topic Re: email and NordVPN in Email

email and NordVPN

RogerThornhill — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:07:35 GMT

I've worked through previous old threads on similar topics but I'm no nearer a solution so would very much appreciate some help. I've recently installed NordVPN but when it's connected (and even when the connection is paused) my email (Windows Live Mail) just won't work. I always get this message...

Unable to send or receive messages for the xxxxxx account. The connection to the server has failed.

Server: 'mail.plus.net'
Windows Live Mail Error ID: 0x800CCC0E
Protocol: POP3
Port: 110
Secure(SSL): No
Socket Error: 10049

The people at NordVPN have suggested various things, changing outgoing port (currently set at 465 with SSL checked), and other settings but nothing has worked and the only way at present I can access email is to shut down the VPN app.

Does anyone know if there is a way around this?

Re: email and NordVPN

MisterW — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:14:24 GMT

@RogerThornhill you need to make sure that the outgoing server configuration is set for authentication. Use the same credentials as the incoming. When you are 'off network' i.e not sending from a Plusnet IP then you need to authenticate. You can leave authentication set even when sending from a Plusnet IP.

Most email clients will try to send before receiving so if there's a failure to connect to the outgoing server , receiving won't be attempted

Re: email and NordVPN

Townman — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 14:36:56 GMT

The tone of the OP and the reported error suggests that this is an incoming server issue, not an outgoing (SMTP) issue. If that is correct then SMTP authentication is not going to fix the issue.

If the SMTP server is not configured for authentication then when ATTEMPTING TO SEND the user should receive a relay not permitted error message.

If the SMTP server is configured for authentication and works without the VPN, but fails with it, then (understandably?) the NordVPN server's IP addresses must be black-balled.

This is often the fallacy of using VPN - they cause more issues than the claim to solve. All users will be perceived as using one (or a very few) IP addresses. If many of them were seeking to hack into Plusnet's mail systems, they would all be perceived as multiple log on failures from the same IP address (that is the same net user) ... giving rise to the IP address being locked out for too many log on attempts.

That all too often seems to be the primary use of VPNs - to hide the perpetrator of questionable activities. In intended use is to provide a secure channel into a remote PRIVATE internal network.

Re: email and NordVPN

RogerThornhill — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 15:26:50 GMT

Thank you both MisterW and Townman for your swift replies.

The NordVPN people have had me concentrating on tweaking settings for outgoing mail, but Townman, your logic got me thinking and I've experimented further. Sending an email to a friend and copied to myself. The email sent ok and was received; the copy to myself has arrived on my mobile device (not connected to VPN) but it has not arrived on my Windows PC which is running NordVPN. Done this twice now and same results - outgoing mail is being sent and received but incoming mail is not getting through the VPN.

So it seems the problem is indeed the incoming mail server?

Can I do anything to configure that differently to fix the problem?

Re: email and NordVPN

Townman — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 16:10:01 GMT

If it is arriving in your inbox and the email client cannot access the mailbox over the VPN (but can with the VPN down) then for some reason or another, the IMAP server is protecting its self from the VPN inbound connection.

Might be worth looking to see if the VPN IP address is blackballed or tarballed.