

[harryb2448]

McBie refers to the user login ID or the actual password for Mail? At startup and perhaps reboot it is asking for the login. You can adjust the settings for this in System Preferences > Security & Privacy for automatic login etc.

Go into Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Server Settings and ensure the password is entered for both Incoming and OutgoingMail Settings.

 

[pm-r]

It seems odd that an El Cap'n upgrade seems to change so many settings for so many users just reading a lot of the posts here…

Just saying… but I also wonder why…???

 

[harryb2448]

It doesn't. Problem I believe is setting up and doing upgrade after upgrade.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

After upgrade to El capitan native mail keeps asking
for the password but says its incorect, the funny thing
is mail is working can receive send.
Also OSX is latest version.

This has been a problem for a number of users with every version of Apple's Mail for years now. It isn't at all uncommon. I'm not sure that Apple can easily fix the problem, because part of the problem is with your ISP.

It is due to a timing issue between Mail and certain ISP's. Mail gives your account password before your ISP's
server is ready for it. When the server is finally ready for it, the
password has already been given, and the server waits, times out, and then requests the password again or says that it hasn't been given the correct password.

I had previously worked out a solution to the problem using Access Control in the Keychain application that worked in most cases. Unfortunately, Apple changed things in the Keychain in El Capitan, and the settings to fix the problem don't seem to exist anymore. (Here is the old solution if anyone wants to try and hunt down the settings and see if they exist somewhere else in El Capitan.)

Launch the Keychain application, located in your Utilities
folder.

in the Edit menu, choose Keychain List. Now in the Shared column check both System and Login.

In the upper left column, highlight Login.
In the lower left column, highlight Passwords.

In the right window scroll until
you find your internet service provider's incoming and outgoing mail servers.
They are usually called something like:
"mail.yourisp.com"
and
"smtp.yourisp.com"

For Comcast they are:
"mail.comcast.net"
and
"smtp.comcast.net"

Double-clicking on each (in turn) will bring up a window with tabs at the top
which say Attributes and Access Control.
Select Access Control.

Then select "Allow all applications to access this item." Make sure you do this for both
the incoming server and outgoing server keychain items.

If the above turns out to be a dead end for you, this article may provide a solution:
http://www.macissues.com/2015/07/08/manage-os-x-always-asking-to-use-your-keychain-passwords/

 

[keeper11]

Thats the longhaired solution Randy, you lost me there a keychain?
is there not a patch or something i can click on, i am sorry but quite
often on mac problems it goes to the long haired programing of things
i dont know about and would not touch.

 

[MacInWin]

What Randy gave WAS the shortcut/patch. It's not programming, it's just settings.

 

[IWT]

@keeper

The process Randy described is very easy to follow and execute.

To find thr Keychain app, perhaps the easiest way is to use command + space bar. This brings up Spotlight. Type keychain. The top hit will be the app of that name. Hit return.

You have now launched Keychain. Follow the instructions from the point in Randy's post beginning " launch Keychain".

Ian

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Thats the longhaired solution Randy, you lost me there a keychain?
is there not a patch or something i can click on, i am sorry but quite
often on mac problems it goes to the long haired programing of things
i dont know about and would not touch.

No, I'm sorry, I don't have any suggestions for a simpler solution. At least not with Apple's Mail. Apple used to have a long discussion thread about the problem on their Web site, but they have removed it. I'm not sure that it would have helped you anyway.

If you want a simpler solution, it might be best to stop using Apple's Mail and try another e-mail program which may not have the same problem.

You might like this one, as it is completely free, and it is extremely similar to Apple's Mail. I've never heard of anyone having the "constantly asking for password" problem with it:

Thunderbird (free)
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

 

[keeper11]

Thanks Randy i followed your instructions it seems to have worked.

 

[keeper11]

No sorry its come back,
and Randy in the keychain
thing i dont have an edit menu
or keychain list.
This password thing only started
when i upgraded to el capitan so
it must be a osx bug.

 

[MacInWin]

keeper11, the Keychain Access program is in the Utilities folder found under Applications. You invoke that and a window opens for the access. The "Edit" option will now be on the top bar of the screen, where you should see "Keychain Access" in the upper left, near the  logo. From there, you can follow the directions given to fix the setup.

 

[Schmye Bubbula]

Randy, are you still here? You said in post #7 that Apple changed things in the El Capitan Keychain, and the settings to fix the problem don't seem to exist anymore. But you didn't spell-out exactly what the names of the missing settings are. Then you listed the procedure, anyway, and it said to change Keychain Access' setting for Access Control of the incoming and outgoing mail servers to "Allow all applications to access this item." Then you linked to a macissues.com article that you said may solve the problem for people whose El Capitan Keychain Access indeed lacks the settings.

Well, I couldn't find anything whatsoever in that article that even came close to addressing an alternative procedure to accomplish the same thing that the missing settings were supposed to fix. Am I overlooking something?

But be that as it may, I have a friend with the same problem, and I went into her El Capitan Keychain Access, and its setting for Access Control of any item to "Allow all applications to access this item" is there. Is that what you said is supposed to be the missing setting in El Capitan? If not, then would you please tell us the exact name of what the missing setting is? But your instructions seem to say that "Allow all applications to access this item" is the setting we need. I'm confused.

In any event, I don't see how changing the allowance of other apps to access the incoming and outgoing mail servers can solve the problem that you say is a timing mismatch. What does access by other apps have to do with it? Isn't it still only Apple Mail involved?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Randy, are you still here? You said in post #7 that Apple changed things in the El Capitan Keychain, and the settings to fix the problem don't seem to exist anymore.

I'm sorry, but I haven't used El Capitan in a long time now, and no one has complained to me about this problem in a long time either.

At this point, if you can't follow/understand the directions that I posted, I recommend that you either upgrade to Sierra, or, if you can't do that, that you switch to a different e-mail program. Thunderbird is a nice choice, it's free and easy to use:

Thunderbird (free)
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

 

[Schmye Bubbula]

I'm not going to be able to try your fix on my friend's El Capitan until Saturday, and I do understand your instructions to say that we need to change the Keychain Access setting for Access Control of the incoming and outgoing mail servers to "Allow all applications to access this item," but someone earlier said that they already tried your instructions and it worked for a while, but the problem returned. So I guess my main question is, why would letting other apps have access to the password for the incoming and outgoing mail servers solve the problem? Is there some other app than Apple Mail—such as, oh, I don't know, say a python script or something—that comes into play after the first time Mail sends the password and it gets missed because the mail server wasn't listening right then? Isn't Apple Mail the only app that's involved?

 

[chscag]

Isn't Apple Mail the only app that's involved?

Not sure what you're asking, but Randy has already given you a recommendation for the Thunderbird Mail app. Also, the Thunderbird Mail app is available for Windows and may also be for Linux. (although I'm not sure of that)

 

[Schmye Bubbula]

^ What I'm asking is, how would letting other apps have access to the password for the incoming and outgoing mail servers solve the timing problem? Isn't Apple Mail the only app that's involved?