This article describes solutions to common problems with emails hosted with WEDOS. Instructions for managing e-mail boxes can be found in the article Emails – Mailboxes.

If you suspect that your incoming or outgoing mail is being blocked, refer to the Emails – Blocked Messages article to resolve the issue.

In this article, you will learn:

• How to find the cause of email problems
• How to troubleshoot:
  • Domains and DNS
  • Hosting
  • WebMail
  • Other email clients
• Frequently asked questions

The way you diagnose an email problem is usually different for new services or existing ones. However, if one of the diagnostics does not reveal the problem, 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 settings.

If you are setting up a new email service, diagnose issues by following these steps:

1. Make sure you have created mailboxes.
2. Perform a basic domain or webhosting diagnostic in the customer administration panel. Pay attention to the following items:
   • The DNS servers in the Domain (Register) section.
   • MX records in the DNS or Webhosting sections.
   • Domain status and Domain owner’s email verification (if required) in the Domain (System) section.

3. Check whether the mailboxes work with WebMail.
4. Check your email client settings.

If your emails stopped working with an existing service, diagnose the problems with the following steps:

1. In the customer administration panel, make sure that the domain and webhosting (or WMS, WebSite, Mailhosting) are active.

2. Check services on the WEDOS Status site. The system sends automatically detected outages here within 10 minutes of detecting a problem. If the outage has to be entered manually, it may take longer to report the problem.
3. Make sure your account isn’t blocked according to the article Emails – Blocked Messages.
4. Make sure the mailboxes are accessible via WebMail.
5. Check email client settings.

Issues with both new and existing emails can arise anywhere – in domain and DNS settings, the hosting service, or email clients (WebMail, or other clients).

The most common problems with domain and DNS include:

• Inactive domain
• DNS errors

An inactive domain has either expired or has not yet been created. You can find the status of the domain in its detail in the customer administration panel. If you do not see a previously active domain in the administration panel, it is either in another customer account (or with another registrar), or the system deleted it after a certain period of expiration.

Pay for the service as soon as possible, unless it has been deleted. It should work again within 6-48 hours after the payment has been successfully received in our system.

A common reason for deactivating generic domains (COM, NAME, etc.) is failure to verify the domain owner’s email (via a link we sent after its 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 in your message.

Common DNS errors that prevent email from working properly include:

• Incorrect DNS servers. If you have recently changed the domain’s DNS servers (NSSET), check that your current provider has the correct MX records. Also, expect a longer time for DNS server changes to propagate, which usually takes 6-48 hours.
• Incorrect or missing MX records. For emails to arrive at an address, the domain must have at least one MX record. Enter these records with no name, unless you want to run your emails on a subdomain.
• Invalid or missing SPF record. Set the SPF record according to this guide. If you use multiple email service providers, merge their SPF records into one, as multiple SPF records have the same effect as none.

We offer email hosting as part of the Webhosting, WebSite (except the Free variant) and WMS services. Recently, we’ve added a separate Mailhosting service.

Common mail hosting service problems include:

• Inactive hosting. In the customer administration panel, make sure that the webhosting (or WMS, WebSite, Mailhosting) are active. If the service expired, but the system hasn’t deleted it yet, pay for it. The system will activate the service within 1 hour of receiving the payment.
• Full mailbox. Check the capacity of your mailbox. If it is full, delete useless emails, or increase the service’s email capacity.
• Blocked emails. Find out more information about email blocking in the article Emails – Blocked Messages.
• Mail server outage. Check the Status service. The system sends automatically detected outages there within 10 minutes of detecting a problem. If the outage has to be entered manually, it may take longer to report the problem.

If both the domain/DNS and the hosting service work, then the WebMail client should work too. The most common issue that doesn’t stem from the problems above is login.

Use the following username format to log into WebMail: mailbox@domain.tld. 

If you cannot login with an alias domain, login with the service name. The name also works when the web hosting has the main domain removed, for example mailbox@w123456.

If login doesn’t work, check:

• Email service functionality in the Status service.
• The mailbox’s existence in the customer administration panel.

If the problem persists with an existing mailbox on an active hosting service change the mailbox password, wait 15 minutes and try logging in again.

Third-party email clients may contain settings that are incompatible with our servers. The clients that you install on your computer are also often restricted by security features, such as antivirus programs and firewalls.

If you’re seeing an error in your email client while doing something you can do on the same device in WebMail, check the following settings:

• Login. Follow the steps in the WebMail chapter.
• Servers, ports and security according to the guide Emails – SMTP, POP3, IMAP.

If no combination of settings helps, verify that servers or ports are not blocked by an antivirus, firewall, or other security element of your device or network. If the error persists, contact the email client support first.

Question: What if nothing in this guide resolved my problem?
Answer: Ask support for help via the form. Please provide the name of the problematic mailbox and the most accurate description of the problem and the solutions you have tried. Attach screenshots of error messages and settings.