Mail keeps asking for passwords; incoming server in iCloud is dimmed, not available

Mail on all accounts (iCloud, gmail and comcast) keeps asking for passwords; many Internet sites that used to be filled in from Safari are blank and require password. In Mail accounts, the incoming server for MobileMe/iCloud is dimmed. I can check mail on the Internet but it's kinda handy to have it delivered to the iMac. What's up?

Got the axect same problem. HELP!!! Using me.com still tho. But I want to use mail again!!!
UPDATE!!!
Okay, it is working now. I removed my account in Mail and upgraded to iCloud. Now it is working.

Similar Messages

Mail keeps asking for password, over and over and over again. How to fix?

How do I stop this behavior of Mail?
I tried disableing my account and resetting it up, but it won't let me do that either. I use Mac OS 10.6.8.

OK. When you say that Mail doesn’t save the password, are you basing this solely on the fact that Mail keeps asking for it? Or is there something else that makes you believe Mail doesn’t save the password?
Open /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access, choose Keychain First Aid from the application menu, and proceed to repair the keychain. If that doesn’t work, try removing the password entry from the keychain and let Mail create it again the next time it asks for it.

Mail keeps asking for password despite a healthy keychain

So I've run across the problem where Mail constantly asks for the password even though I have it stored in a keychain. I have searched the board and tried every solution proposed. I have repaired the keychain and deleted and reset the password ... everything. It seemed to work for a couple of days ... then BAM! It started happening again. A solution would be extremely helpful as it is very annoying to continually plug in the password every hour or so.

I have the same issue. A previous thread on the topic was closed (although unresolved), so I guess this is where we can discuss possible solutions. Here's one curious thing I've noticed that helps me manage the issue (but doesn't resolve it):
At first when Mail started asking for passwords for all my accounts (even though before they had been working fine), I entered each one and also checked the box saying that it could be stored in the Keychain. But Mail just kept re-asking for the passwords non-stop, making the app unusable. So then I tried entering the passwords but not checking the box to save the passwords in the keychain, and lo and behold, that worked. However, I still have to re-enter the passwords every time I re-open Mail. This is very annoying, and I've even started using Outlook a bit, but Mail is so much better that I'm really hoping to find a solution to this issue.
(As with the OP, I've tried the keychain repair solutions and so forth. I wish I could pinpoint what might have triggered this behaviour to start suddenly just a week ago, but I'm just not sure.)
I wonder if there's a way to edit how Mail interacts with server...

Mail keeps asking for password (Gmail / iPhone)

I have both an iPhone and an iPad with configured Gmail as mail provider. I can read my mail en send it, but Apple Mail keeps asking for my password. This is very irritating, he doesnt need it because Apple Mail can already read my e-mail. I've only one account, a Gmail account. Does someone know what I've done wrong?

Hello KC042344,
The article linked below provides some useful troubleshooting steps that can help resolve many issues you may encounter with Mail on your iPhone.
iOS: Troubleshooting Mail
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3899
Cheers,
Allen

Mail keeps asking for password - new bug???

Mail has just started asking for my password - every time I start up and click GET MAIL! This is a bug I think cause I go in and check it is a POP setting, I check I have my password typed in. And funnily it keeps deleting my password even though I type it and click save when exiting Preferences.
I click Remember Password in key chain but when I start Mail again it is not there!!!
This is really annoying. Just started - interestingly I updated last night my software update?

I Launched Mail Under the Help Menu I typed Keychain This is from Mail's Help Documentation:
If Mail keeps asking for your keychain password, your keychain may be set to lock
after a certain period of time, or when your computer goes to sleep.
To change the keychain lock settings:
Open Keychain Access, located in Applications/Utilities.
In the sidebar, click All Items in the Category section,
and then select your login keychain.
Choose Edit > “Change Settings for Keychain ‘login’.”
To reduce the number of requests for your keychain password,
deselect the "Lock after [number] minutes of inactivity" checkbox,
or increase the number of minutes. You can also deselect the
“Lock when sleeping” checkbox.

