Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Mail: Unable to verify account

K

Kjeldebu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 2, 2016
3
0
Hi,

I've been frustrated with this question for the past week, and have posted the question on Apple Support forum, but no one seems to answer over there.

I have 3 email accounts at one place (OVH). Last week on one of our 2 macs, the accounts (IMAP) failed to connect with the message 'unable to verify account or password'



I think it happened at the same time as i updated the icloud password in Keychain by deleting the keychain folder. I had that annoying "local settings" pop-up continually. So that's what I read had to be done, something about keychain not having updated its password if i remember well. (http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/153720/how-do-i-delete-or-fix-my-keycha in-after-changing-my-password - solution worked fine btw)



I think I have tried about everything:

- Compared email account settings between both computers

- Deleted the login in Keychain Access and resubmitted the password

- Re-entered the password in the email account settings...



The most frustrating of it all: 2 out of 3 accounts work fine after having deleted the login in keychain access. One still refuses to connect. As Murphy likes it, it's our main email address.



Any help really would be appreciated!



Thanks



Jonathan
 
Hmm, I don't know much, if anything about Keychain access.
However, to confirm:
- on said Mac, can you log into email via the web? This will confirm that the credentials are correct
- as a test, on said Mac, create a new test login account (account to log into the Mac). Once done, setup the email account and see if you can access it
- if you can access on the new test account, then that might give you an idea that is it truly related to the Keychain, or something similar
 
Create as second account with the same credentials. It should create new message folders which will re populated from the IMAP server. Once you are satisfied you have everything, just delete the non-working account.
[doublepost=1480701188][/doublepost]P.S. If your service provider also offers webmail, before you do anything try to log onto the account using webmail to make sure your password is correct. If you can't log on using webmail, it will probably offer you an option to reset your password.
 
Last edited:
Thanks to both, haven't thought of creating a new account.
Will try this and let you know how that went.

Webmail and password checked. Works fine.
 
Last edited:
New account set up, everything works fine on that one. Little concerned about deleting the old one as it seems IMAP worked fine but for the "sent" messages which don't seem to have synced correctly.

Anyhow: problem solved, thanks to all.
 
I had the same problem - came here for a solution, but now I solved it myself!

I had this before but then it worked. Google account in my OS X mail, and it normally sends and receives OK, but now and then it pops up with a window (from accounts) saying "unable to verify account or password".
Checking in a browser that OS X is enabled on this Mac, and all other devices work OK, it still says that. Several attempts, I AM SURE the password is correct.

After I try to enter the password, and it says it can't do it, then I cancel that pop-up window. Now I see this:

Gmail-password-OSX-Mail.png


Notice the password field is BLANK! There are supposed to be some black circles (or large round dots, whatever you want to call them), but there is just blank.

I filled my password there - and now it works fine!

So try this:

1) Enter password or not in the pop-up, doesn't matter

2) Cancel that pop-up after it says "unable to verify account or password"

3) Enter the password in the normal account box, as above.

It worked for me, hope it can help others.
[doublepost=1490329889][/doublepost]Oh yes, and as soon as I entered the password there, literally within a second, gmail popped into the inbox.

Just checked again, it's all good now. And fortunately, a very easy fix!

Please, if it works for you, report back here. It's most likely a bug in Apple Mail.
[doublepost=1490330560][/doublepost]... and now I just reported it to Apple. It must be some bug with that pop-up window in account settings and/or Mail app.

Easy fix so they should be able to find that bug.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LDaniele
B74A said:
I had the same problem - came here for a solution, but now I solved it myself!

I had this before but then it worked. Google account in my OS X mail, and it normally sends and receives OK, but now and then it pops up with a window (from accounts) saying "unable to verify account or password".
Checking in a browser that OS X is enabled on this Mac, and all other devices work OK, it still says that. Several attempts, I AM SURE the password is correct.

After I try to enter the password, and it says it can't do it, then I cancel that pop-up window. Now I see this:

Gmail-password-OSX-Mail.png


Notice the password field is BLANK! There are supposed to be some black circles (or large round dots, whatever you want to call them), but there is just blank.

I filled my password there - and now it works fine!

So try this:

1) Enter password or not in the pop-up, doesn't matter

2) Cancel that pop-up after it says "unable to verify account or password"

3) Enter the password in the normal account box, as above.

It worked for me, hope it can help others.
[doublepost=1490329889][/doublepost]Oh yes, and as soon as I entered the password there, literally within a second, gmail popped into the inbox.

Just checked again, it's all good now. And fortunately, a very easy fix!

Please, if it works for you, report back here. It's most likely a bug in Apple Mail.
[doublepost=1490330560][/doublepost]... and now I just reported it to Apple. It must be some bug with that pop-up window in account settings and/or Mail app.

