Mail "forgets" passwords frequently

Only on 1 machine throughout Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard at least once a week or as often as every 30 seconds, the mail app keeps losing the passwords for all of the accounts. Today it has asked me for the password to one account over 10 times. I am checking the box that says to keep the password and am getting very frustrated with this. Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Mike

Try going into Keychain Access (located in Applications/Utilities on the system disk). You should see a list of all of the passwords that it has saved. Look for duplicate entries for mail accounts or anything else that looks weird.
One possibility is to delete all of the entries related to your mail accounts and see if it works when you create new entries by using the option to save passwords.

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Mail forgets passwords

Mail 5 appears to have the same problem as prior versions. It forgets my POP email accounts' passwords. I don't have this issue with my IMAP accounts. How do I fix it?

I have the same problem in Lion and this is a new machine with pre-installed Lion. Deleting and reestablishing email accounts (or even tediously clicking "cancel") is not an option because I have 44 email accounts. Too much work! This is clearly a bug in the OS.
RARELY happened in 10.4 for one or two accounts, but in Lion, it happens for ALL accounts at the same time! Yikes! I can't even quit or do anything else on the Mac because all these password-request dialog boxes keep popping up in the foreground and demanding attention—this is a very bad thing in itself—so I just FORCE QUIT Mail and relaunch. Problem goes away...until we meet again. (Seems to only happen when I'm not using Mail and it's hidden. Not sure.)
Anyway, Apple is preparing to release another 10.7 update.

Mail forgets passwords, possibly due to error in the Keychain

Hello,
I just sent my MBP with Leopard to service, now I am sticking around with my old 12" PB and Tiger. I did a complete sync via MobileMe, including passwords on both devices. Unfortunately, Mail in Tiger does not seem to have access to the Passwords in the Keychain. When I open the Keychain, I can see all entries, also the ones for the Mail Accounts. When I try to display a password by checking the box it gets checked for a very short time (<1sec), then gets unchecked plus the Lock for the Keychain gets closed – I cannot open it again, nowhere am I asked for my account password.
I also tried to manually enter the passwords I know when asked by Mail, also with checking to keep the Password stored in the Keychain. The next time I am opening Mail it already forgot everything.
Is there a way to get rid of this problematic?
Temporarily using most recent Tiger 10.4.11 + all Updates on a Powerbook 12" 1.5GHz.
EDIT: I have acces to all data from my MBP via a TimeMachine Backup. Maybe that does help somehow?
Message was edited by: effzehn

Hi effzehn ,
I have acces to all data from my MBP via a TimeMachine Backup. Maybe that does help somehow?
Not likely.
Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), it will try to repair your Disk Directory while the spinning radian is happening, so let it go, run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, then...
Open Keychain Access in Utilities, use Keychain First Aid under the Window Menu item.
Resetting your keychain in Mac OS X...
If Keychain First Aid finds an issue that it cannot repair, or if you do not know your keychain password, you may need to reset your keychain.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1544
Where does that leave us?

Mail forgets passwords for acct's when iBook battery runs out . . . why?

Recently, the last couple times our iBook G4 battery runs out, certain settings disappear (clock resets, Mail acc't passwords gone . . .)
We have about 4 mail acc'ts with passwords that have somehow been forgotten by Mail (Keychain issue?) that seem to be related . . . any ideas on a way to find our Mail password pref's again?
Much appreciated,
J & G

Oh, guess what . . . just quit Mail, and restarted it . . . now messages are being retrieved . . . problem solved!

Mail forgets password

I recently had to reset my Apple ID
Now every time I launch Mail it asks for the password for my iCloud account (my Apple ID)
Even if I open Mail preferences and put this password in the account and save - it does not remember it.
any suggestions?
thanks
Pete
PS: I notice that after saving the account if I close preferences and revisit the account the password field appears blank even though I put it in......??

Hey Peter!
I have an article for you here that seems to address this issue:
Mail (Mountain Lion): If your password is not saved
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11775
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Have a good one!
-Braden

Apple Mail "Forgets" Password for Gmail

I've seen this problem documented elsewhere, but none of the "solutions" seem to work.
I have two-step verification enabled on my Gmail account. I generate a unique application password for Apple Mail, which I enter into the password field in the Mail application.
Inexplicably, anywhere from 5 minutes to 1 week later, when I attempt to send an e-mail I will be prompted that the password is "wrong." It isn't, because I HAVEN'T CHANGED ANYTHING. The only way I can get the message to go away is to revoke and then re-generate another unique password.
Interestingly, I can receive e-mails into the account with no problem, but it seems the sending part is where Mail gets wonky. I have tried:
-Removing the e-mail account entirely from Mail and setting it up from scratch
-Deleting all traces of the old password from my Mac, including from Keychain Access (did this combined with the above).
Any other suggestions? I am getting tired of this and am two steps from ditching Mail for a more functional e-mail client.

Try Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access - delete the password from the and run First Aid.
Keychain Reset
If it continues, try resetting the keychain.
Troubleshooting Apple Mail
What does Mail/Window/Connection Doctor Show? If the server is red, select it and look at the Show Details box.
Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages
Troubleshooting sending email messages

My ipad2 is asking old id password, when i go to forget password link for that id then I am not getting any mail to reset the same. Please help how can i remove or change the old id.

my ipad2 is asking old id password, when i go to forget password link for that id then I am not getting any mail to reset the same. Please help how can i remove or change the old id.