Mail keeps asking for password when I enter and try to send messages

When ever I enter 'mail' and then try to send messages it always ask for a password in both instances. I have changed the preferences and added the password and when I save the changes they don't appear as changed

OK. When you say that Mail doesn’t save the password, are you basing this solely on the fact that Mail keeps asking for it? Or is there something else that makes you believe Mail doesn’t save the password?
Open /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access, choose Keychain First Aid from the application menu, and proceed to repair the keychain. If that doesn’t work, try removing the password entry from the keychain and let Mail create it again the next time it asks for it.

Mail keeps asking for password and icloud setting do not load in system preferences

Hi,
I have a mac mini server with mavericks, i have 2 iMacs as clients running mavericks too, when i use iMac (A) mail app and icloud work fine, them i take iMac (B) and mail app start asking for password , it just won't take the password, icloud do not load and cannot use anything else on system prferences because it locks system preferences, i need to force quit system prefrences , so I return to iMac (A) and i get same behaivor as iMac (B), i would appreciate your help for finding a solution for this.
All network users get the same behaivor, local users do not get this behaivor.
Thanks
Hector

Hector;
I have the same problem. The solution is to log into your client, open Keychain, run Keychain First Aid under file menu. If it fails to find your keychain, note the path, mount the disk that it is looking for, and rerun.
In short, you need to have the disk that your keychain is sitting on mounted. While your user account is mounted, Maveriks cannot match the reference path. Looking like a bug.
Example:
my folder sits on a second disk on server. It is properly setup in the mavericks server.
On the server, it is locally referred to as: /Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user. I can log in to mail on the server when I log in with my user name.
In the workgroup manager, the same location is referred to as:
afp://my_server.local/Users/my_user (or smb)
/Network/Servers/my_server.local/Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user
So this is the network path. So the client should be looking for that. But instead, it looks for the local disk, which is not mounted as such. In other words, it looks for:
/Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user/Library/Keychains
instead of
/Network/Servers/my_server.local/Volumes/my_disk/Users/my_user/Library/Keychains
To eliminate this problem, you mount the volume on the client, so it can find. I will keep the editorial to myself, but this is not quality software.
Ali

Mail keeps asking for password even though I checked "add password to ..."

keychain"
This started happen a few days ago. Every few minutes when it checks my main mail account, the password box pops up. I searched on here, saw recommendation for running Keychain FirstAid. Ran it and it gave me this error message:
"Repair started
Checking keychain configuration for user (user ID=501)
Home directory is /Users/user
Checked login keychain
User differs on ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.plist, should be 501, owner is 0
Owner not corrected on ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.plist, reason: No such file or directory
Checked default keychain
Checked keychain search list
Checked contents of ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain
Checked contents of /Library/Keychains/FileVaultMaster.keychain
Warning: some problems were not fixed
Repair failed"
How do I fix this problem? l have several mailboxes for different accounts and I have seen this happen occassionally with them as well.

Of course you only had read access to that file. That’s precisely what I said and why I suggested to do File > Get Info (⌘I) on com.apple.security.plist, to fix that problem by changing the Owner in the Ownership & Permissions > Details section, which was wrong and the cause of the problem...
Anyway, the file should be re-created when needed, so I wouldn’t worry about that. Actually, opening Keychain Access and running Keychain First Aid again may cause the file to be re-created.
The thing is, do you still have the problem of Mail repeatedly asking for the password? If Keychain First Aid doesn’t report any problems now, you may try removing the password entry from the keychain and letting Mail create it again the next time it asks for it.
Note, however, that Mail often doesn’t correctly report what the problem really is. If Mail can connect to the server but cannot log into your mail account for some reason, it’ll ask for your password regardless of whether that’s really the problem or not. Don’t keep entering the password every time, because that’s not the problem (click Cancel instead, and take the account back online afterwards).
Some ISPs refuse connection attempts if they are too frequent, for example, or limit the number of simultaneous connections that are allowed from the same IP address, or there may be too many messages on the server and Mail times out before the server responds, or there might be a problem with the network, or there might be a problem with the server...
Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Network, choose Network Port Configurations from the Show popup menu, and make sure that the configuration used to connect to Internet appears at the top of the list. Try also turning OFF all the network port configurations except the one needed to connect to Internet and see whether that helps — if it doesn’t, turn ON again the ones you want enabled.
What’s the time interval chosen in Mail > Preferences > General > Check for New Mail? If it’s set to Every minute, try changing it to Every 5 minutes.
Try using a different method to connect to Internet, if possible, or connecting the computer to Internet as directly as possible, i.e. bypassing any routers that might be present, using an ethernet cable instead of wireless, etc., and see whether that makes a difference.
You may also want to check with the provider of this account in case they’ve made some changes recently that could have a bearing on this.

