mac problem - mail passwords disappearing

[commentator8]

I have a client/friend who has a problem that he is determined to fix, as it seems to bug him to no end. I have remote access to his computer, but since the issue takes time to develop it is hard to know if what i try works immediately.

The issue: He is running mac os 10.6.4 or so (fully up to date). He uses the mac mail program for email (3 accounts with different providers). Every now and then, potentially every day or two, the mail program forgets his passwords and requires him to reinput them.

This is a known issue on the web with a LOT of fixes suggested. Also i should probably mention that he initially has issues with his other web passwords being forgotten, but recreating the keychain fixed that.

To date i have tried the following:

- deleted and recreated keychain
- verified and repaired keychain
- set permissions for mail passwords (in keychain) to access for all programs\
- ran onxy and repaired/ran maintenance options
- manually deleted all three places keychains are found then recreated
- he has some "cleaning/maintenance" program but mail lost his passwords before it was run (it is run weekly).
- the mail program did show the passwords as present (asterisks). Deleted, unchecked remember, reinput them.
- it does not seem to be a lost connection / timeout issue, he has a steady internet connection with no dropouts

That is all i can recall off the top of my head. It is only the mail passwords that are forgotten also.

Any ideas?

 

[commentator8]

Could i request that a moderator (how do we find who to contact btw?) move this to the mac forum, it seems that like myself, most people aren't particularly knowledgeable about macs.

 

[TimJacobs]

Could i request that a moderator (how do we find who to contact btw?)

Here you go

 

[Methical]

Moved.

Please, next time this happens, post a link to the thread that you require moved when you PM a mod.

 

[Martyn]

Or you can just report your own post asking for it to be moved, job done

 

[commentator8]

Thanks! Will do. I considered it but was scared off by the "this is only for..."on the report page.

 

[Martyn]

Yes but it gets the job done. If you pm one person you are reliant on them going online but the report sends to all staff and any online can do it then.

 

[Methical]

Thanks! Will do. I considered it but was scared off by the "this is only for..."on the report page.

Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts.

I would be too.
I'll ask Bryce about this one..

Even more reason to give OP more permissions, or added feature for the Report button.

 

[TimJacobs]

I would be too.
I'll ask Bryce about this one..

Even more reason to give OP more permissions, or added feature for the Report button.

Yeah it would be a good idea to have the report button more options, but then the mods would be flooded with requests.........

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Anyway, back on topic. the main reason I've seen this particular behavior with Mac Mail is something to do with the server settings and requiring authentication, etc..There are multiple accounts with how many SMTP servers set up, etc..

 

[commentator8]

There are three accounts, each with their own servers. I wouldn't imagine that would be enough to be an issue. They have also been known to retain their passwords (through restarts) for several days, and sometimes just the one being lost then later the others (or vice versa). And once upon a time all worked fine.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

There are three accounts, each with their own servers. I wouldn't imagine that would be enough to be an issue. They have also been known to retain their passwords (through restarts) for several days, and sometimes just the one being lost then later the others (or vice versa). And once upon a time all worked fine.

That's probably the issue. I'd route them all through a single SMTP server for all accounts. Mostly whoever is their ISP and their SMTP server. Other than that in Mail preferences for each account make sure the checkbox for "use only this server" is checked.

 

[commentator8]

I take that back, there are 4 accounts and between them they had 2 SMTP servers. They are now all using one. When the passwords disappear they also disappear in the mail preferences for each account.

To add - i believe that it is a keychain issue as out of the four accounts, the mobileme account (it turns out) does not lose its password and is stored in the keychain as type "MobileMe password". The "Web form passwords" (all other internet passwords) are also fine. It is only the pop accounts, which are stored as type "internet password" that are lost.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I'm still not convinced that its not something to do with the SMTP server settings. I think the keychain has nothing to do with it. Check the advanced SMTP server settings to make sure the port settings, SSL, and authentication type are all correct. If authentication is set to password make sure the username and password are all stored in the advanced settings. I assume you know what these settings should be?

 

[commentator8]

As mentioned, they all use the one SMTP server now. All settings seem to be correct (and work - the exception being the issue at hand).

The user/pass are set correctly and i verified that the ssl (not used) settings are correct. It is one of the main internet companies in australia so it is easily verifiable.

Meanwhile (just in case) i have re-added the passwords to the mail program (they were forgotten again) and then when they reappeared in the keychain i moved them to a newly created keychain.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Meanwhile (just in case) i have re-added the passwords to the mail program (they were forgotten again) and then when they reappeared in the keychain i moved them to a newly created keychain.

Keep us posted on how this works out, but I still think its a Mail specific problem. What I would do is drag the ~/library/preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file to the desktop. Then go ahead and recreate all of the email accounts. After you do this all of the mail will show back up, but it will create a new .plist file which is a good possibility is corrupted. If it still has problems or by some weird circumstance something goes horribly wrong, you can always delete the new .plist and put the old one back in.

 

[commentator8]

Keep us posted on how this works out, but I still think its a Mail specific problem. What I would do is drag the ~/library/preferences/com.apple.mail.plist file to the desktop. Then go ahead and recreate all of the email accounts. After you do this all of the mail will show back up, but it will create a new .plist file which is a good possibility is corrupted. If it still has problems or by some weird circumstance something goes horribly wrong, you can always delete the new .plist and put the old one back in.

Thanks for that, i'll give it a go if i hear back that the passwords got lost again.

 

[Tintern Tech]

It sounds like trashing / moving the .plist file probably solved your problem. Just wanted to add for good measure that in some cases when running multiple accounts with multiple providers, each SMTP server can be configured differently for each account - and then you specify "use only this server" for the one that matches the account providers spec.

 

[commentator8]

Just to check in, so far so good. And each account was set as "use only...".

One curiosity - make sure to backup the mail before deleting the .plist. I had, just in case, but was assured on a couple of forums that only the settings would be lost and after entering them again the mail would still be there. In my case it wasn't.

Another point was after creating the new mail accounts, there are individual inboxs' (potentially because it pulled the last two days worth of mail straight away), but not individual (per account) sent folders. I had my backed up ones imported but nowhere to put them. It took me a few seconds to find out that they are created automatically once you send a message... So i just sent one from each account then dragged the old sent mail in.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

One curiosity - make sure to backup the mail before deleting the .plist. I had, just in case, but was assured on a couple of forums that only the settings would be lost and after entering them again the mail would still be there. In my case it wasn't.

That's pretty much impossible unless you just didn't delete only the com.Apple.mail.plist. If you would have checked the size of the plist file itself, you would've known it couldn't hold any of the actual data. Everything is stored in the Mail folder which isn't even in the subdirectory where the com.apple.mail.plist is located. It's on the same level as the parent directory of preferences under the user library. A plist is simply a text file with settings. Also, I did mention in the first place to just drag the plist to the desktop in case something weird happened.