TB Error Message

[Fred S *****]

Need some help.

Running TB ver 68.5.0 on Win 10 Home and Pro.

I've had issues with Spectrum with my Pop Account and they wanted me to
switch to IMAP. Did that and I am now getting email.

However, I get a popup error message every time when I "GET MESSAGES"

"The current operation on "Inbox" did not
succeed. The mail server for account FSS -
IMAP responded: Unrecognized command: ID"

What is this, I seem to be getting my email but I keep getting errors
with this ID error.

Thanks, in advance, Fred S

[Andy Burns]

Fred S ***** wrote:

> I've had issues with Spectrum with my Pop Account and they wanted me to
> switch to IMAP. Did that and I am now getting email.
>
> However, I get a popup error message every time when I "GET MESSAGES"
>
> "The current operation on "Inbox" did not
> succeed. The mail server for account FSS -
> IMAP responded: Unrecognized command: ID"

Another spectrum user showing the same error (unless FredS == Yodaxxx)

<http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=3058171>

[Fred S *****]

Thanks for the link, looks like the same or at least similar issue.

One reply asks what is the "IMAP server directory"
How do I find this or is what I use for the incoming server."mail.twc.com"

[Mark Filipak]

On 03/01/2020 09:57 PM, Fred S ***** wrote:
> On 3/1/2020 3:49 AM, Andy Burns wrote:

> Thanks for the link, looks like the same or at least similar issue.
>
> One reply asks what is the "IMAP server directory"
> How do I find this or is what I use for the incoming server."mail.twc.com"

'mail.twc.com' is what I use for SMTP (i.e., mail incoming server). As I
recall, you need mail.twc.com:587 STARTTLS

[Mark Filipak]

On 03/01/2020 09:57 PM, Fred S ***** wrote:
> On 3/1/2020 3:49 AM, Andy Burns wrote:

> Thanks for the link, looks like the same or at least similar issue.
>
> One reply asks what is the "IMAP server directory"
> How do I find this or is what I use for the incoming server."mail.twc.com"

'mail.twc.com' is what I use for SMTP (i.e., mail incoming server). As I
recall, you need mail.twc.com:587 STARTTLS

[UPDATE] Oh, sorry, what I wrote is for outgoing. For incoming,
mail.twc.com, TLS

[Mark Filipak]

On 03/01/2020 09:57 PM, Fred S ***** wrote:
> On 3/1/2020 3:49 AM, Andy Burns wrote:

> Thanks for the link, looks like the same or at least similar issue.
>
> One reply asks what is the "IMAP server directory"
> How do I find this or is what I use for the incoming server."mail.twc.com"

'mail.twc.com' is what I use for SMTP (i.e., mail incoming server). As I
recall, you need mail.twc.com:587 STARTTLS

[UPDATE] Oh, sorry, what I wrote is for outgoing. For incoming,
mail.twc.com, TLS

[UPDATE] Sorry again. I'll get this right eventually. For incoming,
mail.twc.com:995 TLS.

Senior moment.

[Fred S*****]

I am getting more and more frustrated with TB and IMAP - I've set up
IMAP on my Desktop, Laptop, and Phone.

I had a POP account with Specturm and it just stopped accessing my mail,
I kept getting something like "...the account is being accessed by
another user or maintenance,,,"

SPECTRUM told me that TB is the problem since the web client correctly
gets my email using the same username and PW. They said try IMAP, which
I've setup and does work but ......

While I now have IMAP working, I get folders showing up like Sent Mail,
TB uses SENT, Deleted and TB uses Trash - I can live with this but what
a pain in the A-- this is. I use my old Spectrum/RR account folders for
saving mail and have ONE folder on each device where I can store
something temporarily if needed. Again, I can live with this.

I have noticed that new email is checked on STARTUP by TB (enabled by me
in the account settings) BUT when I click on GET MESSAGES in TB -
NOTHING happens at all. I have a SysTray utility that alerts me to new
mail and when it does I click on Get Messages and NOTHING, If I close TB
and RESTART TB, it checks and downloads the new email.

I think this issue is related to the ERROR Message that I started with
this original post, which is:

"The current operation on "Inbox" did not
succeed. The mail server for account FSS -
IMAP responded: Unrecognized command: ID"

This pops up at the start of TB all the time, yet I get the emails, but
after that, "Get Messages" does NOT work (it always did using POP) and
still does in my wife's POP account and my GMAIL account in TB - the
issue is just in my IMAP account.

