What type of hardware are you using: Virtual machine
What YunoHost version are you running: 29.0.7
How are you able to access your server: SSH
Describe your issue
The user can log into Nextcloud successfully; however, when attempting to connect to the email application, they encounter the “IMAP username or password is wrong” error.
Share relevant logs or error messages
Hello,
If you’re encountering the “IMAP username or password is wrong” error after setting up Nextcloud through Yunohost, the likely cause is that users need to be created via Yunohost, not directly in Nextcloud. When users are created in Nextcloud instead of Yunohost, this error may appear.
Solution:
Delete the users created in Nextcloud.
Go to Yunohost > Users and create the users there.
Following these steps should resolve the issue completely.
Hope this helps!
For those wondering why this error occurs, let me explain:
The “IMAP username or password is wrong” error in Nextcloud when integrated with Yunohost can occur due to how the Nextcloud app and Yunohost manage user authentication, particularly with LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol). Yunohost uses its own LDAP server to handle user accounts, which provides a centralized authentication service across applications. When users are created directly in Nextcloud, rather than through Yunohost, Nextcloud doesn’t recognize the users in the same way and authentication can fail. Here’s an in-depth look at what’s happening in the code:
- LDAP Integration with Yunohost
Yunohost configures Nextcloud to authenticate users against Yunohost’s LDAP directory.
In the config.php file of Nextcloud, the LDAP configuration settings specify the server, user base, and other LDAP-related parameters provided by Yunohost.
This means Nextcloud doesn’t directly manage users but instead refers to the Yunohost LDAP server for user authentication. - Account Creation in Nextcloud vs. Yunohost
When users are created directly in Nextcloud, these users are stored in Nextcloud’s internal user database rather than the Yunohost LDAP directory.
Nextcloud expects user authentication to happen via Yunohost’s LDAP. If a user doesn’t exist in LDAP, Nextcloud cannot validate the IMAP credentials, leading to an “IMAP username or password is wrong” error.
Nextcloud will attempt to verify the IMAP credentials using the user credentials stored in LDAP, which fails when the users aren’t found there. - Code-Level Authentication Flow
In Nextcloud, LDAP authentication is handled by the User_LDAP plugin in apps/user_ldap/lib/User_LDAP.php.
When a login attempt is made, Nextcloud initiates an LDAP bind operation (essentially a login to LDAP) to verify user credentials.
The relevant function, checkPassword() in User_LDAP.php, binds to the LDAP server using the provided username and password.
If the username doesn’t exist in LDAP (because it was created in Nextcloud), the bind operation fails, and the error “IMAP username or password is wrong” is returned. - LDAP and IMAP Authentication Conflict
Nextcloud relies on the Yunohost LDAP for both LDAP and IMAP configurations to align user authentication across the platform.
If a user exists only in Nextcloud and not in Yunohost’s LDAP, IMAP authentication fails because Yunohost’s email server is also configured to verify users against the LDAP directory.
Solution Explanation
To avoid the “IMAP username or password is wrong” error:
Ensure all users are created in Yunohost’s user directory (accessible under Yunohost > Users).
By doing this, Nextcloud will authenticate against Yunohost’s LDAP, allowing both LDAP and IMAP to correctly recognize the user.
In summary, the error is caused by a disconnect between Nextcloud’s expected authentication source (Yunohost’s LDAP) and Nextcloud’s internal user database. Creating users through Yunohost aligns the authentication process across both Nextcloud and IMAP, resolving the issue.