If you suspect that incoming or outgoing mail is being blocked, resolve the problem according to the article Emails – Blocking.
In this article, you will learn:
Email troubleshooting
The way you diagnose an email problem usually differs depending on whether you are setting up a new service or dealing with an existing one. However, if one diagnostic method does not reveal the issue, we recommend trying the other one as well. For example, even a new service may experience an outage, and an existing domain may have incorrect DNS.
Troubleshooting a new service
If you are setting up a new email service, diagnose the problem using these steps:
- Make sure that the service has created email mailboxes.
- Perform domain or webhosting diagnostics in the customer administration. Pay attention to these items:
- Correct DNS servers in the Domain in the registry table.
- Existence and correctness of MX records in the DNS tables, or Webhosting for domain.
- Domain status in the system and Domain owner email verification (if required by the domain) in the Domain in the system table.
- Check whether the mailboxes are accessible via WebMail ⧉.
- Check the settings of the email client.
Troubleshooting an existing service
If emails have stopped working for an existing service, diagnose the problem using these steps:
- In the customer administration ⧉, check whether both the domain ⧉ and Webhosting ⧉ (or WMS ⧉, WebSite ⧉, Mailhosting ⧉) are active.
- Check the service status on the WEDOS Status ⧉ website. The system automatically posts detected outages here within 10 minutes of the issue being evaluated. If an outage needs to be entered manually, reporting the problem may take longer.
- Check whether your hosting is blocked according to the article Emails – Blocking.
- Check whether the mailboxes are accessible via WebMail ⧉.
- Check the email client settings.
Email troubleshooting
Problems with newly created and existing emails can arise anywhere – from domain and DNS settings, through hosting service settings, to mail clients (WebMail or your own client).
Domain and DNS
The most common domain and DNS issues include:
- Inactive domain: An inactive domain has either expired or has not yet been provisioned. You can find the domain status in its details in the customer administration ⧉. If you do not see a previously active domain in the administration, it is either in another customer account (or with another registrar), or the system deleted it after a certain period of expiration. If possible, pay for the service. It should work again within 6 – 48 hours after the payment is successfully received in our system.
A common reason for deactivating generic domains (COM, NAME, …) is not verifying the domain owner email that we sent you after registration within 15 days. Find this email and use the link to verify the domain owner. If you cannot find the email, ask support ⧉ to resend it. Include the domain name.
- Incorrect DNS servers. If you recently changed the DNS servers (NSSET) of the domain, check that you have the correct MX records with the new provider. Also allow for the longer DNS propagation time, which usually takes 6 – 48 hours.
- Incorrect or missing MX records. For mail to work on a domain, it must have at least one MX record. Enter MX records without a name if you do not want to run email on a subdomain.
- Incorrect or missing SPF record. Set up the SPF record according to this guide. If you use multiple email providers, merge their SPF records into one, because several SPF records have the same effect as none.
Email hosting
We offer email hosting as part of the Webhosting, WebSite (except the Free variant), and WMS services. The standalone Mailhosting service is a new addition.
Common mail issues on Mailhosting include:
- Inactive hosting. Check whether Mailhosting ⧉ (or Webhosting ⧉, WMS ⧉, WebSite ⧉) is active. If the service has expired but the system has not yet deleted it, pay for it. The system will restore it within 1 hour of successful payment receipt.
- Mailbox full. Check the mailbox usage. If it is full, delete some messages or increase the email capacity of the service.
- Email blocking. More detailed information and instructions for solving various causes of blocking can be found in the article Emails – Resolving blocked emails.
- Mail server outage. Monitor the Status ⧉ service. The system automatically posts detected outages here within 10 minutes of the issue being evaluated. If an outage needs to be entered manually, reporting the problem may take longer.
WebMail
If the domain and DNS and the hosting service are working, WebMail ⧉ should work as well. The most common issue not related to the above instructions is login.
Log in to WebMail using the full email address in the format mailbox@domain.tld.
If you cannot log in using an alias domain, log in using the service name. A name also works when the webhosting main domain has been removed, for example mailbox@w123456.
If login does not work, check:
- Functionality of the email services on the Status ⧉ website.
- Existence of the email mailbox for the given service in the customer administration ⧉.
If the error persists for an active mailbox on active hosting, change its password, wait 15 minutes for the change to propagate, and try logging in again.
Other email clients
Third-party email clients may contain settings that are incompatible with our servers. Clients installed on your computer are also often restricted by security features such as antivirus software and firewalls.
If you notice an error in your email client while performing an action that you can do without any problem on the same device in WebMail ⧉, check the settings:
- Login. Proceed as in the WebMail section.
- Servers, ports, and security according to the article Emails – SMTP, POP3, IMAP.
If no combination of settings helps, verify that the antivirus, firewall, or another security feature on your device or network is not blocking the servers or ports. If the error persists, contact the email client support first.
Frequently asked questions
What if none of this guide helped at all?
Send a request for investigation via the form ⧉. Include the name of the problematic mailbox and as precise a description of the problem and the attempted solutions as possible. Attach screenshots ⧉ of error messages and settings.