Mail keeps asking for password but won't go online

I am having multiple problems with passwords on my MB Pro -- FYI running 10.9. Just fixed a problem with being unable to get into my admin account because I didn't know the password; got that fixed then had problems with keychains - still having. Keeps asking if I want to go back to default keychain (don't get the keychain thing as it is). Now both emails are offline and Mail keeps asking me to enter passwords but then it won't go online. could use some advice or links to fixes

Back up all data.
This procedure will unlock all your user files (not system files) and reset their ownership and access-control lists to the default. If you've set special values for those attributes on any of your files, they will be reverted. In that case, either stop here, or be prepared to recreate the settings if necessary. Do so only after verifying that those settings didn't cause the problem. If none of this is meaningful to you, you don't need to worry about it.
I've tested these instructions only with the Safari web browser. If you use another browser, they may not work as described.
Step 1
If you have more than one user account, and the one in question is not an administrator account, then temporarily promote it to administrator status in the Users & Groups preference pane. To do that, unlock the preference pane using the credentials of an administrator, check the box marked Allow user to administer this computer, then reboot. You can demote the problem account back to standard status when this step has been completed.
Triple-click anywhere in the following line on this page to select it. Copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):
{ sudo chflags -R nouchg,nouappnd ~ $TMPDIR.. ; sudo chown -R $UID:staff ~ $_ ; sudo chmod -R u+rwX ~ $_ ; chmod -R -N ~ $_ ; } 2> /dev/null
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password. Nothing will be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning to be careful. If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before you can run the command. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. Wait for a new line ending in a dollar sign (“$”) to appear, then quit Terminal.
Step 2 (optional)
Take this step only if you have trouble with Step 1 or if it doesn't solve the problem.
Boot into Recovery. When the OS X Utilities screen appears, select
Utilities ▹ Terminal
from the menu bar. A Terminal window will open.
In the Terminal window, type this:
res
Press the tab key. The partial command you typed will automatically be completed to this:
resetpassword
Press return. A Reset Password window will open. You’re not going to reset a password.
Select your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name) if not already selected.
Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.
Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.
Select
 ▹ Restart
from the menu bar.

Mail keeps asking for password for my imap yahoo account?

I have both a Rogers Yahoo and a Bell email account. The Rogers imap account keeps asking for my password however the password is correctly entered. Help!

There's a long thread on here somewhere about Yahoo constantly requesting the password. Seems to have been going on some time with no real conclusion.
However, I did see a mention somewhere else that a user managed to 'fix' the issue by changing his password so that it had no capital letters in it. Don't know whether this will help in your case, but maybe worth a shot if you pw has any cap letters.
If I can find the link I'll post back.

Mail Keep asking for password despite saving....

Hi there,
I use POP Hotmail using the mail program. It all works fine but I do keep getting asked for the password often even though this has been set up on the mail program and using hotkeys.
It's a little problem but a rather annoying one, any suggestion greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance

if deleting and recreating keychain items doesn't fix it, you could, for no particular reason, try reapplying the 10.6.1 update (and generally speaking, for 10.6.2 and beyond, always reapply the combo update not the incremental update).
Reapplying (combo) updates has been known to fix a myriad of strange problems that people have experienced with Tiger and Leopard, as apparent by old threads in iChat and Mail and other forums. In fact, when updates are released, with the exception of .0➛.1 updates, I always apply the combo, not the incremental, updates.
OF course, no guarantees that this strategy will fix your problem, but it shouldn't hurt anything, either. Recommend that you run disk utility verify (and repair if necessary) hard drive and disk utility repair permissions before reapplying combo updates.
One other thing, as a test, you might try (temporarily) creating this mail account in another user account and see if the same thing happens.

