Murena.io account in /e/OS Mail client

Using /e/OS Troubleshooting
1

Hi there,

For quite some time now, I experience an almost continuous spam of “Authentication failure” notifications on my /e/OS Mail application, only for the Murena.io email account. Recently, I had a bit more time to dig through the whys and hows, and here is what I end up with :

I have TOTP MFA active on my Murena account. Consequently, I made sure to check I configured my account and mail parameters according to How to enable Two Factor Authentication (2FA) 🔑. Meaning, I’m using an application password for the /e/OS account manager (which seems happy about it, eDrive is working, etc…) but I’m using my main password for the Mail client. At least that’s in theory :

When getting the Authentication error notification, I’m asked to check the mail server params. They are all correct, except the password (which can be checked with the small eye icon). It seems to auto-reset to the Murena.io application password every time I change it. The pattern is always the same :

  • I set my main password in the Mail app parameters
  • It works for some time, I can receive and send emails, no error displayed.
  • A few minutes/hours after that, the Auth failure notification is back, and the application password is in the field instead of the main password, and I have to change again.
  • Rince and repeat…

How can I prevent this to happen ? I have the feeling that the /e/OS account manager is somehow trying to “make sure” my Mail app is properly configured, and consequently erase the main password, replacing it with the application password (that the Mail client cannot use). I found no setting or mention in the /e/OS account manager to confirm this theory, but I have no idea how the password is getting replaced so consistently otherwise.

Any idea ?

1 Like
2

I have the same problem.
It is possible that this happens after the last email update by App Lounge app?

3

Have you checked the setting “Mail” in Account sync for the Murena account? I have made the following observation:

2 Likes
4

I’d say this has been going for quite some time already, probably not linked to any recent update. I only took the time to investigate in the last few days. Before that, the problem was intermittently present, sometimes no notification for days, sometimes not even 5mn between two notifications…

@Tentos I indeed checked and the mail synchronization was always enabled. I wonder if deactivating this sync might have solved the problem, but never tried.

The last thing I tried (just after posting this topic) is to completely remove the Murena account from my phone : gone from the account manager, gone from the Mail app. After that I re-added it again (this takes quite some time due to eDrive sync), but so far no notification. I noticed something strange : in the account manager, my Murena account is displayed as 3 separates accounts :

This last one is the weird one. Before reinstalling the account, there was already 3 different entries, but a single address book, the other one was not named “Webmail” but something like “Calendar” I think (I don’t remember exactly so I might be mistaken). I don’t have any calendar specific entry anymore.

Obviously, immediately after re-adding the account, I had an “Authentication failure” notification, this was expected. I went one more time to the Mail app to replace the service account password with my main one, and so far the notification didn’t come back. :crossed_fingers:

I will make a followup here on this topic in a few days. This might be due to a breaking change at some point in the past creating a conflict with more modern sync parameters.

I also hope that there is a better solution to this than to remove and re-add the account, since, removing the account also purge the system from any data related to it, and re-adding it download everything back in place. This can be a tedious operation for high-volumes account. I had something like 2000 files/photos/whatever to sync, the overall size was limited but eDrive still took something like 30mn to retrieve everything, despite running on a fiber-optic powered 5Ghz wifi. I don’t think my local network was to blame here. Maybe a bottleneck on Murena’s side to share available bandwidth with everyone, or maybe something to do with battery optimization, since file syncs are designed to run in the background.

5

You introduce all these side issues but you should really …

6

Please @aibd this is literally my second paragraph in the initial post…

7

Perhaps it is to late for me, but this sounds different … but, forgive me, are you are saying

  • one password for my account
  • same password for my email app.
8

I deactivate the mail synchronization on my murena account and it work for me with totp activated too.
Thanks a lot @Tentos!

9

I’m trying to stick to the names used by e.foundation docs. The account password to be used for IMAP/SMTP related apps is most of the time named “main password”, whereas the generated password for eDrive and other Murena cloud stuff is most of the time named “application password”. Those two are indeed different, and I properly set them both until the account manager incorrectly replace the main password with the application password again.

As of today around 15h00 (french time), the notification came back, and the main password has been replaced once again with the application password in the Mail app parameters. So at this point, whatever the origin of my problem was, I think @Tentos is absolutely right and I’m indeed encountering the same regression that was spotted in the 2.9 feedback thread. I missed this reporting in my forum research before posting this question, that’s my bad.

I’ll try disabling the mail synchronization setting in the account manager for now, and wait for the fixed version.

10

When disabling the mail synchronization in my Murena account, I don’t have any error coming from the SMTP/IMAP password being replaced. But on the other hand, it appears the reverse problem happens : I have a constant error message for a failed auth on the Murena cloud account itself.

Enabling the mail sync again and correcting the password avoid the failed auth on the Murena cloud account… but obviously the notification regarding SMTP/IMAP password is back… So not much to do appart from waiting for a fix :hourglass:

11

Oddly enough, I also have this error message (and indeed I have had it for several months now), it appears sometimes. However, the synchronization indeed happens (at least in my case). This can be verified by going to Accounts > Select Murena account > My account > Settings (Additional settings for account) > You are now in the Account manager. Select the Murena account. If you select the three dots menu right to one synchronized entry, you can select “Properties”, which shows the last synchronization.

12

I got this too, when I updated to 6.711-2. Did not have it before that.