Mail.app -- Yahoo -- Internet Account prefs error ?

[Fishrrman]

I've been having some trouble today with trying to access my email on Yahoo's servers using Apple Mail.app.

Mac Mini 2018
OS 10.14.6 Mojave

I couldn't connect, so -- on suspicion that there might be something corrupted with my existing account -- I went to the Internet Accounts pref pane and tried to delete it, and then re-create it.

Won't work.

If I use the "internet" preference pane, I enter the relevant information, and then...
... I get this:

I tried deleting the plist file:
com.apple.preference.internet

No good.

There are a few other plists:
internetaccountsmigrator.plist
com.apple.internetconfigpriv.plist
com.apple.internetconfig.plis

Tried deleting those as well.

No help.

The error alert above MIGHT be coming from something wrong with yahoo -- don't know.
I also tried Mail.app on my old 2012 Mini, couldn't connect either.
However, my 2021 MacBook Pro 14" -- running Sonoma -- DOES seem to connect ok.

I'm wondering if Yahoo has changed something required for authentication, and in doing so, has obsoleted older versions of the Mac OS.

Any ideas?

 

[MacCheetah3]

It has been a long while since I setup Yahoo Mail in the Apple Mail app. I found a few things while searching:

1) Probably not the solution but I’ll include it just in case:

yahoo mail failed to authenticate - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

2) Not a solution, although, could be useful information:

IMAP server settings for Yahoo Mail | Yahoo Help - SLN4075

Benefit from the latest technology provided by Yahoo for third party email apps with IMAP. Find out the IMAP settings and port numbers for mobile mail apps and desktop mail client.

help.yahoo.com

3) Similar to what you describe, however, the solution is seemingly quite tedious:

[ SOLVED ] MacOs Catalina: There was an error in internet accounts preferences

Just a quick little post which I hope might help some folks out there. Over the last few days I had the need to totally re-blow my workhorse iMac. I have had various versions of MacOs on my bad boy…

www.telnetport25.com

Looking closer, I have an alternate suggestion that’s presumably much less cumbersome. Within the mentioned ~/Library/Accounts folder (on my Mac) is a VerifiedBackup folder. The SQLite DB copies in that folder (in my instance) are from (i.e., last modified) November 2022. Make your own duplicates/backups as you see fit before proceeding. I would quit Mail and Settings, then replace the current Accounts4 SQLite files with the verified backup versions. For a more thorough job, I would restart the Mac before (re)launching Mail and/or Settings.

A similar alternative: fetch copies of those DB files from other backup sources (e.g., Time Machine).

 

[Fishrrman]

Whatever "changed" or "broke" started only yesterday, 2/14/24.

I've read elsewhere that yahoo is modifying their email system to improve such things as spam handling, etc. These changes may also be impacting user "authentication", as well.

For several years now, one must use the "internet" preference pane to access the Yahoo mail system (there's a specific entry for "Yahoo" right in the pane). One can't just "enter parameters" to set up an account as one once did years ago.

I will -speculate- that perhaps Yahoo has made some change that has deprecated the internet preference pane in some older versions of the Mac OS (or deprecated something else somewhere "deeper down" in the Mac OS).

Thus, if one can't set up a Yahoo account using the "Internet" pane -- NO access to Yahoo email.*
(I should mention that Yahoo also hosts email for other ISPs and providers, so if you have an email address associated with them, again, no Yahoo = no email).

I believe this also means that without being able to use the Internet pane, NO standalone mail applications (Apple Mail or 3rd party) will work.

*I CAN still access email on yahoo's servers by using browser-based access.
But that's clunky. How many folks enjoy doing that?

I'll again make clear that Yahoo email system IS working with the latest/later versions of the OS:
Sonoma - works
Ventura - ?
Monterey - works
Big Sur - ?
Catalina - ?
Mojave - NOT working

I bought the 2018 Mini to serve as an "extended platform" on which I could use 32-bit software into the future. It's worked well doing this for 5+ years now.

But if I can't access my email any more, might finally be time to "move up" a step or two...

 

[MacCheetah3]

For several years now, one must use the "internet" preference pane to access the Yahoo mail system (there's a specific entry for "Yahoo" right in the pane). One can't just "enter parameters" to set up an account as one once did years ago.

Sorry to be pushy but did you try the steps listed in the Apple Community discussion board thread I linked to? I didn’t follow through until the absolute end, although, all of the steps (i.e., using the Other method rather than the specific/popular service setup) appear valid.

 

[Fishrrman]

Cheetah wrote:
"Sorry to be pushy but did you try the steps listed in the Apple Community discussion board thread I linked to?"

That discussion you linked to seems to have been from over a year ago.
The problems (for which I started this thread) appeared only mid-day YESTERDAY.

Before that, mail (thru Yahoo) was working fine.
And again, a relatively quick search on the web notes that Yahoo is implementing "changes" as of Feb. 2024.

I'll take another look at it later.

 

[Fishrrman]

I went back and reviewed the info in this link (posted above in reply 2):

yahoo mail failed to authenticate - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

I tried to follow the instructions:
a. Delete your yahoo account... (check)
b. go to your yahoo account in your browser... (check)
c. click on your account on the top right... (check)
d. Click "security"... STOP RIGHT THERE.

In the current Yahoo email page, there is NO "security" button or link there.
Nothing to be clicked:

What you see above is "all there is to be seen".
End of process.

Note: this is not a page -at- yahoo.com.
Rather, email hosted by yahoo (for an att.net legacy account) which is accessed at the website
currently.com

But I checked using a xxxx@yahoo.com address I also have, and it wasn't there, either.
(apparently, yahoo has "changed something" in the past year or so).

 

[MacCheetah3]

Click on Add or manage accounts, then:



You may be prompted to login before the following steps.

 

[Fishrrman]

Thanks for the suggestion (I tried it), but...
nope:

Looks like for anything that is accessing the yahoo email servers, you MUST use the internet accounts pane.

And -- at least for Mojave -- that no longer seems to be working.
(as noted in reply 3 above, things still work with later versions of the Mac OS)

Over the next few days, I'm going to do some experimenting to find what the minimum Mac OS requirement now is, in order to use any email account that exists on the yahoo servers.

This will require installing various Mac OS versions onto an external SSD (ordered it today), one-at-a-time, until I find the "minimum" version that works...

 

[Fishrrman]

I went back to this URL:

Generate and manage 3rd-party app passwords | Yahoo Help - SLN15241

If you use a 3rd-party email app to access your Yahoo Mail account, you may need a special code to give that app permission to access your Yahoo account. Learn how to create and delete app passwords.

help.yahoo.com

... and was able to get to another (ATT) page which was able to generate an "app specific password".

I then went to the Internet Accounts pane (system preferences), and clicked "add other account" (rather than trying the preset choice of "Yahoo!").

I was then able to use app-specific password which (after an interlude with the spinning beach ball) actually seemed to "break through" and bring up a new (actually my old) account.

It took more than one try to work through this process and get it right.

The app-specific password ends up being something like "cbbshukdowmwx".
Not sure how this will affect "regular" passwords used when signing into a web-based browser.
Or... the fact that on my MacBook Pro 14" (running Sonoma), my "password" when using Mail.app is completely different. We'll see.

Of note:
I had success once, then tried logging into my att account from a web browser, and went back to Mail.app -- only to find that it would no longer connect as it did a few minutes previously.

So... I went back to the URL above, got logged in, and now saw an option to "delete" a previously-installed app-specific password, which I did, and then created a new one.

It's holding and working.
So far...