Mail Keeps Asking For Password Since OSX 10.6.2 Upgrade

This driving me nuts. Since the upgrade to 10.6.2 both my iMAc and MacBook Pro Mail programs constantly ask for my password and will not hold it in Keychain. I've checked to see if my preferences are set correctly (they are), I've deleted multiple entries in Keychain. It is a constant source of aggravation on both computers.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for the help

Have you gone to Keychain Access & used First Aid there?
I have one email account that does the same thing...when it feels like it...going back to before 10.6.x. Nothing's been able to cure it so far.

Mail keeps asking for password on opening program

I've looked at all the threads on this subject and tried all the recommendations. I most recently tried resetting my keychain access. Still no luck. It only happens on one of my 3 macs that are synced.
Any suggestions?

Is the password related to one of the email accounts? Mail tries to retrieve mail from all the accounts right after launch.
If you set up a new user account on the same Mac where you are getting asked for the password. Then launch mail and set up your email account(s) under the test user account, do you get the same problem? If not, then you might have a typo somewhere in your settings for the email account on that mac for the regular user.

Mail keep asking for password

i have tried keychain access verify & repair, deleted account , then added back , nothing works it is very annoying.
Somebody HeLp me please

Hello, is this a dot mac or MobileMe account?
If so, things have changed...
Do not delete the old account yet. sign up for an iCloud account if you haven't.
MAKE A NEW ACCOUNT - DO NOT TRY TO ALTER YOUR EXISTING ACCOUNT.
I understand .mac mail will still come through. Do not delete the old account yet.
You cannot use .mac or MobileMe as type of Account, you have to choose IMAP when setting up, otherwise Mail is hard coded to change imap.mail.me.com to mail.me.com & smtp.mail.me.com to smtp.me.com, no matter what you try to enter.
iCloud Mail setup, do not choose .mac or MobileMe as type, but choose IMAP...
On second step where it asks "Description", it has to be a unique name, but you can still use your email address.
IMAP (Incoming Mail Server) information:
• Server name: imap.mail.me.com
• SSL Required: Yes
• Port: 993
• Username: [email protected] (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
• Password: Your iCloud password
SMTP (outgoing mail server) information:
• Server name: smtp.mail.me.com
• SSL Required: Yes
• Port: 587
• SMTP Authentication Required: Yes
• Username: [email protected] (use your @me.com address from your iCloud account)
• Password: Your iCloud password
Also, you must upgrade your password to meet the new criteria: 8 characters, including upper and lower case and numbers. If you have an older password that does not meet these criteria, when you try to setup mail on your mac, using all of the IMAP criteria listed above, it will still give a server error message. Go to http://appleid.apple.com then follow directions to change your password, then go back to setting up your mail using the IMAP instructions above.
Thanks to dpepper...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3867171?tstart=0

Mail Keeps Asking For Password And Rejecting It?

I have just been phoned by a friend with an early G5 iMac running OSX 10.3.9.
He's been having slight problems with Mail for a while but now it has refused to send emails.
Whenever he tries he gets a window requesting the password for the account but each time it says that the POP server has rejected it.
He is adamant that he is using the correct password.
I have had this happen occasionally but can't remember how I resolved it . . . . I even suspect it may have cured itself a day or so later.
So has anyone got any helpful ideas or suggestions?

Unfortunately when he ran Keychain First Aid it showed there were no problems.
When I finished phoning him Mail was still requesting and rejecting passwords.
I have a feeling that whenever it has happened to me I have given up in despair only to find that a day or so later things are back to normal, which would suggest a temporary problem at the ISP's end.

Mail keeps asking for passwords; incoming server in iCloud is dimmed, not available

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