Spectrum tells me there is nothing unusual on their end and that they
don't support TB and other third party email clients. They said I need
to contact TB. Looking at the TB FAQ's doesn't deal with this.

I am here because of the great help provided by TB users in the past but
on this one, I'm getting nowhere by myself with Spectrum, and Google, so
I'm trying again.

There is a server setting in "Advanced Settings" that has a space for
the PATH of the Account SERVER - I've tried everything I can think of
with no success - does anyone know if or what should be enterred here?
Right now it is blank, I've entered the Incoming Server name and others
to no avail - my entries, upon restart, leave out things like DRAFT,
SENT, JUNK, etc. - when I go back to leaving it empty, the correct
folders appear - yet the ID ERROR appears ALL THE TIME.

Once again, I use TB with Spectrum (formerly TWC) and the webmail site
is working but is clumsy to say the least.

I love TB and have set it up for numerous friends using POP, but since
my issue with Spectrum and POP I went to IMAP and now Spectrum people
make me think that TB is doing something that is not correct. I don't
want to go to Outlook, WInMail, or whatever, just want TB to work properly.

How can TB access email at startup, produce the INBOX ERROR (above),
then do NOTHING when I hit the GET MESSAGES BUTTOn?

Sorry for the marathon but my hope is that someone might be able to
assist with this background info.

Thanks, Fred

[Nobody]

On Fri, 6 Mar 2020 13:45:54 -0500, Fred S***** <Fre...@anonymous.com>
wrote:

<snip>

>While I now have IMAP working, I get folders showing up like Sent Mail,
>TB uses SENT, Deleted and TB uses Trash - I can live with this but what
>a pain in the A-- this is.

Labelling as 'Deleted' rather than 'Trash' would suggest you've
downloaded the British English version of TB.

That doesn't explain your other main problem... but I successfully run
TB 68.5.0 on Win 10 Home with a major telco ISP IMAP account and my
profile containing both POP3 (port 110) and IMAP (port 993) access to
it. It's been that way for years with no hassles.

[Nobody]

I should've also mentioned that my TB IMAP account has both a 'Sent'
and a 'SentMail' folder.

[Mark Filipak]

On 03/06/2020 01:45 PM, Fred S***** wrote:
> On 3/1/2020 10:17 PM, Mark Filipak wrote:

>> On 03/01/2020 09:57 PM, Fred S ***** wrote:
>>> On 3/1/2020 3:49 AM, Andy Burns wrote:
>>>> Fred S ***** wrote:
>>>>> I've had issues with Spectrum with my Pop Account and they wanted
>>>>> me to switch to IMAP. Did that and I am now getting email.
>>>>>
>>>>> However, I get a popup error message every time when I "GET MESSAGES"
>>>>>
>>>>> "The current operation on "Inbox" did not
>>>>> succeed. The mail server for account FSS -
>>>>> IMAP responded: Unrecognized command: ID"
>>>>
>>>> Another spectrum user showing the same error (unless FredS == Yodaxxx)
>>>>
>>>> <http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=3058171>
>>> Thanks for the link, looks like the same or at least similar issue.
>>>
>>> One reply asks what is the "IMAP server directory"
>>> How do I find this or is what I use for the incoming
>>> server."mail.twc.com"

>> ... For incoming, mail.twc.com:995 TLS.

>>
> I am getting more and more frustrated with TB and IMAP - I've set up
> IMAP on my Desktop, Laptop, and Phone.
>

> I had a POP account with Specturm and it just stopped accessing my mail,
> I kept getting something like "...the account is being accessed by
> another user or maintenance,,,"
>
> SPECTRUM told me that TB is the problem since the web client correctly
> gets my email using the same username and PW.

One thing for sure: That 'advice' is bogus. Just because you can log in
to webmail with the same name & PW that TBird uses doesn't mean that
Spectrum is operating a correct POP server (i.e., non-webmail). Perhaps
that's why Spectrum wanted you to switch to IMAP, eh?

I've noticed that since Spectrum took over Time Warner Cable, the
customer support is getting awfully 'lazy' -- they blame your browser or
mail client first.

