Title: Authentication Error – Strange Solution Last modified: April 9, 2021 --- # Authentication Error – Strange Solution * Resolved [intowernet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/intowernet/) * (@intowernet) * [5 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/authentication-error-strange-solution/) * I have been using this plugin for years and it is great. Recently no matter what I did it would not authenticate an email on a new website. I spent two day testing everything on both WordPress and cPanel and repeatedly making sure the settings and passwords were correct. You may think I am crazy but what fixed it was taking the % character out of the password. Maybe I am wrong but I tried not to change any other variables during my testing. * Just thought I would pass this along. Take it with a grain of salt. Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total) * [Tim](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tneville/) * (@tneville) * [5 years, 1 month ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/authentication-error-strange-solution/#post-14299140) * Flagging to developer [@yehudah](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yehudah/). * Kind Regards, Tim * [redbullpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/redbullpeter/) * (@redbullpeter) * [4 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/authentication-error-strange-solution/#post-14598481) * Hi [@yehudah](https://wordpress.org/support/users/yehudah/), [@tneville](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tneville/), * I experienced the same issue. I used the following password on an smtp account:` yT<3j}u%2D2>fByX` * That did not work at all even though I could login via thunderbird and other clients. * It looks like the way the passwords are being stored or escaped is mangling the passwords somehow. * The issue was resolved by limiting the password used to exclude these kind of“ special” characters. * Regards, * Peter - This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by [redbullpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/redbullpeter/). - This reply was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/). * [Tim](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tneville/) * (@tneville) * [4 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/authentication-error-strange-solution/#post-14609039) * Hi [@redbullpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/redbullpeter/), * Did you test without the percent sign (%)? This is usually the one that causes the most trouble from my experience. * Kind Regards, Tim * Thread Starter [intowernet](https://wordpress.org/support/users/intowernet/) * (@intowernet) * [4 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/authentication-error-strange-solution/#post-14616565) * I was the one who started this thread and then later I was using the program and completely forgot about it. I used a password for the email that had a % in the middle and fought with it trying to get it to work. I clicked on the help link in the program that came up that sends you to [https://postmansmtp.com/incorrect-authentication-data/](https://postmansmtp.com/incorrect-authentication-data/) where it suggest changing the ip address. I tried this also. Finally I remembered and went and changed the email password % to a #. Instantly it worked! So it is definitely the % that caused the problem. * I love this program and am not putting it down at all but as a suggestion you might want to add a not to that help link page about not using the % in your passwords. This might save you and your users a lot of stress and time. * [redbullpeter](https://wordpress.org/support/users/redbullpeter/) * (@redbullpeter) * [4 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/authentication-error-strange-solution/#post-14617606) * Hi [@tneville](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tneville/), * So I had a spare minute…. * These work: g5LzQPx%2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc% %g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx}2L3CkV3tc} g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc} g5LzQPx{2L3CkV3tc {g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc{ g5LzQPx>2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc> >g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx!2L3CkV3tc !g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc! g5LzQPx[2L3CkV3tc [g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc[ g5LzQPx] 2L3CkV3tc ]g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc] g5LzQPx;2L3CkV3tc ;g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc; g5LzQPx&2L3CkV3tc &g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc& g5LzQPx@2L3CkV3tc @g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc@ g5LzQPx”2L3CkV3tc “g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc” g5LzQPx’2L3CkV3tc ‘g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc’ * These don’t work: g5LzQPx<2L3CkV3tc g5LzQPx2L3CkV3tc<