@Sparky672 

just bought an Archer AX50, spent most of the day trying to set up an smtp before finding this, tried google, icloud, outlook, this doesnt work and shouldnt be a feature in the manuals unless its been thoroughly tested and works.

very dissapointed.

@Sparky672 

figured out my best option after forgetting the password was to log in with my linked tp-link account, backup the router, factory reset it, create a new password and upload the backup data file, this method kept the new password which was lucky, as i thought it might restore the old password

@Sparky672 , @Carl 

Good Lord I've been bashing my face off of tables, walls, etc trying to get this feature to work, knowing full well in the back of my mind that to use the Google SMTP server I'd really need to supply the port for it. Lo and behold! TP-Link (Chinese engineering) sends us a broken feature, and can't be bothered to fix it. These engineers you should be grossly embarrassed and simply fix this properly without blatant removal. I myself have actually programmed email submission features and it was very freaking easy to programmatically supply a port number behind the scenes, and just as easy (but slightly more time consuming) to provide fields for user input FOR the ports. 'Lazy' and 'incompetent' tick me off hardcore. You do NOT give someone something that doesn't work! Just like a cook shouldn't give people crap they can't eat! 

I greatly appreciate Carl's work on this, as well as the numerous others who've chimed in on this post over the last (almost) year. Now that I know I cannot make this feature work, I'll try going the tp-link id route for PW recovery should I hit the brink of senility and dementia soon, God knows my years are getting up there it seems. :D

@Carl I just purchased an Archer AX50 - on April 8, 2021.  I followed the plain english instructions provided inthe user manual to set up optional password reset functionality and the option to email logs via SMTP.  In neither case was I successful.  Now I find the explanation in the community forum.  You've known for a year that these feature don't work at all.  Why do you continue to sell the product without first issuing a warning to the customer that they should not waste their time because it won't work???  I can't get the time I wasted on this back.  This reflects very poorly upon your comany.

Carl wrote

@Sparky672 

 

Hi,

 

Yeah i got a similar response.  I have already asked that they feature either be removed or we find a way to provide it with out needing emial. I suggested linking to a TP-Link ID account.  so we will see.  If I hear anthing I'll let you know.

@gerimy 

The service does work however it is in a limited capacity.  The concern is most free email sources like Google and Yahoo have moved away from SMTP.  The engineering team is looking into this and seeing if we can make the feature more robust.  But since you have a router that is able to link to a TP-Link ID you can always use this as an alternative.  TP-Link routers that work with a TP-Link ID have an alternative log in source to use the TP-Link ID instead of the administration password.  On the log in screen there is a button that says use TP-Link ID to log in.  

This password because its cloud based is easy to reset if you forget it as well. 

Carl wrote

@gerimy 

 

The service does work however it is in a limited capacity.  The concern is most free email sources like Google and Yahoo have moved away from SMTP.  The engineering team is looking into this and seeing if we can make the feature more robust.  But since you have a router that is able to link to a TP-Link ID you can always use this as an alternative.  TP-Link routers that work with a TP-Link ID have an alternative log in source to use the TP-Link ID instead of the administration password.  On the log in screen there is a button that says use TP-Link ID to log in.  

 

This password because its cloud based is easy to reset if you forget it as well. 

@Carl 

Since there is no email provider that allows STMP access without secure login, this part of the feature is not even working in a "limited capacity" - it just does not work at all; completely broken.  Why can't we be completely honest and factual about that here?  If you know of an email provider either paid or free that has STMP access that works with this router, then prove me wrong and share that info with us here.

As far as using the TP-Link ID instead, that would require the user to blindly trust a third-party with unfettered access to their router.  Anyone serious about privacy and security should not be sharing router credentials with anyone, not even their router manufacturer in China.

What I am asking myself is how can other companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Thunderbird, etc. write software that can properly send an email using SMTP from any account provider, but TP-Link cannot?  That makes me wonder about the overal quality and security of the rest of this router's firmware.

Carl wrote

... The concern is most free email sources like Google and Yahoo have moved away from SMTP....

Moved away from STMP??   They ARE using SMTP ... with secure authentication, and it has nothing to do with being free.

On Google, SMTP is the ONLY option for sending mail:  https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229

Same thing for Yahoo:   https://help.yahoo.com/kb/SLN4075.html

Why must we continue to play this charade, where TP-Link pretends like this is an edge-case, where it's our fault for using a free email provider, or it's the provider's fault for mandating secure authentication?  If I'm wrong, please have your head engineers show us an example, just one example of an SMTP provider working in this router.

@Sparky672 

So when I said the free mail providers have stepped away from SMTP it was simplified to not confuse but I apparently missed the mark on that.  Yes its a specifically open SMTP that most do not support. No one here is putting any blame on the user. In fact its quite the opposite.  I have actually told the development team that if a the feature can't be deployed in a way that works then it should be removed.  All i can say is that they are evaluating what can be done.  I'm not in the software team so I can't speak about what we are or aren't able to do.  

As for the TP-Link ID.  It is secure and your not share those credentials with anyone.  In fact TP-Link IDs are used over multiple platforms with in TP-Link's ecosphere.  The Tether app requires it to use.  It is your Log in for the Deco App, Tapo App and Kasa apps.  It is required and the log in for the warranty portal when you register a product and even used as your log in here on the community forum.  You are not giving any unfettered access to anyone and TP-Link does not have the ability to use these credentials to access any of your devices or services bound to it.  Its simply a all in one cloud base credential that you can use for accessing devices locally and remotely.   

Carl wrote

@Sparky672 

 

So when I said the free mail providers have stepped away from SMTP it was simplified to not confuse but I apparently missed the mark on that.  Yes its a specifically open SMTP that most do not support. No one here is putting any blame on the user. In fact its quite the opposite.  I have actually told the development team that if a the feature can't be deployed in a way that works then it should be removed.  All i can say is that they are evaluating what can be done.  I'm not in the software team so I can't speak about what we are or aren't able to do.  

 

As for the TP-Link ID.  It is secure and your not share those credentials with anyone.  In fact TP-Link IDs are used over multiple platforms with in TP-Link's ecosphere.  The Tether app requires it to use.  It is your Log in for the Deco App, Tapo App and Kasa apps.  It is required and the log in for the warranty portal when you register a product and even used as your log in here on the community forum.  You are not giving any unfettered access to anyone and TP-Link does not have the ability to use these credentials to access any of your devices or services bound to it.  Its simply a all in one cloud base credential that you can use for accessing devices locally and remotely.   

@Carl 

Thank you for the clarification.  It's unfortunate the software team, engineering, and/or leadership somehow thinks it's acceptable to leave this broken feature in place for so long.

Let's not forgot that the feature to send out the logs via email is also broken for the same SMTP reasons, but having a TP-Link ID cannot solve this one.

@Sparky672 y demas tienen que entrar a la administracion de cuentas de gmail activar la contrasena de aplicacion.

les paso el link Cómo acceder con contraseñas de aplicaciones - Ayuda de Cuenta de Google

me genero una clave . la copie y la pegue en el campo de claves de tplink

asi me funciono

saludos

IN ENGLISH:
RESOLVED!!!!! @ Sparky672 and others have to enter the gmail account management to activate the application password.

I give you the link How to access with application passwords - Google Account Help

I generate a password. copy and paste it into the key field of tplink

that's how it worked for me