[Fred S *****]

On 3/7/2020 3:52 AM, Onno Ekker wrote:

> On 3/6/2020 10:03 PM, Nobody wrote:
>> On Fri, 06 Mar 2020 12:43:39 -0800, Nobody <jo...@soccer.com> wrote:
>>

>> I should've also mentioned that my TB IMAP account has both a 'Sent'
>> and a 'SentMail' folder.
>

> I've seen this too, also with more folder names like Prullenbak (Dutch
> for Trash). SentMail is often used by outlook, I think.
>
> I don't know it this is a bug in Thunderbird, or if it's not possible to
> retrieve the IMAP Trash folder when setting up an IMAP account, but you
> can specify which folder to use in Thunderbird afterward settin up the
> account.
>
> Go to Tools > Account Settins > [account] > Server Settings and select
> the folder to which you want to move messages when you delete them and
> restart Thunderbird. That way Thunderbird knows where to put deleted
> messages.
>
> See also this article for more info:
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/IMAP_Trash_folder
>
> Onno
>
>
Thanks,

I went to the TB download site and reinstalled TB and made sure it was
English USA - that solved the folder called "Deleted" which is now
Trash, so the update must have installed the British version.

My biggest issue is the GET MESSAGES does NOT work when I press that
button. TB gets my messages when I start up but not after that - I have
to close TB and restart it to get mail.

This has to be due to the INBOX ID error (shown above in this thread).

[Onno Ekker]

The error about ID command might be caused by Thunderbird sending IDLE
command? This is a protocol to keep the connection alive. In previous
versions of TB this was hidden under advanced server options and
included the word IDLE, but now it has moved to the Server Settings
itself and is renamed to "Allow immediate server notifications when new
messages arrive". It's a setting to enable some kind of push notification.

Maybe if you uncheck this option, the error goes away and Thunderbird is
able again to check for new messages every x minutes (the option above).

Onno

[Nobody]

Have you followed Tanstaaft's hint in that Mozalline link?

Tools > Account Settings > Server Settings (under IMAP heading).

Scroll down in the small window that opens. What boxes are checked
under 'Server Settings' in that dialog box?

Also click 'Advanced' off to the far right... I don't recall being
asked (by either TB or my ISP) to add anything to Personal Namespace
and it simply contains two double quotation marks " "... while Other
Users has "/home/"... the tick box below that is set to 'overrride'
anyway.

As for the 'SentMail' folder, I don't know for sure but I suspect
that's created by the ISP... as I can access 'webmail' through my
ISP's web page and that folder appears. Their webmail system looks
suspiciously like Outlook's template... and that 'SentMail' I believe
was a feature that followed through from the Hotmail days.

If a copy of outgoing mail is going correctly into 'sent', then you
could always delete the 'SentMail' folder.

[Fred S *****]

Onno,

Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

I unchecked the "Allow immediate server..." but no changes at all - I
still get the ID Error and can't use the "Check Messages" button, just
have to close TB and re-open.

On a brighter note, I reviewed the notes in mozillaZine and noticed that
one can have IMAP and POP accounts. So, I tried setting up my old POP
account with the settings noted there and it WORKS!

I'm going to use the POP again mostly because I control the folders
instead of Spectrum's servers. While I lose folder sync, I gain my
preferred setup as it was. Basically I have the Laptop set to LEAVE
messages on the server, then when using my Desktop, I file/save/delete
etc as I see fit.

One more thing, I have tried these settings before and could not get POP
to work after it just went south a while back but now the darn thing is
working.

If I ever get IMAP working as desired, I will post back here.

Thanks for your patience and understanding,

Fred

[Fred S *****]

Nobody,

Thanks for your help and I went through the mozillaZine posts and
decided to try what SamLowry (in his reply to tanstaafl) which was to
try setting up my POP account again. He set up a new one but I changed
my existing POP using the settings in the post - by God, it worked.

Oddly, I have tried those server settings before with no success, but
tonight it works!

Please take a look at my reply to Onno for more info, and once again
thanks to you for your advice and willingness to help.

Fred

[Disaster Master]

On Fri Mar 06 2020 16:03:28 GMT-0500 (Eastern Daylight Time), Nobody

<jo...@soccer.com> wrote:
> I should've also mentioned that my TB IMAP account has both a 'Sent'
> and a 'SentMail' folder.

IMAP folders are either created by the Client, or the IMAP server. Some
IMAP servers create a default set of folders, and all Clients have a
pre-determined set of folders they use (e.g., TBird uses
Sent/Junk/Trash, and Outlook uses 'Sent Items'/'Junk Email'/'Deleted Items'.