You cannot remove or change the old ID. This is Find My iPhone Activation Lock. You need to recover the credentials for the Apple ID originally used to activate the iPad.
Check your spam and junk folders.

Mail forgets all my passwords. 10.8.4.

I have about 10 different domains, all on different servers, on different hosts, with various accounts linked to Mail. Some are IMAP, some are POP3.
Mail forgets the password to each and every one of them on a periodical basis. Sometimes it's every week, sometimes I go a month, but then it forgets.
I then have to dig out my password store and paste in all the passwords again. I typically have to paste them in, then have mail complain that it still can't connect, paste them in a second time, and then it's works and mails send and receive again for that domain.
Mail then complains about the next domain, and I have to dig out the password for that.
And then Mail still complains about not knowing the password to things like my icloud and gmail accounts.

Hello Tim,
It would definitely get frustrating having to peridiodically enter passwords for 10 email accounts. I found an article that has some suggestions if Mail is not remembering your passwords:
Mail (Mountain Lion): If your password is not saved
If you click “Save password” in a dialog in Mail but still have to enter your password, there are a couple of things you can try.
Open Keychain Access, and then locate and delete the mail account password item.While in Keychain Access, you can also choose Keychain Access > Keychain First Aid to verify and repair keychain settings.
Open Disk Utility, and then select the volume (for your hard disk or disks) in the list of disks and volumes. Click First Aid and then click Verify Disk. If necessary, click Repair Disk. Then send yourself a test message.
You can find the full article here:
Mail (Mountain Lion): If your password is not saved
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11775
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

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Mail forgets my AOL passwords and it does not help when I re-enter them. I have tried deleting Internet Passwords in Keychain Access (which usually fixes the problem), but this is not helping now.
Thanks for your help,
Steve

Back up all data.
Launch the Keychain Access application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Keychain Access in the icon grid.
Select the login keychain from the list on the left side of the Keychain Access window. If your default keychain has a different name, select that.
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Select
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Mail forgets aol password.

Mail forgets my aol password

Hi AudiGuy1, your problem lies with Keychain Access (Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities> Keychain Access) which is the heart of password storage in Mac OS X. Here is a link for troubleshooting Keychain issues, but be very careful when working with keychains:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/9081.html

I cannot sign into iCloud on my iMac. I have read all of the help information, but that isn't working. I cannot do anything with my system preferences - like add a new printer - because it won't log me in, sign me out, forget password doesn't work, etc.

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FORGET Password in 11.5.10.2 cu2

Hi,
I'm planning to implement FORGET password feature in Oracle E-business Suite application 11.5.10.2 CU2. Can someone
help me any specific metalink note or some details?
Thanks

Hi,
Per note users are getting mail, after users approval , can I setup default password value like "welcome99" or some autogeneration password?Here is an update.
Note: 420236.1 - How to Modify The Password Reset Statement for UMXUPWD.wft
https://metalink2.oracle.com/metalink/plsql/ml2_documents.showDocument?p_database_id=NOT&p_id=420236.1
Regards,
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Lost mail and password however I am still logged n...

Please I lost both mail and password, I never purchased anything from Skype. However I am still logged on my iPad I don't want to lose this account. Please help me with this.

You need to switch of Find My iPhone with her Apple ID & password.
If you no longer have your iOS device
If you didn't follow the steps above before selling or giving away your iOS device:
Ask the new owner to erase all content and settings as described above.
If you're using iCloud and Find My iPhone on the device, you can erase the device remotely and remove it from your account by signing in to icloud.com/find, selecting the device, and clicking Erase. When the device has been erased, click Remove from Account. After you erase the device, you'll need to wait 24 hours before you can activate iMessage on your new device.
If you're unable to complete either of the above steps, you should change your Apple ID password. Changing your password won't remove any personal information that is cached on the device, but it will make sure that the new owner can't delete your information from iCloud.
Deregister iMessage if you're switching to a non-Apple phone.
If you're using Apple Pay, you can also remove your credit or debit cards at iCloud.com. Just choose Settings to see which devices are using Apple Pay, then click your device and click Remove next to Apple Pay.

I am from Bangladesh. I can't log in with my gmail Apple ID. When I put in the mail and password, and press sign in, it says it has to review on iTunes. Then I am directed to opening a new account. But why should I , since I have one. Plz help :(

I am from Bangladesh. I can't log in with my gmail Apple ID. When I put in the mail and password, and press sign in, it says it has to review on iTunes. Then I am directed to opening a new account. But why should I , since I have one. Plz help

Hi Ishrak,
I apologize, I'm a bit unclear on exactly what you are trying to log into with your Apple ID, or what exactly you are seeing (alert message, directions, etc) when you try to do so. If you continue to have issues with your Apple ID, you may find one or more of the articles linked from the following page helpful:
Apple ID - Apple Support
Regards,
- Brenden

Mail "forgets" passwords frequently

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