Easy fix so they should be able to find that bug.
Click to expand...

I can log into email on web and have cleared the keychain then rebooted. Glad it works for you. This did not work for me, after I click cancel there is a box asks for Internal/external url which I put and it still says "Unable to verify account name or password".... (this is why I hate macs)
 
WHY CAN'T APPLE FIX THIS?

Apple Mail has suffered from this issue for 10 years. Why a multi-billion dollar company can't fix this problem and be compatible with the rest of the email world is beyond me.

I'm about ready to take a hammer to this Macbook Pro.

Another email client (like Outlook) doesn't solve this issue... it's inherent in OS X and keychain.
 
BuckeyeLover said:
WHY CAN'T APPLE FIX THIS?

Apple Mail has suffered from this issue for 10 years. Why a multi-billion dollar company can't fix this problem and be compatible with the rest of the email world is beyond me.

I'm about ready to take a hammer to this Macbook Pro.

Another email client (like Outlook) doesn't solve this issue... it's inherent in OS X and keychain.
Click to expand...

I managed to solve it but it might not work for you.

I had created my mail accounts in the Internet Accounts pref pane. I deleted them there and then set them up within the Mail pref Accounts window. Same exact settings in both; got the "can't verify" from the pref pane and it worked flawlessly when created within Mail prefs. Go figure.
 
bookmanjb said:
I managed to solve it but it might not work for you.

I had created my mail accounts in the Internet Accounts pref pane. I deleted them there and then set them up within the Mail pref Accounts window. Same exact settings in both; got the "can't verify" from the pref pane and it worked flawlessly when created within Mail prefs. Go figure.
Click to expand...
Yes, I've had the same experience (via Internet Accounts = trouble, from within Mail = no trouble).

I continue to use Mail, but it's a troublesome app. Not many days pass before it does something stupid -- lately, such things as creating two new folders (a main and sub) while following a rule that points to an existing main/sub with the same names and putting the new mail message in them. And then there's the infamous "draft that isn't current" problem.
 
JohnDS said:
Create as second account with the same credentials. It should create new message folders which will re populated from the IMAP server. Once you are satisfied you have everything, just delete the non-working account.
[doublepost=1480701188][/doublepost]P.S. If your service provider also offers webmail, before you do anything try to log onto the account using webmail to make sure your password is correct. If you can't log on using webmail, it will probably offer you an option to reset your password.
Click to expand...

In High Sierra you are not allowed to create a second account with the same credentials if one already exists.
 
Kjeldebu said:
Hi,

I've been frustrated with this question for the past week, and have posted the question on Apple Support forum, but no one seems to answer over there.

I have 3 email accounts at one place (OVH). Last week on one of our 2 macs, the accounts (IMAP) failed to connect with the message 'unable to verify account or password'



I think it happened at the same time as i updated the icloud password in Keychain by deleting the keychain folder. I had that annoying "local settings" pop-up continually. So that's what I read had to be done, something about keychain not having updated its password if i remember well. (http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/153720/how-do-i-delete-or-fix-my-keycha in-after-changing-my-password - solution worked fine btw)



I think I have tried about everything:

- Compared email account settings between both computers

- Deleted the login in Keychain Access and resubmitted the password

- Re-entered the password in the email account settings...



The most frustrating of it all: 2 out of 3 accounts work fine after having deleted the login in keychain access. One still refuses to connect. As Murphy likes it, it's our main email address.



Any help really would be appreciated!



Thanks



Jonathan
Click to expand...

Works if I create account as POP instead of IMAP.
 
Hi,
Same problem for me. I found a solution when ovh count can't reconnect.
• Go to Mail app 'pref/counts/your email'
• Delete 'ssl0.ovh.net' in the 2 hosts
• Let Mail app trying & failing
• Re-type 'ssl0.ovh.net' in the 2 hosts
Et voilà.
 
I have 3 yahoo mail accounts and use mac mail on two macs to access them. today at about the same time one of the yahoo accounts went offline on both machines. the other two yahoo mail accounts continue to work fine. when i try to take the offending account online i get the "unable to verify account or password" warning. i've done nothing with iCloud or my keychain as far as i know. Have tried all the above suggestions without effect. One mac is Catalina 10.15.7 and the other is big sur RC 2. no change to either machine since i updated to big sur RC 2 four days ago, mail was working fine on both 'till today. The mail account is fine on web. Any HELP. please!
 
This is what worked for me just now:

In Mail, go to Preferences > Accounts and select the account that is having the issue. Then go to the Server Settings tab on the top right and change the Outgoing Mail Account to 'none'. Now, next time you try to send an email, the program will ask you which outgoing server to use. Simply select the original one, and everything should be working fine again.

I hope this helps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back