So, either the IMAP server created that additional 'SentMail' folder, or
some other Client you used at one time did (maybe a webmail client,
maybe something else).

[Nobody]

On Sun, 8 Mar 2020 23:17:37 -0400, Fred S ***** <"Fred
S"@anonymous.com> wrote:

<Super Snip>

>Thanks for your help and I went through the mozillaZine posts and
>decided to try what SamLowry (in his reply to tanstaafl) which was to
>try setting up my POP account again. He set up a new one but I changed
>my existing POP using the settings in the post - by God, it worked.
>
>Oddly, I have tried those server settings before with no success, but
>tonight it works!
>
>Please take a look at my reply to Onno for more info, and once again
>thanks to you for your advice and willingness to help.
>
>Fred

Well, at least you're up and running. But as I wrote, I access my ISP
IMAP service both as POP3 and IMAP with TB without hassles so
persevere!

[Fred S *****]

I'm the original poster and my joy of being able to get my POP account
working was short shrift! The damn thing worked for two downloads of
email and has not since. I continue to get "invalid user name or
password." Needless to say, there have been no changes to the username
or PW.

However, the IMAP account still works but I continue to get the following:

"Inbox" did not succeed. The mail server for account Fred-IMAP
responded: Unrecognized command: ID"

This IMAP account works but what a pain it is to use as it is. Upon
Startup, there are lots of odd folders, most of which are the names I've
added to the Advance Box for "IMAP Server Directory" I have no idea what
needs to go in there, if anything at all.

Despite all of this, I am getting access to my emails, just wish I could
learn why TB is giving me this problem.

[Fred S *****]

Thanks for the info, since I have a number of odd folders, can I delete
them? Delete doesn't always do it, even if it appears to be deleted,
next time I start TB those folders appear again.

Is there a way to edit the IMAP folder in the Profile and make it stick?
I messed around with that but they re-appear after a start.

Any thoughts on how to remove some folders from the Profile would be
helpful.

Thanks, Fred

[😉 Good Guy 😉]

On 10/03/2020 04:20, Fred S ***** wrote:

I'm the original poster and my joy of being able to get my POP account working was short shrift! The damn thing worked for two downloads of email and has not since. I continue to get "invalid user name or password."  Needless to say, there have been no changes to the username or PW.

In situation like this the best thing is to delete the username and then to re-enter it;  Same thing with password.  Delete it and then re-enter it.  

The purpose of doing this is that there might be some characters in username or password which you can't see with your naked eyes but by re-entering them, you are make sure the entries are clean of any corruptions.  When re-entering, don't just copy and paste from your hard copies if you have kept any.  Enter them manually using the keyboard.

I'm assuming your imap account is the same as this pop account you are having problems with.   If not then the normal "allow unsecure app" settings needs to be set by using the web interface before you can use Thunderbird.   I'm sure you knew about this anyway but just in case we are talking two different things altogether.

I can't believe that if IMAP account works but pop doesn't when the settings are almost identical in all material respect.   Having said this, I've always used IMAP because I like my emails to be backed up by somebody without any charges to me.   There is one account where I'm forced to use pop because BT-Connect email account uses Microsoft Office but they don't allow people to use IMAP although the emails are still online by default.   I guess this might be something to do with charges payable by BT to Microsoft for giving us free BT-Connect account!!   I don't know why for this.

--

With over 1.2 billion devices now running Windows 10, customer satisfaction is higher than any previous version of windows.

[😉 Good Guy 😉]

On 10/03/2020 04:31, Fred S ***** wrote:

Thanks for the info, since I have a number of odd folders, can I delete them? Delete doesn't always do it, even if it appears to be deleted, next time I start TB those folders appear again.

Is there a way to edit the IMAP folder in the Profile and make it stick? I messed around with that but they re-appear after a start.

Any thoughts on how to remove some folders from the Profile would be helpful.

You need to login using the web interface to your email account and delete the folders that you think are unnecessary.  These are mainly folders created by you, the user.   System created folders cannot be deleted;  e.g inbox, trash, archive, sent etc etc are system created folders and cannot be deleted but this all depends on all ISP or whoever is providing the email service.

Normally, when a folder is deleted from TB then the online version of the same folder is also deleted but you have a unique situation resulting in people deleting or disabling certain system related processes.   Windows 10 users are the main culprit to do this and they are the ones with many problems using Windows 10.