Dovecot: User doesn't exist
09:53 20 Nov 2025

Cannot get postfix to deliver email to virtual mailbox, either locally or from a gmail or other provider.

I can login locally to dovecot.

openssl s_client -connect 10.66.66.1:993 -crlf
* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE SASL-IR LITERAL+ AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=LOGIN] Dovecot ready.
a LOGIN support@georgetech.co.uk YourSupportPassword
a OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE SORT SORT=DISPLAY THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=REFS THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT MULTIAPPEND URL-PARTIAL CATENATE UNSELECT CHILDREN NAMESPACE UIDPLUS LIST-EXTENDED I18NLEVEL=1 CONDSTORE QRESYNC ESEARCH ESORT SEARCHRES WITHIN CONTEXT=SEARCH LIST-STATUS BINARY MOVE REPLACE SNIPPET=FUZZY PREVIEW=FUZZY PREVIEW SPECIAL-USE STATUS=SIZE SAVEDATE COMPRESS=DEFLATE INPROGRESS NOTIFY LITERAL+] Logged in

The command below fails:

admin@ip-172-31-34-228:~$ echo "=== LMTP PROBE ===" && printf 'LHLO test.local\r\nMAIL FROM:\r\nRCPT TO:\r\nQUIT\r\n' | sudo socat - UNIX-CONNECT:/var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp 2>&1
=== LMTP PROBE ===
220 ip-172-31-34-228 Dovecot ready.
250-ip-172-31-34-228
250-8BITMIME
250-CHUNKING
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250 STARTTLS
250 2.1.0 OK
550 5.1.1  User doesn't exist: support@georgetech.co.uk
221 2.0.0 Bye

The password file:

admin@ip-172-31-34-228:~$ cat /etc/dovecot/passwd
#support@georgetech.co.uk:{PLAIN}YourSupportPassword:5000:5000::/var/mail/vhosts/georgetech.co.uk/support::

support@georgetech.co.uk:{PLAIN}YourSupportPassword:5000:5000::/var/mail/vhosts/georgetech.co.uk/support:/var/mail/vhosts/georgetech.co.uk/support/Maildir::

sales@georgetech.co.uk:{PLAIN}YourSalesPassword:5000:5000::/var/mail/vhosts/georgetech.co.uk/sales::
licence@georgetech.co.uk:{PLAIN}YourLicencePassword:5000:5000::/var/mail/vhosts/georgetech.co.uk/licence::

Contents of /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-passwdfile.conf.ext:

passdb passwd-file {
  driver = passwd-file
  passwd_file_path = /etc/dovecot/passwd
  #args = scheme=PLAIN username_format=%u /etc/dovecot/passwd
}

userdb passwd-file {
#userdb static {
  driver = passwd-file
  passwd_file_path = /etc/dovecot/passwd
 # driver = static
 # userdb_uid = vmail
 # userdb_gid = vmail
 # userdb_home = /var/mail/vhosts/%d/%n/Maildir

}

Virtual hosts permissions:

admin@ip-172-31-34-228:~$ sudo ls -lha /var/mail/vhosts/georgetech.co.uk/support/Maildir
total 20K
drwx--S--- 5 vmail 5000 4.0K Nov 20 09:55 .
drwx--S--- 3 vmail 5000 4.0K Nov 20 09:55 ..
drwx--S--- 2 vmail 5000 4.0K Nov 20 09:55 cur
drwx--S--- 2 vmail 5000 4.0K Nov 20 09:55 new
drwx--S--- 2 vmail 5000 4.0K Nov 20 09:55 tmp
admin@ip-172-31-34-228:~$ id
uid=1000(admin) gid=1000(admin) 
admin@ip-172-31-34-228:~$ id vmail
uid=5000(vmail) gid=1001(vmail) groups=1001(vmail)

Debian 13:

admin@ip-172-31-34-228:~$ sudo dovecot --version
2.4.1-4 (7d8c0e5759)

What should be done to solve the issue?

postfix-mta dovecot