Configuring Thunderbird for IMAP using Kerberos

Obtaining Thunderbird

You can obtain a free download of Thunderbird from the Mozilla website. Follow the instructions on the site for installing Thunderbird.

Configuring Thunderbird

After installing Thunderbird you need to configure it for use with your @stanford mailbox.

1. If you're using Windows, configure Thunderbird for Kerberos before continuing to Step 2. Mail account setup will fail if you skip this process. Macintosh users can move to Step 2 immediately.
2. The Mail Account Setup Wizard should start on its own if you've not opened Thunderbird before. To open it manually, go to the Tools menu and click Accounts Settings. In the left pane of the Account Settings dialog box, click Account Actions and then select Add Mail Account.
3. Enter your name as you want it to appear in the From field in outgoing mail and your email address. Then, click Continue.
   
   
4. Thunderbird will attempt to automatically configure your account settings. This will fail and a message saying "Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account" will display. Enter the following settings:
   Incoming:
   • IMAP
   • Server hostname: your sunetid.pobox.stanford.edu
   • Port: 993
   • SSL: SSL/TLS
   • Authentication: Kerberos / GSSAPI
   Outgoing:
   • Server hostname: smtp.stanford.edu
   • Port: 465
   • SSL: SSL/TLS
   • Authentication: Kerberos / GSSAPI
   
5. Click Create Account.
6. Click OK to close the Account Settings dialog box.

Configuration for Kerberos (Windows only)

Thunderbird for Windows requires additional configuration for use with the MIT version of Kerberos used at Stanford.

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click the Advanced icon in the toolbar.
3. Under the General tab, click Config Editor.
   
   
4. When the warning message is displayed, click I'll be careful, I promise.
   
   
5. In the Search field, type sspi to locate the network-auth-use-sspi preference.
   
   
6. If the value of the network-auth-use-sspi preference is "true," double-click the entry to set the value to false.
   
   
7. Close the about:config dialog box.
8. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.
9. You can now configure Thunderbird for use with your @stanford mailbox.

Additional information

• To set up Thunderbird to work with Stanford's spam tagging system, see Creating a Spam Filter in Thunderbird for Windows or Creating a Spam Filter in Thunderbird for Macintosh.